Waste ReForum 2020

Brave New World: A Daring Look Into the Future

July 14-16, 2020 – Virtual

The conference theme was Brave New World: A Daring Look Into the Future, which considered how waste reduction would change going forward—from robotics to circular processes.

Presentations:

Tuesday, July 14

10:45 — 11:00  Conference Opening/Welcome — Dwight Grayston, Chair, SWRC Board of Directors

11:00 –12:00 Minority Report: Keynote speaker — Linear and circular material flows and the roots of sustainability — Darrin Qualman
Sponsored by Saskatchewan Association for Resource Recovery Corporation
Moderator: Ethan Richardson, SARRC

Darrin will look out across 10,000 years to assemble a concrete, evidence-based definition of sustainably and reveal the perils created by the linear systems of 20th and 21st century petro-civilizations.

Darrin Qualman is the author of Civilization Critical: Energy, Food, Nature, and the Future.  He is the Director of Climate Crisis and Action for the National Farmers Union. Prior to that, he was a Project Manager with the City of Saskatoon, working on a water conservation strategy.  Darrin was a farmer and for 15 years a senior staff person at Canada’s National Farmers Union, including several years as Director of Research.  He has degrees in biology, history, and political studies.

12:30 — 1:30   End Game: Concurrent Session A: Plastics in the Future
Sponsored by Canadian Plastics Industry Association
Moderator: Sheri Praski, SWANA Northern Lights

•   Options for Chemical Recycling — Louis Bertrand, Sweet Gazoil
•   The Future of Plastics – Pierre Benabidès, Expert consultant, Recyclabilité & Développement de marchés

12:30 — 1:30   Soylent Green: Concurrent Session B – Food Waste & Organics
Sponsored by TetraTech
Moderator: Lisa Howse, SWRC

• Putting Food to its Highest and Best Use — Jaime White, Loop Resource
• Slow Food on Food Waste: What’s Pleasure Got to Do WIth It? — Noelle Chorney, Tall Order
• Semi-Underground Organics Containment: The Next Frontier — Tim Corcoran, Molok North America

1:30 — 3:00 Space Odyssey — Networking and Social Time

Wednesday, July 15

10:30-11:00 The Force Awakens: Virtual Coffee and Networking
Sponsored by Electronic Products Recycling Association — Saskatchewan

11:00 — 12:30  Mythbusters: Plenary Session — Lightning Talks
              Sponsored by Call2Recycle
Moderator: Matt Wolsfeld, University of Saskatchewan
Speakers have five minutes and ten slides prove or disprove a common waste-related myth.

• Myth: Glass is inert and not worth recycling — Chantelle Diakuw, SARCAN Recycling
• Myth: Compostable plastics solve the single-use crisis — Meg Dorwart, SWRC
• Myth: Pay-as-you-throw programs cause more illegal dumping — Daniel Mireault
• Myth: Environmental handling fees are just another tax grab— Ethan Richardson, SARRC
• Myth: Uranium waste needs to be transported for disposal — Tim Moulding, Ministry of Environment
• Myth: Reusable containers cannot be used by public food vendors — Kelsie Dale, Ministry of Health
• Myth: Curbside waste collection cannot be simplified — Jan d’Ailly, Eagle Vision Systems
• Myth: Landfills are irredeemable graveyards for junk— Dominique Turcotte, Ministry of Environment
• Myth: Landfill Scavenging has to be a dangerous liability — Michel Lefebvre, Tetra Tech
• Myth:  Leasing societies create excess waste — Henry Mutafya, SaskTel

1:00 — 2:00  Dark City: Concurrent Session C – Creating Effective Policy
  Sponsored by Product Care Recycling
Moderator: Colleen Dixon, Product Care

• Working Together to Reduce Waste in Saskatchewan — Brienne Bennett, Saskatchewan Ministry of Environment
• All Together Now: The Advantages and Limitations of Harmonization — Jay Illingworth, EPRA
• Prince Albert’s Plastic Shopping Bag Ban – Nisar Ghani, City of Prince Albert

1:00 — 2:00   I-Robot: Concurrent Session D – Robotics
Sponsored by Emterra Environmental
Moderator: Nolan Hubbard-Richards, SARCAN Recycling

• Machine Learning and AI. It’s not the future, it’s now, are you ready? — Jared Fedorchuk, Levis Technologies
• SamurAI Sorting Recyclables — Matthew Smith, Machinex
• Machine Learning and Data Collaboration in Waste Management — Sam Dietrich, Prairie Robotics

2:00 — 3:00 Serenity: Networking and Social Time    
Sponsored by Saskatchewan Association for Resource Recovery Corporation

Thursday, July 16

10:30-11:00 The Force Awakens: Virtual Coffee and Networking
Sponsored by Electronic Products Recycling Association — Saskatchewan

11:00 — 12:00 The Final Frontier: Fireside Chat — Circular Economy, Circular Thinking, Circular Practices — Frances Edmonds
Sponsored by Multi-Material Stewardship Western
Moderator: Kelly Goyer, MMSW

Christina Seidel from the Recycling Council of Alberta interviews Frances Edmonds, Head of Sustainable Impact at HP Canada about the circular economy, sustainable purchasing and more.

In her role as head of Sustainable Impact, Frances Edmonds is responsible for driving business from sustainability leadership. Focusing on Canadian’s sustainable procurement practices Frances is working to change how Canada buys.  She also oversees HP Canada’s full suite of corporate social responsibility programs including strategic partnerships with key nonprofit organizations and an industry leading volunteer program. Under Frances’s leadership, HP became the most sustainable technology company in Canada  in 2018.

From being a founder of WWF’s Living Planet @ Work and Living Planet @ Campus programs to her TEDx talk demonstrating the power of collaboration, Frances seeks new and innovative ways to leverage the power of HP to create meaningful change across Canada. Hear more in her recent podcast.

Frances also has a passion for environmental education developing and implementing global environmental education and volunteer programs for HP. She is frequently featured in the news as an expert resource for media on sustainable impact. In 2020 Frances was invited to participate on the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) expert panel on the Circular Economy with the report to be published in 2021.

Frances started her career with the UK Government as an enforcer of environmental health and safety requirements followed by her role as manager of environmental health and safety in Canada’s chemical and pharmaceutical industries. Frances has a degree in Environmental science from Bradford University (UK), a post graduate diploma in Occupational Health and Safety and is a Canadian Registered Safety Professional (CRSP).

12:30 — 1:30  Invasion of the Body Snatchers: Concurrent Session E – – Public Education & Engagement
 Sponsored by Carton Council of Canada
Moderator: Isabelle Faucher, Carton Council of Canada

• Waste Reclamation Fundamentals: Three critical concepts for recycling education  — Lori Koebel, Alberta Beverage Container Recycling Corp
• Beyond Education and Engagement – Fixing the contamination crisis at the source with standardized labels on recycling bins— Alex Bunker, Recycle Across America
• City of Regina Curbside Education — Derek Adam, City of Regina

12:30 — 1:30  War of the Worlds: Concurrent Session F – – Global Waste Issues
Sponsored by K-Light Recycling
Moderator: Ben Brodie, City of Saskatoon

• Exporting Waste Around the Globe: Why & How —  Jim Puckett, Basil Action Network
• The State of the Recovered Paper Markets — Bill Moore, Moore & Associates

1:30 — 3:00 Total Recall Networking and Social Time    

Thanks to Cleanfarms for sponsoring Grassroots & Student registrations.