Agenda

Sustainable Oregon 2023

SUSTAINABLE OREGON IS SOLD OUT! 

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Monday, 10/9

Time Session/Activity Room Sponsored By

7:00am-11:00am

Exhibit Hall Set-Up

Long House

  

TBD

PRE-CONFERENCE TOURS: Dahl Disposal/Georgia-Pacific Juno Facility and Oregon Coast Aquarium/OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center’s Vertical Tsunami Center (registration required) - REGISTER HERE!

 

  

10:00am-11:30am

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOP: Operationalizing Equity and Inclusion in the Recycling Field (registration required) - REGISTER HERE!

 

  

1:00pm-1:15pm

Welcome and Land Acknowledgment

Council House

 

1:15pm-2:45pm

Opening Plenary: RMA Implementation Update

Council House

Oregon DEQ

2:45pm-3:30pm

Networking Break

Long House

ORRASonoco

3:30pm-5:00pm

Concurrent Sessions

 

 

 

Scaling Reuse and Shifting Consumer Behavior

Lincoln Pine

Lane County

 

Women in Waste: How Can We Break the Stereotypes and Advance Diversity?

Council House

 

5:00pm-7:00pm

Recyclers of Color & LGBTQI+ Networking Reception

Gallery

Start Consulting

5:00pm-7:00pm

Networking Reception

Long House

Swire Coca-Cola

 

Tuesday, 10/10

Time Session/Activity Room Sponsored By

7:45am-8:30am

Networking Breakfast/Table Topics

Long House

 City of Eugene

8:30am-9:30am

Concurrent Sessions

 

 

 

2023 Legislative Successes and Future Priorities

Council House

 

 

 

Outreach & Marketing: Responsibly Reaching Non-English Speakers

Lincoln Pine

Clackamas County

9:30am-9:45am

Break

Long House

  

9:45am-11:15am

Plenary: EPR in Oregon: PROs' Perspective

Council House

Circular Action Alliance

11:15am-11:45am

Break

Long House

B&B Leasing

11:45am-12:30pm

Concurrent Sessions

 

 

 

Techniques for Welcoming Diverse Stakeholders

Lincoln Pine

  

 

Diverting Waste and Developing Reuse Workforce through Creative Collaboration

Council House

 

 

12:30pm-1:30pm

Networking Lunch

Long House

 Prode Disposal

1:30pm-2:30pm

Concurrent Sessions

 

 

 

Implementing Mattress EPR in Oregon

Lincoln Pine

Mattress Recycling Council

 

Rural Communities in Action

Council House

 

2:30pm-3:30pm

Networking Break

Long House

Gresham Sanitary Service

HGD

 

Concurrent Sessions

 

 

3:00pm-4:30pm

Partners in Prosperity: How Public Private Partnerships Can Accelerate Equitable Reuse

Council House

City of Portland BPS

3:30pm-4:30pm

PaintCare and Metro Paint: A Look at Reuse and Employee Perspectives

Lincoln Pine

PaintCare

Washington County

4:30pm-5:30pm

Sustainable Oregon Awards

Council House

EFI

Marion County

5:30pm-6:30pm

Cocktail Reception

Terrace/Long House

Republic Services

6:30pm-8:00pm

Banquet Dinner

Long House

OBRC

 

Wednesday, 10/11

Time Session/Activity Room Sponsored By

7:45am-8:30am

Networking Breakfast/Table Topics

Long House

 Resource Recycling

8:30am-9:30am

Concurrent Sessions

 

 

 

Applying Behavior Change to Improve Single Family Recycling

Council House

  

 

Options Managing Food Waste - Case Studies

Lincoln Pine

 

9:30am-9:45am

Break

Long House

 

9:45am-10:45am

Concurrent Sessions

 

  

 

Collaboration at Every Level: How to Successfully Launch a District-Wide School Composting Program

Lincoln Pine

 

 

Plastics in the Environment

Council House

  

10:45am-11:15am

Networking Break

Long House

 

11:15am-12:15pm

Closing Plenary: Recycling Markets and Policy

Council House

 

12:15pm-12:30pm

Closing Remarks 

Council House

 

 

Pre-Conference Activities

REGISTER FOR WORKSHOP OR TOURS HERE.

WORKSHOP: Operationalizing Equity and Inclusion in the Recycling Field

Monday, 10/9, 10:00am-11:30am on site at Salishan, capacity limited to 30 attendees, $50 to attend.

 

This interactive workshop led by Start Consulting will focus on identifying the ways in which your organization can integrate equity, justice, and belonging best practices into programs through the development of an equity statement and goal setting. The workshop will be a space for you to talk about your experiences integrating equity into your work, learn about tools you can use to make incremental program changes, and discuss your success stories and pitfalls in small groups. 

The workshop will be presented in two parts:

  • Internal Practices: to address workplace culture, leadership buy-in, and equitable actions to support staff.
  • External Programs: to support how your organization engages with users of recycling and circular systems.

SPEAKERS

TOUR: Dahl Disposal/Georgia-Pacific Juno Facility 

Monday, 10/9, capacity is limited to 15 per group. $25 to attend.

PLEASE NOTE:

  • Due to driver shortages on the coast, we are unable to provide transportation to this tour. Attendees must drive/carpool to attend.
  • There will be TWO different tour times that you can register for.
    • Group A will run 8:00am - 10:00am
    • Group B will run 9:00am - 11:00am
  

This tour will start at Dahl Disposal, which provides garbage, recycling, and yard waste collection services to communities in the Central Oregon Coast communities. They then process and bale this trash for delivery to Georgia-Pacific Juno.

The second leg of the tour will take us up the road to the Georgia-Pacific Juno facility which processes all the waste collected by Dahl.

Juno is a breakthrough waste recovery technology that can process waste and recover and sanitize valuable raw materials.  Juno is proven to recover up to 90% of materials it processes, diverting them from landfills and incinerators. These materials – things like paper fiber, food, plastics, and metals – are then circulated back into the economy for reuse as raw materials.

TOUR: Oregon Coast Aquarium/OSU’s Hatfield Marine Science Center’s Vertical Tsunami Center 

Monday, 10/9, 9a-11am; fee is $45 for members/$75 for nonmembers. Price includes a boxed lunch from Ultralife Cafe 

PLEASE NOTE: Due to driver shortages on the coast, we are unable to provide transportation to this tour. Attendees must drive/carpool to attend.

  

During this tour, you'll get a behind the scenes look at Sustainable Oregon 2022 winner the Oregon Coast Aquarium's sustainability efforts and their work to educate and reduce marine plastics. For the second part of the tour, you'll visit OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Center's Vertical Tsunami Center. The Gladys Valley Marine Studies Building is engineered to survive a magnitude 9.0+ earthquake and resulting tsunami. Its rooftop is designed to be an emergency assembly site for more than 900 people after an earthquake, and is the only structure of this kind in Oregon.

Session Descriptions

2023 Legislative Successes and Future Priorities

Tuesday, 10/10, 8:30am-9:30am

Sponsored By

 

A look back at the 2023 legislative successes, the upcoming short session, and priorities for 2025.

SPEAKERS

Applying Behavior Change to Improve Single Family Recycling

Wednesday, 10/11, 8:30am-9:30am

Sponsored By

 

The Recycling Partnership will share their new research from The Center for Sustainable Behavior & Impact that can help communities optimize recycling including. If every home in the U.S. had adequate access to recycling, we would STILL lose more than half of all residential recyclable material – that amounts to roughly 15 million tons of economic value and environmental benefit lost each year. The reason: many Americans are confused about what and how to recycle and lack confidence when it comes to recycling. If we want to improve recycling, and ultimately mobilize household participation in the circular economy, we need to strengthen recycling behavior in homes.  

SPEAKERS

Collaboration at Every Level: How to Successfully Launch a District-Wide School Composting Program

Wednesday, 10/11, 9:45am-10:45am

Sponsored By

 

This session will dive into communication, process, and data collection for developing a district-wide composting in these rural schools' cafeterias. Rural communities tend to have a harder time accessing resources, such as solid waste programs and services like garbage, recycling, and composting. Removing barriers to access is important and this session will detail the planning process and the steps taken to ensure a successful, efficient, and effective transition to composting in each school.  

SPEAKERS

Diverting Waste and Developing Reuse Workforce through Creative Collaboration

Tuesday, 10/10, 11:30am-12:15pm

Sponsored By

 

SPEAKERS

EPR in Oregon: PROs' Perspective

Tuesday, 10/10, 9:45am-11:15am

Sponsored By

Several Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) are actively setting up plans to inject millions of dollars into Oregon’s recycling system to meet the requirements of the Recycling Modernization Act. Join us for a moderated discussion with two PROs who are submitting plans to DEQ to serve in this role to learn about their organizations and their experiences implementing EPR programs.

SPEAKERS

Implementing Mattress EPR in Oregon

Tuesday, 10/10, 1:30pm-2:30pm

Sponsored By

Mattress Recycling Council

Oregon’s Mattress Stewardship Act of 2022 (SB 1576) is set to begin collections in 2024. Funds collected on purchases of new program mattresses and box springs will support free, convenient, and accessible collection opportunities throughout the state once these products reach the end of their useful life. Terry McDonald, Executive Director of St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County (SVdP), will share perspectives gained as a decades-long nonprofit pioneer in mattress recycling in Oregon as well as California (DR3) and through their work in training other nonprofit organizations to manage logistics and secondary market challenges of mattress recycling services in both urban and rural communities. Mike O’Donnell (Chief Operating Officer) and Justine Fallon (Director of Operations) with the nonprofit Mattress Recycling Council (MRC) will provide an overview of the key elements of their recent proposal to DEQ for implementing this new system in our state (Oregon is the fourth state to adopt EPR for mattresses).

SPEAKERS

Options Managing Food Waste - Case Studies

Wednesday, 10/11, 8:30am-9:30am

Sponsored By

 

This presentation will provide the insights and practical lessons learned of different ways to manage food waste as shared through a series of case studies. With the recent surge in climate action-based legislation regarding the management of food waste, this presentation will provide insights into how different communities are employing a variety of programs to use this material beneficially. Key insights will be drawn from our work with various communities, each seeking to beneficially use food waste instead of disposal. Case study examples will be provided from several communities, including King County (Greater Seattle region), Lane County (Springfield & Eugene), Oregon Metro region, and Sacramento County (including City of Folsom & City of Sacramento).

SPEAKERS

Plastics in the Environment

Wednesday, 10/11, 9:45am-10:45am

Sponsored By

 

This session will feature a presentation from Dr. Susanne Brander, ecotoxicologist and associate professor at OSU. Dr. Brander's presentation will feature the work from her lab’s research, which encompasses the fields of toxicology, endocrinology, and ecology. Her current main focus is on the effects of emerging pollutants such as micro/nanoplastics and pesticides, as well as changing climate on aquatic organisms, but her work spans the links between ecological and human health. Her talk will focus on the occurrence and effects of microplastics in the environment, from terrestrial to aquatic ecosystems, as well as in our own homes.

SPEAKERS

Outreach & Marketing: Responsibly Reaching Non-English Speakers

Tuesday, 10/10, 8:30am-9:30am

Sponsored By

Clackamas County

Successful outreach and marketing public programs to Spanish speakers can be challenging. This session covers key topics such as language access and language integrity and perspectives on what works - and what doesn’t - when it comes to building connection and engagement with communities whose primary language is Spanish. The session will include information about strategies for increasing access and developing public outreach materials and campaigns directed toward Spanish speakers and how to include elements that will help you and your team engage with Spanish-speaking audiences.

SPEAKERS

PaintCare and Metro Paint: A Look at Reuse and Employee Perspectives

Tuesday, 10/10, 3:30pm-4:30pm

Sponsored By

PaintCare

Washington County

Following a successful series of pilot reuse events in CA during 2022, PaintCare is expanding efforts outside of CA and coordinating their first pilot paint reuse or giveaway event in August 2023 at the Centro Cultural in Cornelius. PaintCare is working with Centro Cultural, Washington County, and CleanEarth to plan, market, and implement the event. The session will review the impetus, planning, and execution of the reuse events (including the pilot program in CA), discussion of outcomes, lessons learned, and participant engagement. This presentation will also include an overview of Metro Paint and the role this facility plays in the Oregon PaintCare program. Additionally, this presentation will feature personal stories of two employees perspectives and an overview of their development at Metro Paint.

SPEAKERS

Partners in Prosperity: How Public Private Partnerships Can Accelerate Equitable Reuse

Tuesday, 10/10, 3:00pm-4:30pm

Sponsored By

City of Portland BPS

 

This session will provide an overview of various existing public-private partnerships that support and promote equitable reuse in the United States, and some new operational and policy approaches that deserve attention and municipal support. The session will also feature Reuse Seattle - a City-led initiative that brings together reuse providers and local businesses to create practical solutions and standardized systems that will help Seattle move from single-use to reusable food service ware. We are working with local, regional, and international partners to make reuse scalable, accessible, and affordable for residents and businesses.

SPEAKERS

Recycling Markets and Policy

Wednesday, 10/11, 11:15am-12:15pm

Sponsored By

 

Two national recycling experts offer a look at pricing trends for key paper, plastic, and metal grades over the past year, describing the factors influencing values of recyclables now and in the months to come. They will also explore the elements of Oregon's Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act (and other new recycling policy initiatives across North America) that are designed to insulate communities, processors, and others from the extremes of market volatility in the future.

SPEAKERS

RMA Implementation Update

Monday, 10/9, 1:00pm-2:30pm

Sponsored By

Oregon DEQ

Senate Bill 582 took effect January 1, 2022. Changes to Oregon's recycling system will begin July 1, 2025. In this presentation, DEQ will provide an update on the implementation progress to date. Topics will include: overview of the RMA, new roles and obligations, how the system will change, equity implications, and timeline and schedule for various components of the RMA. DEQ will also share what is known thus far about specific topics of interest, such as the recycling acceptance lists and the equity study.

SPEAKERS

Rural Communities in Action

Tuesday, 10/10, 1:30pm-2:30pm

Sponsored By

 

The Plastic Pollution and Recycling Modernization Act aims to expand access to recycling services utilizing depots and collection events. Find out how rural communities in Oregon run successful programs to provide collection opportunities beyond the curb.

SPEAKERS

Scaling Reuse and Shifting Consumer Behavior

Monday, 10/9, 3:30pm-5:00pm

Sponsored By

Lane County

Out with single use - in with reuse! Reuse is happening in a big way and growing! This session features trailblazing women-led businesses and agencies showcasing their success in tackling the most insidious materials in our waste stream: single-use items. Sharing their dedication to scale out reuse, they will offer insights to local and national reuse efforts. Join us with your ideas and questions to make this session even more interactive and engaging!

SPEAKERS

Techniques for Welcoming Diverse Stakeholders

Tuesday, 10/10, 11:30am-12:15pm

Sponsored By

 

This session will present several techniques used to welcome stakeholder participation in two recent Metro projects. The first project developed a vision for implementing Oregon's mattress EPR in the greater Portland area. The second project is an ongoing exploration of relevant requirements for regional facilities that sort recycling from homes and businesses. Attendees will have the opportunity to practice a technique - stakeholder mapping.

SPEAKERS

Women in Waste: How Can We Break the Stereotypes and Advance Diversity?

Monday, 10/9, 3:30pm-5:00pm

Sponsored By

 

While we have paid significant attention to improving our waste management systems, gender inequality is still an issue in this sector. Even though women play a critical role in supporting waste reduction, they have been traditionally underrepresented in all levels of employment of the waste sector. In this session, we will hear from women who are making individual and collective decisions to support diversity and inclusion in this industry. We invite you to hear their stories and learn about what they have been doing to break stereotypes and the barriers to upward mobility. Our panel will dive deep in this discussion and reflect on opportunities, actions, and gender-informed interventions to increase the participation of women and promote diversity throughout the waste management hierarchy.

SPEAKERS