SPC Impact 2019

The first stop of this tour will be the University of Washington campus. Tour attendees will get to learn about the many sustainability projects and programs on campus – the tour led by the UW Recycling team.

Following UW’s visit, attendees will be shuttled to Taco Time Northwest to their location on Elliott Avenue in Seattle, WA for lunch and a tour of their front-of-house, single bin composting waste diversion program.  A behind-the-scenes look at the back-of-the-house waste sorting system will be included, along with an account of how Taco Time NW arrived at the single compost bin as a solution, and a Q&A with Wes Benson, the Sustainability Manager for Taco Time Northwest.

Schedule:

Part 1: University of Washington
8:00 am – Departure from Westin Seattle
8:30-9:30 am – Tour
9:30 am – Departure from UW towards Taco Time

Part 2: Taco Time
10:00 am – Arrival to Taco Time and start of tour
11:00 am  – Lunch at Taco Time
11:45 am – Departure back to Westin Seattle
12:15 pm – Arrival back to Westin Seattle

Please note: This tour is not included for PFAS Summit Only attendees and Sustainable Apparel + Retail Deep Dive Session Only attendees.

This tour is FULL.

See how Microsoft is innovating towards tomorrow’s world in the Envisioning Center

The Envisioning Center allows visitors to experience how our emerging technologies and current investments could transform life at home, at work and on the go, and to see first-hand our vision for the future of productivity in response to this fast-changing world.

The center features immersive, hands-on experience prototypes set about five years out in three environments:
A series of dynamic workplaces demonstrate how people will work and collaborate in new ways
An ‘on the go’ environment features augmented retail and personalized, location-specific services
A domestic environment highlights a set of family, entertainment and home-productivity scenarios

The demo experiences are developed to reflect work across Microsoft’s design, research and engineering groups, ultimately helping shift customer and influence perceptions of Microsoft as a thought leader and innovator. Industry and government leaders, partners, and customers visit the Envisioning Center to experience and reflect on how technology will evolve and how emerging trends might shape their world and their organization.

Schedule:

8:20 am – Departure from Westin Seattle
8:55 am – Arrival at Microsoft Envisioning Center
9:00 -10:00 – Tour Group #1
10:00- 11:00 – Tour Group #2
11:00am – Departure back to event venue
11:30 am – Arrival back to Westin Seattle

Please note: This tour is not included for PFAS Summit Only attendees and Sustainable Apparel + Retail Deep Dive Session Only attendees.

The waitlist for this tour is FULL.

A tour of Recology’s recycling facility provides an in-depth overview of the steps involved in sorting and processing recyclables.  This experience at our state-of-the-art facility in South Seattle will help participants understand the recycling system and how their actions affect the process. Tours include a presentation from Recology’s Waste Zero Team, an introduction to our Artist-in-Residence program, and an up-close tour of the sorting line, where visitors will hear, see, and smell materials as they travel through a series of conveyor belts and high tech machines.

For your safety, all tour attendees are required to wear closed-toed shoes and long pants. A hard hat, safety glasses, and hi-vis vest will be provided and must be worn at all times. We recommend wearing clothing you do not mind getting dirty.

Schedule:
8:20am – Gather with group to board shuttle
8:30am – Departure from Westin Seattle
9:00am – Start of Tour
10:30-11:00am – Tour Finishes and Departure back to Westin Seattle
11:30 am – Approximate arrival back at Westin Seattle

Please note: This tour is not included for PFAS Summit Only attendees and Sustainable Apparel + Retail Deep Dive Session Only attendees.

The Bullitt Center is described by Architectural Digest as “the greenest office building in the world”. It was developed with a single goal – to show the world what’s possible in order to influence the development and operation of the built environment around the world. The Bullitt Center is the largest urban office building certified to meet the Living Building Challenge, the toughest set of environmental goals for building green buildings. Tours of the Bullitt Center begin in the second-floor lobby, and include the building’s mechanical and electrical rooms, the gray water and rain water treatment systems, non-flush composting toilets and the “irresistible” stairway.

Schedule:
8:30 am – Departure from Westin Seattle
9:00-10:00 am – Tour
10:30 am – Arrival Back at Westin

Please note: This tour is not included for PFAS Summit Only attendees and Sustainable Apparel + Retail Deep Dive Session Only attendees.

Join Seattle Made on a walking tour of five unique, local businesses residing in the historical heart of Seattle, Pike Place Market. On this tour, you’ll get to see behind the scenes of cool production spaces, get tasty samples from amazing food and beverage producers, and meet local business owners who make up the thriving community of local urban manufacturers driving sustainability standards of small businesses. The tour will include visits to: Soulever Chocolates, Honest Biscuits, indi chocolate, Old Stove Brewing, Eighth Generation, and Pike Place Brewing.

Schedule:

8:30 am – Departure from Westin Hotel to Pike Place Market (10-minute walk)
8:45 am – Tour starts
12:00 pm – Tour ends

*All production spaces are less than 5 minutes walking distance from each other, but we will be standing for most of the time. Please wear comfortable shoes. If you plan on participating in the tasting at the breweries, please bring your ID.

Please note: This tour is not included for PFAS Summit Only attendees and Sustainable Apparel + Retail Deep Dive Session Only attendees.

This session will take place offsite at the REI Flagship Store and will  center around topics such as keeping gear in circulation, circular economy, reverse supply chains, deploying sustainability programs (from procurement to textile recycling) package recycling to showcase the programs and projects that apparel and retail companies have in place or plan to deploy. What works, what doesn’t, lessons learned and plans ahead.

Schedule:

8:30 am: Departure from Westin Seattle
9:00 am: Arrival + start of the session
12:00 pm: Session ends
12:45 pm: Arrival back to Westin Seattle

Please note: All registrants must check-in at registration before boarding the bus to attend the session.

This session is FULL.

Today we bid farewell to a friend who served us well. Protective, efficient, attractive; the whole package. With its purpose fulfilled, it was tragically cut down in its prime and unceremoniously tossed aside. Its maker didn’t wish for it to land in the landfill; no, it’s destined for a better place. Smart, responsible design will give it new life serving another product on its journey to consumers. How do we provide this fate for the packaging we create? Find out in this hands-on ideas lab about exploring design for recyclability or responsible disposal.

Hosting over 2.5 million visitors annually, CenturyLink Field and Event Center is one of the busiest venues of its kind.  As the premier sports and entertainment venue in the Pacific Northwest, CenturyLink Field not only hosts the loudest fans in the world for Seahawks and Sounders games but also plays host to the biggest names in entertainment from Beyoncé to U2 and Kenny Chesney.  Attached to the stadium, the CenturyLink Field Event Center is home to consumer and trade shows as well as concerts and private corporate events.

CenturyLink Field and Event Center is a leader in sustainable practices among sports and entertainment facilities.  As a founding member of the Green Sports Alliance, reducing our environmental impact is a priority for the Seahawks and CenturyLink Field.  Over 96% of all waste generated at the stadium and event center annually is diverted from landfill. In addition to a robust recycling and composting program, great strides in resource and utility conservation have been achieved.  Water consumption has been reduced by 1.3M gallons annually and a solar array installed on the roof of the CenturyLink Field Event Center provides about one-quarter of our annual electrical needs. 90% of cleaning products used at the stadium are Green Seal certified and when possible, ionized water is used to clean further reducing chemical use in cleaning.

Food sustainability is another important component of our program.  CenturyLink Field was the first Smart Catch certified stadium recognizing our commitment to serving sustainably harvested seafood.  CenturyLink Field serves local organic vegetables from Sound Sustainable Farms that were grown in compost created from stadium food waste.  In September of 2017, CenturyLink Field eliminated all plastic straws going to an ocean degradable alternative.

The tour of CenturyLink Field and Event Center will provide an up close and personal look behind the scenes at the operation of this world-class football and soccer stadium.  Additionally, your tour will highlight some of the sustainability-focused practices here at the venue noted above.

Schedule:

9:00 am – Departure from Westin Seattle
9:30- 11:00 am – Tour
11:30 am – Arrival back at Westin Seattle

Please note: This tour is not included for PFAS Summit Only attendees and Sustainable Apparel + Retail Deep Dive Session Only attendees.

The Spheres are a result of innovative thinking about the character of a workplace and an extended conversation about what is typically missing from urban offices– a direct link to nature. The Spheres are home to more than 40,000 plants from the cloud forest regions of over 30 countries.

Attendees will gather in the lobby at 9:45 am to walk to the Spheres for a 10:00 am tour.

Theo Chocolate’s private tour for SPC Impact attendees will last one hour. The first half hour of the tour is seated and consists of a presentation on the origins of cacao and Theo Chocolate. You’ll also get to taste a wide sampling of our chocolate bars. The second half gives you a peek into our factory, where you’ll see how we make chocolate from bean to bar!

Schedule:

10:00 am – Depart Westin Seattle
10:30 am – Tour
12:00 pm – Arrival back at Westin Seattle

Please note: This tour is not included for PFAS Summit Only attendees and Sustainable Apparel + Retail Deep Dive Session Only attendees.

– Considerations for compostable plastic and fiber food service-ware

– Understanding residential and commercial composting access

– Compostable packaging as a vehicle for food waste diversion

Learn more about the SPC’s Essentials of Sustainable Packaging Course

Brand Owner and Consumer Insights on the Sustainability of Flexible Packaging

FPA recently worked with G&S Communications on a survey of consumers and brand owners on their views of the sustainability of flexible packaging. FPA President and CEO, Alison Keane will present the findings of the survey and discuss the opportunities for packaging manufacturers and brand owners to capitalize on the opportunities the results highlight. Two key themes came out of the study: first, there is an opportunity to elevate the visibility of specific sustainable manufacturing processes and supply chain concepts in the conversation with consumers, particularly with millennials and second, there is an opportunity to further inform brand owners about the specific operational and performance sustainability benefits of flexible packaging as well as the consumer interest in these sustainability attributes.

Workshop: Seeing Green: How Sustainable Companies Grow Market Share with a Counterintuitive Sustainability Branding & Messaging Strategy

With more than 71%  of consumers “thinking green” when making a buying decision, and nearly three out of four Millennials willing to pay more for sustainably-sound products, driving increased sales should be as simple as incorporating sustainability into your brand. But, the vast majority of sustainable brands fail to realize significant revenue growth because they make little-known branding and messaging mistakes. In this interactive, in-depth, hands-on session, Carolyn Parrs, CEO of Mind Over Markets and founder of Women Of Green, will reveal the key strategies and methods she has developed over her more than 15 years as a Sustainable Brand Marketing expert, which have significantly increased her client’s revenue without compromising their core values.

Designing Packaging with Millennials in Mind

As the largest U.S. generation with buying power estimated at $200 billion in 2017, millennials have the eye of brand marketers who are keenly focused on gaining insights into what drives their decision making. Recent studies have found that millennials are more likely to support and even spend more on purpose-driven brands. And while there has been no shortage of research on this generation, very little has focused on packaging. WestRock will share insights from a new study that explores millennial consumers’ perspectives on packaging and discuss implications for brands.

A Closed Loop Partners & SPC collaboration

The SPC partnered with Closed Loop Partners’ Center for the Circular Economy to launch a public packaging recovery challenge for multi-material flexible packaging – The FlexPack Recovery Challenge. The group requested submissions by entrepreneurs with technologies to separate the layers of different materials in waste multi-material flexible packaging, and chemical or mechanical recycling technologies that create new materials from waste multi-material flexible packaging between October 2018 and February 2019. A select set of finalists is attending SPC Impact 2019 to present  their projects to interested companies in a dedicated showcase, followed by networking time. The Final winner will be announced and presented with an award, SPC membership, and a mentorship program organized by the SPC and CLP. This project is targeted towards members of the SPC’s Multi-Material Flexible Packaging Recovery Committee, however all SPC members and guests interested in hearing about these innovations are invited to attend.

The presence of microplastics in the ocean has gained significant public attention in the recent years. Although their ecological effects remain unclear, reducing the flow of all forms of plastic pollution to the environment, including microplastics, is now recognized as much-needed action. It is estimated that 80% of microplastics in the ocean come from land, but which land-based processes contribute most significantly to microplastic pollution has yet to be fully understood.

At the Environmental Research Facility of Ocean Wise we are conducting research on source, transport, fate and effects of microplastics in the Northeast Pacific as well as the Polar Seas. The core initiatives of our multi-partner research include

• Microplastic fibre sources in household laundry
• Urban pathways of microplastics to the Salish Sea watershed
• Microplastic cycle in the NE Pacific and the Arctic

In this masterclass I will summarize the current state of knowledge on land-based microplastics with a focus on the coastal British Columbia and the NE Pacific ecosystem. Microplastic contamination is an environmental issue that involves diverse stakeholders and hence will be best tackled through a collaborative and coordinated action. This class will also stimulate a discussion on opportunities in which NGO’s, academia, industry, governments and individuals at home can work together on ways to reduce and mitigate our collective environmental plastic footprint.

This workshop will take a closer look at what extended producer responsibility schemes in different parts of the world truly cost. It will evaluate how these programs may change as new policies are introduced, including the revised Packaging & Packaging Waste Directive in Europe and movements to full EPR in parts of Canada. Fees are altering as new studies arise that require the actual costs of recycling different materials to be incorporated into EPR schemes. There are also movements to add more modulating fees that would give producers credit for using recycled content and penalties for disruptive packaging designs. This workshop will investigate how EPR fees are structured to provide tools for companies to understand these costs. Modified fees send signals to producers about packaging design, and this workshop will discuss why companies must have an in-depth understanding of fees in order to integrate them into the cost of goods and reflect them in their design protocol. Attendees will also learn about tools that are available to help companies measure their sustainability goals.

There are many corporate goals to increase the use of recycled content, but how can those aspirations become real in a specific way? As a continuation of Monday morning’s Design for Recycled Content Guide launch, let’s pragmatically dive into some existing issues in using recycled content and explore areas of low-hanging fruit to demystify the world of recycled content. We’ll hear from technical experts from across the packaging supply chain about their stories of incorporating recycled content into packaging, and break out into group discussions centered around different materials and packaging formats.

For compostable material to actually be composted and reinvented as an invaluable soil amendment, compost manufacturers must be able to process it. While industrial-scale compost manufacturers accept material from many areas of the US, access to compost manufacturing facilities is far from ubiquitous and many composters don’t process food or compostable packaging. Let’s dive into the ins and outs of composting infrastructure to investigate exactly how compost manufacturing works and how infrastructure and access can be cultivated nationwide. We’ll hear from composters themselves on their perspectives and break out into group discussions centered on specific topics to discuss challenges and opportunities.

This tour is FULL.

Seattle has a rich history of forestry and, today, boasts a unique urban forest experience. Join Ara Erickson and Katie Cava, from Weyerhaeuser, on a guided walking tour that will explore the hidden tree treasures of the city.

The tour will start at the Olympic Sculpture garden’s spectacular nurse log and will weave through the Downtown and Pioneer Square neighborhoods exploring significant trees, tree art, rooftop parks, and waterfall parks. Tour stops include the Seattle Art Museum, the 1201 Third Ave building, Waterfall Park, Occidental Square and more.  

The last stop of the tour will be at Weyerhaeuser’s headquarters, where you will be guided through a series of original, painted murals depicting sustainable forest management, co-benefits of managed forests, and the forest and wood products carbon cycle. A last push up the stairs will take you from roots to treetop of a life-sized tree (also painted) and will end on the rooftop deck.

The tour is timed to end just before the Mixer is begins at 5:30 pm. Please feel free to attend both (just be sure to register for both).

Please note that this is a walking tour. The total tour will be 3 hours (starting at the Westin Hotel) and participants will walk a total of 2 miles. There are alternate starting options which can increase or decrease the length of the tour by 1 mile. This tour will happen rain or shine (who knows which we will get in April); please dress in layers and be prepared for rain.

Schedule:

2:00 pm – Depart from Westin Seattle
5:00 pm – Tour will finish at Weyerhaeuser HQ

Please note: This tour is not included for PFAS Summit Only attendees and Sustainable Apparel + Retail Deep Dive Session Only attendees.

Connected packaging is becoming an increasingly effective marketing channel, bridging physical products to the digital world and influencing consumers when and where they’re making purchasing decisions. This boom in adoption is, in part, being driven by improvements in technologies like QR codes, NFC (near field communication), and digital watermarks. At the same time, powerful cloud-based software platforms that fully integrate with these trigger points enable brands and agencies to track consumer activity in real-time and uncover actionable insights. New deployments across a range of categories are happening every day. The technical barriers are also coming down with native scanning in the latest generation of devices, eliminating “friction” and enabling seamless experiences that deliver contextually relevant content to consumers.

This course will cover:

• Technology
• Retail
• Consumer interests
• End use applications and customer value
• Current barriers
• Components of a successful system and getting started

In the past few years many exciting hardware/software technologies have become mainstream in various industries creating exciting new applications. Virtual/augmented reality, artificial intelligence, block chain and the internet of things (IOT) are a few of these with the potential of solving difficult problems in sustainability. In this session we will introduce these technologies and examine what promise they hold to enable sustainable packaging.

As markets diversify, sustainability challenges have also evolved. Some issues continue to have a prominent role, some have reached a tipping point, and new ones continue to emerge as trends, technology and consumer behavior respond and resources change.

John will speak about the growing momentum in Canada for the creation of a circular economy for paper, plastics and packaging. With a robust municipal recycling system in place across much of Canada supported by an engaged and motivated population, Canada has many of the essential elements in place to transition the current recycling system to a circular system. This circular system will transform the way businesses design, produce and use products in ways that eliminate waste, keep high-value materials in use and regenerate natural systems.

John will share his vision for how a national, harmonized approach to Extended Producer Responsibility can enable the emergence of a smarter, more productive cycle of productivity to emerge delivering both environmental and economic benefits.

Change in a traditional industry requires working to change the discourse across company functions and involving internal and external stakeholders. Hear how the journey towards 2025 sustainability goals has been for one of the largest brewers in the world and the role that partnerships play to make an impactful difference.

Containers and packaging contribute nearly a quarter of the material reaching U.S. landfills. With the expected continued growth in packaging, consumers and sustainable companies will continue to demand a transition from packaging material disposition to packaging material recycling and re-use. Systemic change to material sourcing of fiber is needed and is coming. The breadth of packaging materials made with recycled fibers from post-consumer material continues to expand. Today, food grade packaging made with post-consumer content is growing rapidly. The shift toward re-use of post-consumer packaging materials for re-incorporation into food grade packaging is now a reality as post-consumer packaging materials are emerging as effective sustainable alternatives. We will discuss active initiatives to close the loop in fiber-based packaging and near term opportunities and challenges for further development of a circular supply chain.

Join SPC at Weyerhaeuser’s headquarters in the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood for an evening of networking and socializing. While you sip on a drink and chat, be sure to pause and take in the sweeping views of the Puget Sound or warm up at the outdoor firepit (weather dependent). This a great chance to see a modern building seamlessly integrated into a historic district, complete with plenty of wood interior features, of course. Drinks and light fare will be available for all.

We encourage you to take some time before the Mixer to explore the historic Occidental Avenue or by joining us on the Stepping Through Forestry: Walking Tour of Seattle’s (Urban) Forest.

Transportation on own. We suggest all attendees depart the Westin by 5pm to arrive at the Weyerhaeuser HQ by 5:30.

Address: 20 Occidental Ave S, Seattle, WA 98104

Enjoy drinks and good company at our annual Pub Crawl. The Pub Crawl will depart from the Westin Hotel Lobby and we’ll kick off the night at Fremont Brewery in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood.

What if Willy Wonka had built the ultimate coffee shop instead of a chocolate factory? Had the story gone that way, the result may have looked a lot like the 15,000-square-foot Starbucks Reserve® Roastery and Tasting Room. Opened on December 5, 2014, the Roastery is a warm, inviting space just nine blocks away from the original 1912 Pike Store in Seattle. The Roastery is the largest Starbucks store in the US and the source of inspiration behind innovative drinks

The Starbucks Reserve® Roastery and Tasting Room is the next big leap in the Starbucks evolution. This is where our cutting-edge ideas come from; it’s where we learn from each other, our customers and our worldwide community of coffee lovers. Come visit to honor great coffee traditions and explore with us as we invent the coffee experiences of the future.

If we could start over again with the accumulated body of knowledge that we have around sourcing, performance, environmental fate, what things would stay the same? What would you substitute and what would you just not do at all?

Dutch artist and innovator Daan Roosegaarde presents ‘Landscapes of the Future’, highlighting his innovative practice which merges people, technology and space to create a better world. Virtual floods, smart highways and smog sucking towers; Roosegaarde pulls technology out of the screens to examine and activate solutions to improve daily life in urban environments.

In his interactive talk, Roosegaarde explores the social role of design, the importance of “Schoonheid” (a Dutch word meaning both beauty and cleanliness) along with his vision for the future. As the new ‘hippie with a business plan’ to quote the New York Times, Roosegaarde has been selected as a creative change maker by Forbes and Good 100 and is a young global leader of the World Economic Forum.

Learn about Walmart’s new set of plastic waste reduction commitments and how it is leveraging its massive private brand program to spur action.

TED Style Talk

Big challenges to forests, like destructive wildfires, can feel overwhelming. But there are steps we can take to ensure our woodlands are more resilient and can better withstand these threats. Learn how market-based solutions, shared stewardship strategies, and new approaches to landowner engagement will help us protect the benefits our forests provide: clean water, healthy air, wildlife habitat, and sustainable wood supplies.

TED Style Talk

Ever wonder where that sustainable paper cup or packaging made in the U.S. really starts? With a tree, of course! In this conversation, we will take you from the seed that grows into a tree all the way to the containers that you rely on to package up your product. We’ll dive into the North American fiber supply chain, talk about how public and private forests are managed differently in the U.S., and look at trends in forest growth and health. Be prepared to be wowed with some graphs and data, but also some good storytelling.

Industry is struggling to find balance with nature. How we think about these entwined problems can undermine or promote solutions. Join us in exploring what can be accomplished when we challenge ourselves to reexamine how waste can be reused to inspire new potential in the 21st century.

TED Style Talk

A brief breakdown of the past and future of plastic packaging. Investigating the life of conventional plastics and what will happen as we all make the circular plastic economy shift, including decoupling from fossil fuels, reducing resource intensity and creating a resilient packaging future.

PCC Community Markets, the country’s largest co-operative grocer and Seattle cultural icon, is working to implement compostable packaging in our deli by 2022. It’s not an easy task, and millions of containers are on our docket. What are our challenges? What are our successes? And more importantly, exactly where do you find a compostable deviled egg container?

AI is all over the news, from robots to chatbots. It can be a gamechanger – reducing emissions and improving efficiency in manufacturing, improving transparency and reducing emissions across supply chains and improving end-of-life strategies. But it’s not yet widely adopted and deployed by organizations focusing on sustainability. Microsoft started AI for Earth, a $50M 5 year program, to close that gap. In this session, you’ll learn the answers to questions like “What is AI?”, “Why is Microsoft focused on this?” and “How should I be thinking about AI in my work?”

Don’t miss this first-ever unveiling of the new Forests in Focus tool! This is the product of a collaboration between American Forest Foundation, ESRI, the Forests Products Working Group, and the USDA Forest Service to help complete the picture of sustainable sourcing of forest products. Come to learn more about to be part of Forests in Focus and take sustainable sourcing to the next level!

Placed in the context of market trends we’ll discuss key attributes like user experience, performance, risks and examples of positive disruption, inventiveness and breakthroughs necessary to advance packaging sustainability from good to great.

With the use of flexible packaging on the rise (that usually isn’t recyclable), and the prevalence of corporate recyclability goals, how will industry design films for recyclability for the future? Kelly Cramer of SPC and Kristi Hansen of PFE will share their journey over the last year in understanding the character of the Store Drop-Off recycling stream; how packaging innovations may or may not have impacts on that stream; and how we might conceptualize PE film recyclability for the future for How2Recycle. This will be a technical presentation exploring the complexity and ambiguity in this emergent, hot topic space.

More QSR’s and institutions are realizing the immense power that compostable packaging and foodservice-ware have to divert food waste from landfill. Removing the need to separate the package from food for the consumer empowers diners, sports fans, students, and others to dispose of both correctly in these settings. Not only does curating suites of compostable packaging in QSR’s and institutional venues simplify diversion for the consumer, but reduces contamination for the compost manufacturer. We will showcase some of the most successful systems and how these best-in-class establishments have employed compostable packaging to make terrific strides towards — or actually achieve — the elusive status of zero waste.

Join us to hear from leaders that have forged progress and are being actively replicated across the country.

Back by popular demand! We rely on forests every day for an incredible array of environmental, social, and economic benefits. Choosing a material that when managed responsibly can help combat climate change, clean our air and water, and provide a home for wildlife is an amazing opportunity for any business, but one that is not always well understood. This Knowledge Cafe will help attendees 1) understand the most important factors to consider when sourcing forest products, and 2) understand how their sourcing strategies and not merely mitigating risk, but have the power for real conservation impacts!

Table leaders, topics, and key questions

1. Linking Responsible Sourcing to Positive Conservation Impacts

Table 1: Bobby Maddrey, Global Sustainable Forestry & Biodiversity Manager, Georgia-Pacific LLC

2. Setting and Meeting Responsible Sourcing Goals

Table 3: Ben Hansen, Principal, Sustainable Product Development, Target

Table 4: Paul Nowak, Sr Director of Sales Strategy & Business Development – Packaging, QuadPackaging

3. Flexible Paper Packaging Recycling

Table 5: Addie Teeters, Marketing and Communications Manager, Ahlstrom-Munksjo

4. Forest Certification 101

Table 6: Nathan Truitt, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, American Forest Foundation

5. Bring Your Knowledge: How do YOU think markets are changing in the age of ocean plastics and national swords?

Table 7: Tom Pollock, Senior Manager, GreenBlue

Table 8: Ara Erickson, Director Corporate Sustainability, Weyerhaeuser

Following in the footsteps of our Deep Dive Session at Amazon on the topic the day before, stakeholders directly involved in the intricacies and challenges on shipping liquids in the E-commerce channel will discuss how to tackle the issues without compromising product, package and consumer experience.

With numerous packaging formats ‘under fire’, this session presents a broadly applicable case study in new product introduction, using coffee capsule packaging as an example. From up front identification of sustainable sourcing, design and performance considerations, to stakeholder identification and engagement during design and introduction phases, the presentation illustrates how to get beyond a simple market request for compostability and systematically engage with and address the needs of each level of the supply chain, from renewably sourced raw material provider, to plastics converter, to brand, to post consumer composter.

The ASTRX team set out to learn about how various materials and specific packaging types really fare in the sortation and reprocessing stages of the recycling system. Which packages create roadblocks on the way to end markets and which are just challenging to sort and process? The ASTRX team will share their findings from the research and discuss ways to apply these findings to designing for recyclability.

As companies attempt to transition from a linear to a circular economy, there is a need for methodology and indicators to estimate the circularity of products & businesses.  We will specifically examine measuring circularity for packages. We will learn what the indicators mean and the challenges of measuring at package/product and company levels. We will discuss tools to track and measure improvements in circularity. We will also walk through practical examples of measuring the circularity for a couple of packages.

As recycling challenges continue, low recovery rates and contamination issues cannot be solved with the same thinking processes that developed the systems in the first place. The value of materials needs to be reassessed and new markets need to be developed with new technologies like chemical recycling.

Being launched at SPC Impact for the very first time, Forests in Focus is a new platform to assess sourcing of wood-based fiber for paper and packaging. Using a landscape-level model for assessment, Forests in Focus is made for stakeholders across the supply chain to better understand not only what is happening in the forests where they source their products, but where industry can convene to help sustain and promote the essential benefits that forests provide including biodiversity, clean water, and fighting the effects of climate change.

The rate of change is accelerating. But where is it leading us? This session explores the trajectory of sustainable packaging with an eye towards the future, examining trends in package development and responses to emerging ways of thinking, including improved manufacturing and filling processes, e-commerce design, food processing techniques, the use of postconsumer recycled content, and alignment with sustainable materials management and circular economy frameworks. Learn about the leading edge ways of approaching package design and the direction that macro-trends are taking us.

Advancements in Processing Technologies
The food industry is facing enormous headwinds: manufacture and distribution costs are rising, the demand for “clean”, non-GMO is rising, packaging sustainability is under the microscope, and willingness to pay more for packaged foods is questionable. New technologies are being touted as the solution to many of these problems. Dave McLain will present a case study on an advancement in processing technology (Microwave Assisted Thermal Sterilization) that will explore the tension between improving food quality, the resulting requirement for highly engineered packaging, and the consumer demand for a more sustainable future.
David McLain, Market Manager, Printpack

AeroFlexx – A New to the World Liquid Packaging Platform

AeroFlexx is a new to the world liquid packaging platform that brings consumer preferred attributes (single handed, clean dispensing and precise dosing) delivered with less than half the packaging weight for a more sustainable packaging solution that requires no additional preparation for ecommerce shipping. This talk will discuss the development history of the package, the performance characteristics, and our commercialization plans.

Ken McGuire, Research Fellow, Procter & Gamble Cedric de Souza, CTO, AeroFlexx, Innventure

As solid waste jurisdictions across the country are being charged with progressively ambitious landfill diversion goals, they are increasingly turning to composting as a desirable and beneficial alternative to landfilling organic materials. Due to its prevalence in the waste stream and the environmental impacts of landfilling organic materials, food scraps are a high priority for diversion. Because compostable foodservice packaging is designed to carry food scraps into composting programs, more and more businesses and communities have implemented food scraps collection programs that allow compostable packaging to boost participation and diversion. Until now, there has been little data available to both the packaging and compost manufacturing industries about how these items perform in the composting process compared with traditional inputs such as yard trimmings and wood waste. The Foodservice Packaging Institute and the Biodegradable Products Institute worked with the Compost Manufacturing Alliance to study this question.

Looking for a healthy boost to your SPC Impact week? Need to recharge your batteries after 3 days of SPC Impact? Come join your fellow attendees and get energized for the final day with a fun run, organized by Fitbit!

Fibit t-shirts and a Fitbit activity tracker will be raffled off to runners.

We will meet in the main lobby of the Westin at 6:15am for a 6:30am departure. It is an out and back route to the Olympic Sculpture Park and along the water. Route maps will be provided.

The need for harmonization in recovery policies and initiatives; the challenges around contamination and the ever-evolving legislation in the region as well as examples of how local and regional stakeholders have moved forward with more progressive measures will be covered in this session.

By purchasing Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) businesses are able to support renewable energy generation and meet sustainability goals. In this interactive session we will explore applying a similar system for recycled content claims. The trading of REC’s provide incentives for investments in capacity expansion and new technology – just imagine the possibility of similarly increasing the availability of recycled materials. Paper? Plastic? Glass? Metal? Textiles? We believe this system has potential for any material. Join us and learn how.

Bioplastic manufacturers, their supply chain partners and brands will shine a new light on the potential of bioplastics catalyzing a shift to a sustainable bioeconomy.

Connecting the Sustainability Changemakers. During the presentation, the new platform Ubuntoo will be discussed and its approach to digitally connect innovators and industry leaders to engage in collaborations to end plastic waste and pollution.

Sustainability is now playing an integral part in growth strategies among companies. To learn now to deploy impactful sustainability strategies, programs and projects, sustainability and packaging leaders need to prove that the finances and business benefits are there.

A Panel Conversation

The synergy to improve the compostability of high performance paper packaging with functional coatings, laminates, adhesives and additives.

Recently, we have observed a rash of attention around single use plastics and ocean plastic pollution, and consumers are demanding that companies do something about it. Some of the initiatives springing from this new movement are essentially reactive in nature — like straw bans, for example. Will these really make a difference? How can we address the problem from a systems-thinking perspective? The speakers in this session are involved in initiatives to address this crisis in a variety of unique ways. Join us for a candid conversation as we explore how we might design solutions for the future in a conscious, mindful way.

Enjoy drinks and good company at our annual Pub Crawl. The Pub Crawl will depart from the Westin Hotel Lobby and we’ll kick off the night at Peddler Brewing Company in Seattle’s waterfront neighborhood, Ballard.

Enjoy Seattle’s First Thursday Art Walk and neighboring bars in Pioneer Square. We’ll visit the many galleries on Occidental Ave. and stop for drinks in between. The Art Walk will depart from the Westin Hotel Lobby.