Day One - Wednesday, 9 February

go to pre-conference workshops GO TO DAY TWO
register

You can attend Waste Strategy Summit in-person or virtual,  though in-depth learning workshop sessions are in-person only.

08:15
Registration and welcome coffee

The Future of Waste Management in Australia

08:50
Opening remarks from the Chair

Julie Morgan
Executive Director - Environment & Sustainability
Transport for NSW

09:00
Ministerial Address (Live via Zoom)

The Hon Trevor Evans
Minister for Reduction and Management
Australian Government

09:15
International Keynote: Creating a citywide zero-waste culture (Pre-recorded & Live Q&A)
  • Examining how the city of San Francisco used a combination approach to achieve its zero waste by 2020 program
  • Discussing the "Fantastic Three," a citywide three-stream residential and commercial kerbside collection program and the outcomes it generated in waste reduction
  • Understanding how, through strategic planning, you can reduce upstream waste through material management and setting responsible policies

Soko Made
City Government Zero Waste Senior Coordinator
San Francisco Department of Environment

09:45
Taking on the challenge of soft plastics in Australia

Margaret Stuart
Head of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability
Nestlé Oceania

10:15
Morning tea and networking
Addressing the Landfill Crisis

11:15
Best practice strategies to reduce the use of landfill in disposing of waste products
  • Addressing the landfill crisis at a local level through waste reduction and recycling programs
  • Examining the environmental costs of a landfill and developing better end-of-life management practices for putrescible waste
  • Quantifying the impacts and costs to the local environment from greenhouse gas emissions from organic waste decomposition

Kylie Douglas
Senior Landfill Engineer
City of Greater Bendigo

Embracing the Circular Economy

11:45
Filling the Knowledge Gaps in the Circular Economy
  • Education is key - building and expanding the circular economy for your organisation; how to inform, empower and deliver on your promises.

Ricki Hersburgh
Executive Director
Plastics Oceans Australia

12:15
Lunch and networking

13:15
PUTTING THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY TO USE IN SUPPORTING A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT (Live via Zoom)
  • Outlining how businesses can determine which sustainability attributes are the most environmentally friendly
  • Developing a strategy to make recycling easier for the consumer
  • Closing the loop; how remanufactured items are finding their way into everything from fence posts to park benches

Lisa McLean
Chief Executive Officer
NSW Circular

13:45
Is Australia ready to develop a circular economy? (Pre-recorded & Live Q&A)
  • Explaining the role of The Australian Circular Economy Hub
  • Beyond the hype: what are the critical factors the Australian waste industry need to address before we can truly embrace a circular economy?
  • Outlining the most significant challenges currently preventing increased adoption of circular economy principles
  • Building enablers to aim for a zero-waste culture across Australia

Nicole Garofano
Head of Circular Economy Development
Planet Ark

14:15
Unlocking the economic potential of the circular economy (Pre-recorded & Live Q&A)
  • Examining whether enough is being done to create an actual circular economy and how to develop emerging opportunities for the remanufacturing and reprocessing of everyday items
  • Is there an opportunity to use subscription licensing of products to allow manufacturers to reclaim items that have reached the end of their lifecycle?
  • Highlighting the need for long-term strategy and investment if Australia is going to have the infrastructure and education to unlock the circular economy fully

Sarah King
Senior Research Consultant – Circular Economy
CSIRO

14:45
Afternoon tea and networking
Product Stewardship and Reducing Waste Packaging in Australia

15:15
Panel Discussion: Driving Australia’s Transition to a Circular Economy for Packaging
  • Collective Impact provides the strategic approach for the transition to the circular economy – examples of how industry partnering together is driving collective impact
  • Our Packaging Future – 3 Outcomes – opportunities for driving change
  • Eliminating the idea of waste for consumers by providing easy to use recycling solutions – discussion on how kerbside and closed loop programs can work together effectively

Moderator:

Brooke Donnelly
Chief Executive Officer
Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation

Panellists:

Margaret Stuart
Head of Corporate Affairs and Sustainability
Nestlé Oceania

Richard Smith 
Director of Sustainability 
Amcor

Andrew Smith
General Manager – Sustainability 
PACT Group

Vikas Ahuja
Sustainability Director
Tetra Pak

Jonathon West
Executive General Manager - Strategy & Joint Ventures
Pact Group

15:55
2025 National Packaging Targets – how the Australian wine industry is using a collective impact model to achieve the 2025 targets
  • Refreshing your knowledge on the 2025 National Packaging Targets
  • Looking into how the wine industry is working to meet the targets through the Wine Industry Sustainable Packaging Alliance (WISPA)
  • How WISPA is finding opportunities to engage with internal and external stakeholders to seek ongoing improvements to product sustainability

Tim Hackett
Quality, Safety and Environment Manager
Henschke

16:25
Going beyond recycling – driving reduction and reuse for packaging
  • APCO and the Collective Impact Model – the big picture
  • Collective impact in Action – three sector-based projects within Horticulture, Healthcare and Dairy manufacturing, each resulting in a diverse set of industry-led outcomes
  • Key steps in building a CI initiative in your own sector

Jayne Paramor
Sustainability Manager
APCO

16:55
Closing remarks from the Chair
17:00
End of Conference Day One and start of Networking drinks