Waste & Recycling Topics include:

Business: Financial, Leadership, Communications

• Mergers & Acquisitions – sourcing opportunities; preparing your company; negotiating valuation; reps & warranties; closing and integration
  Succession Planning Best Practices
• Financial Tips for Independent Haulers - Access to Capital; Pricing Models; Cash Flow; Profitability; Potential Markets; Utilizing Drivers; Efficient Operations
• Privatization of public waste operations
  
• How to start and grow a small garbage business
• Regulations & issues for siting, permitting and operating waste facilities
• Enhancing customer service programs for independent haulers
• Negotiating contracts best practices - successfully bidding municipal contracts; navigating current landscape; new trends in public/private partnerships
• Initiatives to improve the bottom line: cost optimization, operating efficiency
• Operations Management - C&D MRFs; single stream/commingled MRFs; transfer stations
• Attracting employees to waste industry – millennials; women; drivers; mechanics; disadvantaged groups; diversity; benefit programs; immigration issues
• LEED's training initiatives
• Consumer education - litter control programs; contamination programs; curbside recycling programs; proven case studies from municipalities
• Enhancing customer service programs/customer communications
• Best Practices (driver training, safety programs, media management, consumer education; technology implementation, etc.)

Collection & Transfer

• Overcoming challenges of collection in unique environments
• New Cart & Collection Technologies – Carts; Dumpsters; Bins, etc.
• Residential & Commercial waste collection: methods, vehicles, containers, case studies
• Automation – Pros & Cons
• Hauling and transfer station operations - Transfer Stations sighting, floors, improved designs

C&D

• Material Beneficial Reuse
• Achieving zero waste through C&D material recover & reuse
• Managing & marketing C&D fines
• Certifying your C&D recycling facility
• Overcoming barriers to the acceptance of post-consumer products (such as asphalt, shingles, etc.)

Commercial Waste

• Commercial waste zoning systems – public vs. private
• Reducing contamination in commercial waste recycling – best practices, education, technology and infrastructure
• Public vs. Private commercial waste contract negotiation
• Commercial waste diversion and reduction through circularity

Conversion Technology

• Thermal technologies
• Chemical Processing
• Hydrolosis

Data & Technology

• Data Collection & implementation case studies – concrete examples of benchmarking; performance measures; standardization
• GPS route optimization software and work management systems resulting in real savings
• Using Technology and data to increase operational efficiency – case studies with real results from hauler
• New technology adoption/implementation case studies by city/municipality/private hauler/waste authority
• Automation: Trucks, carts, MRFs
• RFID Technology implementation and results
• Internet of Things (IoT) & Smart Cities: Pilot programs, case studies, real data & results
• Drone Technology – case studies, examples, innovative uses in industry

Fleet & Equipment

• Equipment financing best practices - Municipal Lease/Purchase, Commercial Lease/Purchase; buy vs. own
• Maintenance - New ideas to reduce downtime; Preventative maintenance; Predictive maintenance; tire maintenance; engine maintenance
• Garbage Trucks - Autonomous trucks; Electric; Battery-electric (what works, challenges, why they cost so much, mechanical issues, etc.)
• Natural Gas - Converting fleets to natural gas (pros & cons); CNG implementation process & costs
• Upcoming clean vehicle technology regulations
• Truck Weights
• Telematics and Electrification of chassis

Special Waste

• Hazardous waste management
• Textile Waste
• Carpet Waste
• Cannabis waste management – Collection; Disposal; Regulations; Transportation Concerns
• Medical waste recycling - Expired medications; Sharps management Opioid Crisis

Landfills

• Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
• Odor Control
• Elevated Temperatures
• Coal Ash
• Leachate Management – Collection; Policy; Transportation; Treatment (Thermal; Pre-treatment standards)
• Emerging Landfill Technologies

Recycling

• Recycling Market Updates & Trends (Plastics, Glass, Fiber, etc.)
• New recycling strategies, policies, & programs for current recycling market
• Electronic waste management and certification
• Emerging technologies and resources to process hard to recycle materials – new programs; innovative solutions; case studies
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics – Associated costs; pros & cons of installing; real results from implementation; success stories; failures & challenges
• Future Regulation Concerns - China’s Blue Sky Plan; Basel Convention, etc.
• How to Retrofit your MRFs
• MRF Operation Best Practices
• New Solutions to Contamination Issues
• Success stories on waste reduction and zero waste
• Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) Systems
• Sustainable Materials Management
• Marine Plastic Pollution
• Lithium Ion Batteries
• Sustainability / EPR – new products, case studies, programs, solutions
• Corporate Sustainability / Responsibility
• Developing recycling programs – municipal, commercial, residential, public schools
• Waste management programs in developing countries

Recycling market alternatives

• Solar energy solutions for recycling facilities
• Global waste & recycling programs - case studies, trends, data
• Single Use Plastics – bans; legislation; solutions; upcoming trends; international programs
• Sustainable Materials Management (Life Cycle Analysis)
• Ramifications of Circular Economy
• Circular Economy, Sustainable Materials Management
• Circularity
• Recycling Market Updates by Region Across U.S.
• Municipal recycling/zero waste goals in the current market

Regulatory

• Current U.S. court case overview: solid waste & recycling bans & litigation
• Regulatory changes and the impacts that directly affect the waste industry
• Labor trends/laws
• Franchising

Safety

• Workplace violence – active shooter, hostile customer, the art of termination
• Safety equipment & solutions – case studies of customers using tools and proven results
• Health & Wellness/Ergonomics specific to waste industry
• Safety culture & training programs
• Distracted Driving
• Fire Safety – Truck fire prevention/solutions; facility fire prevention/solutions; insuring facilities
• OSHA regulation Updates
• FMCSA Rule Updates

 

All Submissions are due September 30, 2021