Conference Day One
26 June 2019
Go to Pre-Conference In-depth Learning Session
08:30 Registration and welcome coffee
08:50 Opening remarks from the Chair
Kate Harris, Chief Executive Officer, Good Environmental Choice Australia
WASTE POLICY IN AUSTRALIA
09:00 Keynote presentation: Responding to the China National Sword Policy
- Defining the China National Sword Policy
- Improving and strengthening recycling systems with the support of councils, regional waste groups and industry
- Coordinating efforts across sectors to find effective solutions
- Identifying the main barriers in coordinating immediate interventions, as well as planning longerterm solutions
Justin Koek, Director, China National Sword, NSW Environment Protection Authority
09:30 Case study: Queensland’s Plastic Pollution Reduction Plan – shaping the strategic discussion
- Understanding the policy matrix behind the Plastic Pollution Reduction Plan
- Developing a comprehensive and coordinated response to plastic pollution including responsible consumption
- Identifying science and evidence-based actions for individuals, communities, industry, and state and national governments
Sylvie Garner, Program Manager, Waste Policy and Legislation, Office of Resource Recovery, Department of Environment and Science (QLD)
10:00 Understanding and preparing for the e-waste ban in Victoria
- Looking into your e-waste to effectively prepare a strategy for disposal
- Implementing strategies to prevent, reduce, and reuse electronics materials
- Understanding the key challenges in collecting and recycling e-waste to ensure compliance
Blaise Porter, Sustainability Manager ANZ, Fujitsu Australia
10:30 The voice of local councils – between opportunities and challenges in waste management
- Understanding the perspective of local councils in regard to waste management
- Between waste prevention, recycling, resource recovery and waste disposal – identifying the main challenges
- Future of waste management – what should be done?
Dick Gross, Mayor – Canal Ward, City of Port Phillip
11:00 Morning tea break
COLLABORATIONS IN WASTE MANAGEMENT
11:30 Establishing collaboration within an organisation to minimise waste
- Highlighting which waste can be prevented and minimised in corporate offices
- Identifying barriers and challenges in preventing waste in large corporations
- Implementing clear communication and training to increase employees’ support for waste management
- Opening up to collaboration with local solutions to increase recycling and resource recovery
Jeff Elliott, Environmental Sustainability Change Lead, ANZ
12:00 Preventing goods from turning into waste – when corporations collaborate with non-for-profit organisations
- Creating solutions for businesses and non-profits to matchmake and not waste
- Deviating 6.3 million brand new items from landfill – how it works in practice
- How a corporate social responsibility strategy can create competitive advancement
- Identifying the barriers and challenges when collecting and donating goods
12:30 Drowning in plastic from landfill to the oceans
Ricki Hersburgh
Board member, Acting ED
Plastic Oceans Australasia Foundation
12:50 Networking lunch
MONEY TALKS
13:50 Keynote presentation: When waste management and prevention make business sense
- Promoting the commercial value of a resource-efficient business
- Reducing waste and costs in large corporations
- Identifying the biggest wastes of money in waste management and prevention
- Monitoring and evaluation of waste management
Paul Donaghy, Resource Recovery Manager, Woolworths Food Group
14:20 Identifying what works (or not) with plastic recycling in Australia and what incentives could be used to rescue more plastic from landfill
- Understanding which recycling approaches work best for each class of plastics – rigid vs. flexible
- Exploring polymer types to determine if a reprocessor will be able to keep the plastic in a circular system
- Creating financial incentives for individuals and businesses such as GST exemptions, tax concessions, energy rebates, and no interest loans from state government landfill levies
David Hodge, Managing Director, Plastic Forests
14:50 Realising opportunities from organic wastes/resources and utilising strategies to value-add
- How Queensland is moving towards a circular economy approach (considering the re-introduction of Queensland’s waste levy on 1 July 2019)
- Increasing the recovery rates of agriculturally-derived wastes and secondary-resources
- Highlighting the financial benefits of reuse and value-add organic resources and nutrients
- Identifying initiatives several innovative agricultural enterprises have embraced to improve value-add
Georgina Davis, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, QLD Farmers’ Federation
15:20 Afternoon tea break
Roundtables
Attendees will have the option of attending 2 of the concurrent sessions. There will be 2 rounds of 40 minutes each where delegates will have the chance to choose 2 out of the 6 topics. Roundtables are interactively moderated group discussions where delegates get the chance to debate and discover common issues, challenges and solutions.
Roundtable 1 - State perspectives - Policy & Strategy
Facilitator:
Ron Wainberg, Technical Director, MRA Consulting
Roundtable 2 - Creating a waste-to-energy project from scratch
Facilitator:
Miles Mason, Business Development Manager, New Energy Corporation
Roundtable 3 - Emerging waste - Recovering valuable resources from electronic waste products, and from emerging industries
Facilitator:
Ali Abbas, Associate Professor, The University of Sydney
Round 2 – 16:30
Roundtable 1 - How to manage surplus, spare, seasonal stock - one person's extra is another person's essential
Facilitator:
Alison Covington, Founder & Managing Director, Good360
Roundtable 2 - As different as chalk and cheese - discussing the differences between circular economy and recycling economy
Facilitator:
Jenni Downes, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
Roundtable 3 - Turning trash into treasure on major infrastructure projects and industrial operations
Facilitator:
Alex Larance, Manager - Environmental Services, Cardno
17:10 Closing remarks from the Chair
17:15 End of Day One and networking drinks