Managing Waste: A Workshop on Addressing Perception,
Establishing Metrics and Developing Systems and Partnerships

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD CURRENT PROGRAM AGENDA (updated 10/18/2010)

Waste disposal is estimated to contribute as much as two percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. But “waste” is just the tip of the iceberg – the life cycle of materials (including waste) contribute 40 – 50% of all greenhouse gases. Waste management can impact both these smaller “downstream” emissions but also the larger “upstream” ones. As corporate campuses, municipalities, government facilities and universities are addressing environmental sustainability considerations, developing robust waste systems represents a significant opportunity to reduce operating costs, generate revenue streams, conserve energy, develop waste-to-energy infrastructure and improve human impacts on the environment and resource availability.

On October 19, 2010, the Association of Climate Change Officers and the Center for Resource Solutions invite you to a workshop featuring a series of case studies and discussions on developing a sound operational approach to addressing waste systems in industry, university campuses, municipalities and government facilities. This ACCO Climate Change Leadership Series event is being hosted in conjunction with the Renewable Energy Markets Conference in Portland, Oregon.

Program Highlights

• Exploration of opportunities to reduce waste, leverage waste streams and develop recycling programs.
• Case studies on developing metrics related to the full life cycle of materials and waste, including waste reduction and waste-to-energy projects, greenhouse gas emissions related to transporting, recycling, and dumping waste, and engaging vendors, partners and other stakeholders.
• Examination of challenges related to public perception of common waste, as well as hazardous and sensitive materials.
• Discussion of prospective action items for ongoing collaboration amongst participants and within the ACCO community.

Topics Addressed

• What tools are available for understanding and quantifying the life cycle impacts of materials and waste management options?
• How are communities and institutions accounting for these GHG emissions in their inventories and what are the pros and cons of alternative accounting methods, such as consumption-based inventories and material flows accounting?
• What investments are being made into waste management programs? How should returns be quantified?
• What are some of the sweet spots or low hanging fruit that large facilities and campuses can address, and what are the more significant challenges?
• How does an organization educate and train internal and external stakeholders who may be predisposed to opposing change related to waste systems?
• Is your existing infrastructure (organizational structures, information technology systems, etc.) equipped to handle this shift? If not, how should it be revamped?
• What barriers are there to modernizing waste management at large campuses and facilities and what needs to be done to overcome those barriers?
• How does life cycle assessment inform decisions related to reducing the energy and GHG emissions profile of a product, both “upstream” and as waste management options are compared?
• What opportunities are there for institutions to implement waste prevention, composting, recycling and waste-to-energy programs? How should these programs be assessed and implemented? What challenges do institutions face related to these waste programs?

Registration Fees

• General Registration: $245  /  ACCO Members: $195
• Managing Waste Workshop Registrants: Receive a discount applicable to the Renewable Energy Markets 2010 (REM 2010) conference.
• REM 2010 registrants: Provided a discount code to attend this event at no cost.

Eligible registrants paying the full fee will be offered a 15% discount off individual
membership in ACCO for the first year of membership.

Venue Information

• The workshop will be hosted at the Oregon Convention Center, 777 NE Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Portland, Oregon 97212