The notion of a zero-waste operation or facility isn’t merely a noble aspiration. It is an achievable goal, as a growing number of companies have demonstrated. Companies in a wide range of manufacturing businesses have achieved zero-waste status.

But zero waste means more than just recycling. It requires a comprehensive examination of a facility’s waste streams with the aim of eliminating excess packaging, redesigning processes, and working closely with suppliers, customers, and others.

Waste Management’s Jim Hall and Caterpillar’s Jim Blass in conversation with Joel Makower, Executive Editor of GreenBiz.com, will explorE of how companies are achieving zero waste. You’ll hear a first-hand account of Caterpillar’s pursuit of zero waste at its facility in Aurora, Illinois, and insight into the bottom-line impacts of a typical zero-waste program.

Among the things, you’ll learn:

• What zero waste means, and how it’s different from zero landfill
• Lessons learned from companies that have achieved zero waste
• The challenges companies can face in implementing a zero-waste strategy
• The costs and savings of getting to zero

Panelists include:

Jim Hall, Director, Green Squad, Waste Management
Jim has over 15 years’ experience in the environmental services industry primarily focused on designing and developing strategy and programs to enhance customer experiences and improve business value. Jim is currently the Managing Director for Green Squad, a sustainability consulting firm of Waste Management. Green Squad helps clients identify and implement sustainable business practices that reduce costs, mitigate risks, and enhance brands. Jim is a recent graduate the prestigious Presidio Graduate School of Management Executive Sustainability program where he learned to approach and build sustainable organizations from an executive level. Jim is trained in the General Theory of Innovation which teaches powerful techniques to identify upcoming market challenges and reliably forecast the future of products, services and industries. Jim is also QFD Black belt trained which has provided him with tools and know-how to design the voice of the customer into strategies, products, and services. He has successfully developed and implemented large-scale programs for Fortune 500 organizations.

Jim Blass, General Manager Caterpillar-Aurora, IL
Jim is General Manager of the Caterpillar plant in Aurora, Illinois, where his sustainability and manufacturing initiatives have resulted in significant expansions of the product lines manufactured there. An inventor and engineer, Jim holds 14 U.S. patents. He has served Caterpillar for 35 years, rising through the ranks from training positions to supervisory and managerial roles, design and project engineer, facilities manager, operations manager, and product manager before taking the helm at the Aurora facility.

Moderator:

Joel Makower, Executive Editor, GreenBiz.com
Joel is Executive Editor of GreenBiz.com and author of "Strategies for the Green Economy," among other books. For more than 20 years, he has been a well-respected voice on business, the environment, and the bottom line. The Associated Press has called Joel "the guru of green business practices."