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Conference Program

Expand Your Knowledge Here

WasteExpo’s conference program is your professional development opportunity of the year! The education and training that you’ll receive will help you sharpen your skills, learn best practices, and find innovative waste solutions. see first-hand in Las Vegas why over 75% of attendees report being satisfied with our conference program!

2024 Conference Tracks Include:

  • Operations, Fleet & Safety
  • Recycling & Landfill
  • Sustainability Talks
  • Business Insights & Policy
  • Technology & Innovation
  • Food Recovery Forum
  • Organics Recycling 

Speakers

FULL ROSTER COMING THIS MARCH!

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Workshops & Tours

Room: W224-225

Registration Fee: $135

Day: Thursday, May 9

Time: 8:30 am – 12:30 pm

Description:

Food Waste and Organics Diversion for All Waste Generators: Commercial, Residential, Multi-Family, Institutional, Event Venues

Workshop Leader: Gary A. Bilbro, Director of Sales, Ecosafe Zero Waste. Surrey, BC

This workshop will be focused on helping the attendee understand the processes required to implement and achieve a successful organics diversion program, no matter the type of location generating the food waste.  This workshop will include discussion of:

  • Benefits to our environment when we divert organics from landfill
  • A to Z process of how to easily divert food waste from landfill
  • Edible foods and feeding hungry people
  • More requirements to do the right thing – Legislation is making it required and easier
  • Benefits of compost for soils

This workshop will help any municipality, business, educational institution, or commercial entity that generates food scraps and currently sends it to landfill or incineration. The process will be shown to be easy, concise and compliant with all municipal or state regulations.

Room: W222-223

Registration Fee: $135

Day: Thursday, May 9

Time: 8:30 am – 12:30 pm

Description:

Introduction to Zero Waste Training

Workshop Leaders: Richard Anthony, Richard Anthony Associates, VP, ZWUSA and Chair, Zero Waste International Alliance, Christienne de Tournay, Zero Waste Consultant, and Laura Anthony, President, Zero Waste San Diego

Attendees will learn:

  • Why Zero Waste is the fastest, most cost-effective way communities can reduce climate change impacts, promote local sustainability, and create green jobs
  • How more than 250 U.S. municipalities are systematically pursuing high diversion and Zero Waste
  • What Zero Waste businesses – now in the thousands, are doing to help lead the way
  • How your community could move toward Zero Waste
  • Where to find the resources needed to further your own knowledge and practice of Zero Waste  

This class is lively, interactive, and taught by Zero Waste USA staff and board members, including Richard Anthony, a nationally renowned expert. The content is designed to be easy to retain, and the extensive resources are easy to access. It is valuable to municipal staff, haulers, decision-makers, advocates, and all interested in Zero Waste. Zero Waste USA awards certificates of completion to students who pass the open book exam and submit the evaluation.

Room: W217-218

Registration Fee: $135

REG Title: USGBC Sustainability Training/Certificate

Day: Thursday, May 9

Time: 8:30 am – 12:30 pm

Description:

Achieving Sustainability & Zero Waste Goals – The TRUE Approach

Workshop Leader: Celeste McMickle, Director of Client Solutions, TRUE Zero Waste certification program, United States Green Business Council (USGBC)

This workshop is intended for all who are looking for direction on achieving their sustainability and zero waste goals. Led by TRUE Director Celeste McMickle with USGBC, the workshop will be interactive and feature an overview of the TRUE Advisor which provides real life examples of how facilities, events, and construction projects can achieve certification for their project. The focus for the workshop will be on the achievement for all types of businesses including corporations, higher education, and operations as the target audience. Some of the activities will include a charrette on completing the TRUE planning tool for an example facility, along with group discussions and opportunities to problem solve unique challenges by implementing the TRUE program.

Key, workshop coverage areas will include:

  • Actual examples of how facilities and varied projects achieved goals.
  • Full overview of the USGBC’s TRUE certification program
  • Honest and open discussion of the real barriers
  • Steps for identifying where is best to start in your facility, business, organization
  • Strategies for successfully moving toward goal completion

Don’t miss this interactive workshop designed to jump-start your sustainability goal setting and attainment.

Room: W313

Registration Fee: $175 NWRA members; $225 non members

Day: Wednesday, May 8

Time: 8:30 am – 12:30 pm

Description:

NWRA Safety Symposium: Igniting Awareness About Fire Prevention & Safety Tips

Workshop Leader: Kirk M. Sander, Chief of Staff & Vice President, Safety and Standards, National Waste & Recycling Association

Every day, waste and recycling collection trucks, transfer stations, materials recovery facilities and the like face the potential threat of a fire. Safety professionals within the industry teach fire prevention and safety tips, but it’s an ongoing effort to keep fires at bay. To ensure you and your team are equipped with the right knowledge and tools to combat a potential fire in a facility or truck, the National Waste & Recycling Association (NWRA) and industry safety experts are hosting a hands-on safety symposium. Come learn fire prevention best practices, effective safety tips, up-to-date information on the dangers of having a fire, how to mitigate a loss and what the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s changes to the fire brigade standard (29 CFR 1910.156) mean for the waste and recycling industry.

$55

Thursday, May 9

9:00am

Las Vegas Livestock is the only permitted food scrap feeding facility in the state of Nevada and operated by 6th generation family members.  You will see how food waste is processed and fed to livestock.  LVL uses livestock to address two of society's issues: reducing waste and providing a sustainable, high quality protein.

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Spotlight Sessions

CEO Spotlight: Catching Up with Ron Mittelstaedt

Back at the helm of Waste Connections, President and CEO Ron Mittelstaedt sits down with National Waste & Recycling Association Interim President and CEO Jim Riley for a candid conversation about what it’s been like transitioning from executive chairman back to president and CEO; how the company continues to grow its culture hinged on a philosophy of servant leadership; how Waste Connections is addressing challenges such as safety and labor; how the company is “doubling down on human capital;” what’s next for Waste Connections; and more.

Speakers:
Ronald J. Mittelstaedt, President & Chief Executive Officer - Waste Connections
Jim Riley, Interim President and Chief Executive Officer - National Waste & Recycling Association

 

 

Empowering Engagement: Women's Affinity Groups as Catalysts for Organizational Success

Women’s affinity groups play an important role when it comes to overall organizational success for companies in the solid waste recycling industry. From providing support to employees, to building connections based on shared characteristics or interests, to improving communication and collaboration, these affinity groups are part of a critical strategy to enhance employee engagement. In this Spotlight Session, presented by the National Waste & Recycling Association’s Women’s Council, industry experts will share how affinity groups can build a sense of community and belonging for employees by connecting people in a social and professional way and encouraging interaction between employees. They’ll also discuss how creating and maintaining these groups can reduce employee turnover and drive labor cost savings. Tune in to learn more about successful women’s affinity groups and best practices for starting your own.

Moderator: Amanda Curtis, American Waste Control

Speakers: Sam Podgorny, ESG |Pam Caron, Risk Strategies  | Sue Netherton, Waste Connections | Sal Conigolio, Recology | Chris Hawn, Machinex

 

Climbing the Ladder: Insights from Young Professionals in the C-suite

In the waste and recycling industry, no two companies or positions are the same. Therefore, leadership styles vary, and different skills are needed for different roles. As you prepare to grow your career within the industry, join this session and hear from our panel on: how do you navigate the pathway to the top? What skills do you need to have in your toolbelt to be a senior leader? How can you lead by example and set your team up for success? Learn from and celebrate some of the industry’s young professionals who are already making an impact in the C-suite. Through storytelling and examples, they’ll share how they climbed the ladder to the top, and what opportunities and roadblocks they faced along the way.

Moderator: Mallory Szczepanski, NWRA

Speakers: To come

 

 

 

"Recycling is BS"–Combating Myths & Altering Perceptions–For Everyone’s Sake

8 out of 10 Americans report recycling is worth the effort, yet in homes with curbside recycling collection, over half of recyclables end up in the trash. Why? We know recycling is complex and highly interdependent. We also know there is a correlation between confidence and positive recycling behaviors.

The Recycling Partnership reports 84% of respondents said seeing a card with basic recycling information would give them more confidence in recycling but only a quarter of them remember receiving the information already. Only 47% said they believe their recyclables are always or usually made into new things.

We’ve all tried education programs to help bridge the intention-action gap. How do we truly rebuild confidence in the system so that the recycling is done, done properly, therefore aiding contamination reduction, process improvement and efficiency and lead to more resource recovery and revenue.

Some of it is tied to unlocking behavior change by using the right tools, motivation and illustrating how and why to recycle.Hear key research findings into what it will take—from all of us in the value chain—to incite the change necessary to accelerate re cycling best practices.

Speakers: Cody Marshall, Chief System Optimization Officer, The Recycling Partnership | Nicholas Trout, Supplier Development Administrator II, Sourcewell

Co-Located Events

Learn ways to solve the social and environmental issues of wasted food as well as avenues to profit from its recovery and reuse. When you register for the Food Recovery Forum, you also receive 3 days of educational and technical sessions on Organics Recycling.

Sponsored by Stericycle, tackle the healthcare industry's biggest challenges at the only annual conference in the U.S. strictly devoted to healthcare waste! The conference focuses on regulatory, legislative and technical issues affecting the healthcare waste industry.

Presented by Stifel, get business advice from investors and leaders from top public and private waste companies. Gain insights to succeed with a full day of learning, analysis, and networking you won’t find anywhere else. Seating is limited!

Join industry leaders as they discuss how the waste and recycling industry takes on plastics, packaging, and other environmental challenges – and our role in building a sustainable future.

Learn ways to solve the social and environmental issues of wasted food as well as avenues to profit from its recovery and reuse. When you register for the Food Recovery Forum, you also receive 3 days of educational and technical sessions on Organics Recycling.

Sponsored by Stericycle, tackle the healthcare industry's biggest challenges at the only annual conference in the U.S. strictly devoted to healthcare waste! The conference focuses on regulatory, legislative and technical issues affecting the healthcare waste industry.

Presented by Stifel, get business advice from investors and leaders from top public and private waste companies. Gain insights to succeed with a full day of learning, analysis, and networking you won’t find anywhere else. Seating is limited!

Join industry leaders as they discuss how the waste and recycling industry takes on plastics, packaging, and other environmental challenges – and our role in building a sustainable future.

Special Events

 

Make more out of your time at WasteExpo by participating in our special events! From lively welcome parties and happy hours, to memorable experiences like our Trashion show and Awards Reception, there are more opportunities than ever before to network and expand your waste horizons.