Setting Goals: Have We Reached the Limits of Recycling?

This second of our two-part webcast series on calculating the environmental impacts of recycling and waste disposal (see Part 1 here), looks at how regulators and private industry can apply the principles of Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) to replace or augment weight-based recycling goals.  

As the materials in the waste stream change, becoming lighter and more efficient, weight-based goals are no longer achievable. A growing number of organizations are applying lifecycle assessment strategies to capture the value of reducing environmental impacts from production through use and end-of-life.

This one-hour webcast will provide insight into how corporate and urban sustainability leaders can understand new approaches for setting waste reduction and recycling goals. You’ll learn:

• What the paradigm shift to sustainable materials management implies in terms of balancing the recycling goals of environmental benefit, economics and material recovery.
• The value of setting and updating goals as technology and society evolve
• Why the concepts of Sustainable Materials Management and lifecycle thinking are critical to establishing materials management goals and programs
• How changes in the global economy, packaging trends and recycling programs require that we update our thinking on materials management and develop programs for today’s changing waste stream

Speakers:
Susan Robinson, Waste Management Senior Public Affairs Director
Anne Johnson, Vice President, Resource Recycling Systems