CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

 

The 2022 ENVIRO Conference will be held in-person from the 30-31 August 2022 at the QT Canberra, ACT and you're invited to get involved. 

A circular economy (CE) is one where we utilise design to eliminate waste and pollution and keep materials at their highest and best value for as long as possible through mimicking natural regenerative systems.  

In Australia, however, we are very much in the midst of a recycling economy, in large part due to our current policy and thinking placing very little, if any, emphasis on sustainable design, extended producer responsibility, or systemic material management. 

What we really need are products and materials that are created from the outset to be reused, repaired, and remanufactured, which will result in significant energy and carbon savings, as well as the creation of new innovative jobs. Perhaps the recycling economy is the bridge to get us to a place where system-based solutions, design, and material value become commonplace. 

It is vital and time to bring the supply chain together to look at how we can design out waste and pollution at the initial stage of production because until we do so, the #WARR sector will keep having to find innovative ways to manage waste through recycling; while a necessary component of a CE, this is still an end-of-pipe solution and should not be prioritised above designing waste out.  

At the 2022 ENVIRO Conference, we will explore where the waste management hierarchy intersects with the circular economy, the role that industry, the community and government can play in transitioning Australia at a local, regional, and state level, and how we can become one common market in Australia that develops national strategic systems that value and manage materials.  

The 2022 ENVIRO Conference is on the #WARR-path to tackle these big issues and more. The committee is now calling for abstracts under the following topics:

  • Implementing a circular economy in Australia – how do we get there?
  • What is the regulatory framework required to create a circular economy?
  • Policy levers that drive circularity
  • The principles of a circular economy in practice
    • Eliminate waste and pollution
    • Circulate products and materials (at their highest value)
    • Regenerate nature
    • Systems for re-use, repair, refurbish
    • Sharing economy
  • Creating a business case to go circular
  • Financing the circular economy
  • Innovation and design – where do we start?
  • Supply chain change and innovation
  • Circular/sustainable procurement
  • How do we effectively measure a circular economy?
  • Digital transformation and data
  • Tracking emissions footprints across the chain, e.g transportation of materials/resources between locations
  • How to implement a circular economy in your business – case studies
  • The community’s role in moving to a circular economy
  • Community driven approaches to the circular economy – case studies

The call for abstracts is open to both WMRR members and non-members. All abstract submissions will be presented to the program committee for review and final selection.  Abstracts received outside of the topics listed may be considered and additional abstracts may be sought at the discretion of the committee.

SUMBISSIONS CLOSE FRIDAY, 24 JUNE 2022

Submit your abstract here.