WasteExpo, North America’s largest solid waste, recycling and organics industry event, today officially announces the 2024 conference program, which offers four days of professional development on the entire solid waste, recycling and organics ecosystem. The event takes place May 6-9, 2024 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, NV.
Marc Acampora, Market Leader, Waste360 said, “Our conference program is bigger and better than ever. It will provide industry professionals with the intelligence and insights they need to do their jobs more efficiently. In addition, we’ll have an expo floor to buy, sell, and gather intel on the latest products and services, plus networking opportunities and special events.”
WasteExpo offers professional development delivering spotlight sessions, workshops and dozens of conference sessions across seven tracks:
- Operations, Fleet & Safety
- Recycling & Landfill
- Sustainability Talks
- Business Insights & Policy
- Technology & Innovation
- Food Recovery Forum
- Organics Recycling
Spotlight Sessions offer insight-packed sessions that allow attendees to explore top industry trends. They include:
- CEO Spotlight: Catching Up with Ron Mittelstaedt of Waste Connections
- Public Sector Spotlight: “Recycling is BS” Combating Myths & Altering Perceptions – For Everyone’s Sake
- NWRA Women’s Council Spotlight: Empowering Engagement: Women’s Affinity Groups as Catalysts for Organizational Success
- Climbing the Ladder: Insights from Young Professionals in the C- Suite
Thursday Workshops
WasteExpo will offer half-day workshops that each focus on different industry topics. They include:
- May 8: NWRA Safety Symposium: Igniting Awareness About Fire Prevention & Safety Tips
- May 9: Achieving Sustainability & Zero Waste Goals – The TRUE Approach (USGBC)
- May 9: Food Waste & Organics Diversion Program Development Workshop
- May 9: Introduction to Zero Waste – Certified Training Course
Waste360 Food Recovery Forum
The Waste360 Food Recovery Forum offers ways to solve the social and environmental issues of wasted food as well as means to profit from food waste. Attendees will learn about solutions for food waste prevention, reduction and recovery throughout the supply chain from the foremost experts in the field. Presentations at the Forum focus on successful initiatives and model programs to educate attendees and to help expand the significant efforts being undertaken to reduce food waste and increase food recovery for beneficial reuse.
Kathy Cacciola, Global Sustainability Lead, Food Program, Google will present the keynote “Taking a Bite Out of Food Waste.” Addressing food loss and waste across the value chain is a key lever to achieve a net zero future. In 2022, the Food team at Google announced ambitious goals to reduce food waste by 50% and send zero food waste to landfill by 2025. During this presentation, Cacciola will give a sneak peek into their approach, areas of success, lessons learned and what’s left on their plate to tackle in 2024 and beyond.
Organics Recycling
Organics recovery and processing is a growing industry that provides countless opportunities to increase overall recovery rates while producing high quality and environmentally-beneficial compost and renewable energy products. The Organics Recycling conference program delivers three days of education and technical sessions on Organics Management including Composting, Anaerobic Digestion, Organics Recycling, Renewable Energy from Organics, Infrastructure Development, Innovative Conversion Technologies, Zero Waste, Compostable Products and more.
Waste360 Sustainability Talks
The Waste360 Sustainability Talks conference program offers real talk as waste and recycling takes on plastics, packaging, food waste, textiles and other environmental challenges to build a sustainable future. The three-day conference brings together thought leaders from industry leading companies.
Highlighted sessions:
- Sustainability Talks Keynote: The Future of Sustainability: A Fireside Chat with Tara Hemmer, Chief Sustainability Office, WM and Kristin Kinder, Wastequip, VP of Research and Waste Stream Sustainability
- Walking the Talk: How the Waste Industry Must Turn Sustainability Strategies into Action Tequila Smith, Executive Vice President, Chief Sustainability Officer, Covanta
The co-located event is open to all premium package attendees.
Additional Event Highlights:
- The Exhibit Hall is open May 7-9 and will feature more than 550 exhibitors showcasing the latest industry solutions.
- Site tour at Las Vegas Livestock, LLC by the Combs Brothers
- The Waste360 40 Under 40 awards program recognizes inspiring and innovative professionals under the age of 40 whose work in waste, recycling and organics that have made a significant contribution to the industry.
- Waste360 Women Who Inspire celebrates the women in waste and recycling.
- The Environmental Research & Education Foundation charitable auction supports EREF’s funding of scholarships and grants for solid waste research, as well as EREF’s educational initiatives. The auction takes place on May 8.
- Waste360 TRASHION: a Recycle, Reuse, ReFashion Show will feature local upcycled designers and thrifted stylists who’ve breathed new life into discarded items. The Show will take place on May 7.
- The NWRA Awards Breakfast honors the brightest achievers in the waste and recycling industry. The awards presented at this event include Driver of the Year, Operator of the Year and Hall of Fame.
- NWRA Carts on Display, presented by the Women’s Council, allows competition entrants to decorate carts with artwork that promotes the growth of the waste and recycling industry.
- NWRA Women’s Council Boutique sells industry-related and recycled items. The proceeds support the council’s programs, including the academic scholarship programs that provide a career path in the waste and recycling industry.
- The Public Sector Networking Event brings together public sector professionals on May 7.
- The Welcome Reception takes place May 6 and the International Reception takes place May 8.