NERC’s Spring Conference will feature a session about the Renewed Interest in Refillables. This informative session will detail how successful refillable programs are operated and managed. Mike Noel, Government Affairs & Advocacy Manager at TOMRA will moderate the session with Caren McNamara, Founder/CEO, Conscious Container, Jules Bailey, Chief Stewardship Officer, Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative, and Tobias Bielenstein, Chief Operating Officer, Refillable Working Group Germany (Arbeitskreis Mehrweg GbR).
Caren McNamara is the Founder and CEO of Conscious Container, a California Benefit Corporation that has brought a refillable glass bottle marketplace back into the US economy and infrastructure. As a boot-strapping start-up she set proof-of-concept collection pilots which proved the demand and desire for this refillable glass bottle marketplace. Caren worked strategically with key stakeholders, policymakers, beverage and glass manufactures and now investors to scale this “benefit for all” sustainable refillable business model.
Jules Bailey is the Chief Stewardship Officer for Oregon Beverage Recycling Cooperative (OBRC). As CSO, Jules is responsible for charting the future of Bottle Bill implementation and ensuring the deposit and redemption system remains convenient, relevant, and effective for Oregonians. He also oversees the BottleDrop Refill program for refillable bottles.
Tobias Bielenstein is the Director of Public Affairs, Sustainability & Communications for the Cooperative of the German Mineral Water Companies (GDB), which runs Europe’s biggest refillable bottles system with more than one billion bottles and more than 100 million cases. Tobias is also COO of the Working Group Refillables (Arbeitskreis Mehrweg), an organization managing the European Refillable Logo and serving as a think tank & information point about refillables for companies, start-ups, authorities and scientists.