We’re happy to tell you that our keynote speaker will be: Terry Tamminen, CEO of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. Tamminen has wide-ranging expertise in business, farming, education, non-profit, the environment, the arts, and government. The Guardian ranked him No. 1 in its “Top 50 People Who Can Save the Planet.”

Waste Not...

The key to a truly sustainable environment and economy in the future depends on ending the concept of waste. Today, re-use or recycling of waste runs from zero in many developing countries to not more than about 65% in the most efficient developed countries, while entire forests are consumed for wood and pulp; armies are needed in places to secure access to minerals and oil; and as much as half of the food grown in parts of the world never reaches hungry consumers.

Could we envision a future without waste? If so, could it be achieved in a way that created more jobs, health, and wealth than global economies experience today?

The answer is a resounding YES, but the path to a zero waste future may surprise many, even those in the waste industry today. In the next decade, leaders in the zero waste movement may:

• Eliminate curbside and other consumer recycling
• Begin “urban mining” of old landfills
• Create net exports of food and water
• Save millions for taxpayers and double the current number of jobs in resource recovery
• Reduce regional carbon footprints below the goals of the Paris climate agreement
• Save plant and animal species from extinction
  

Oh yes, and end the use of the word “waste” when speaking about the management of such valuable resources! Of course, such a seismic shift in how the world works will require significant investment (which will be richly rewarded) and a fundamental change in thinking. Can we do it? Perhaps the real question should be…is there really any other choice if we hope to sustain life for 10 billion people on Planet Earth by 2050.

Managing Director- Group Head,Diversified Industrials Research, Stifel

Michael E. Hoffman joined Stifel in 2014. Based out of the Baltimore office, Mr. Hoffman is a Managing Director and Group Head of the Diversified Industrials Research sector, covering Environmental Services. His past awards include ranking #2 in pollution control from Institutional Investor, Greenwich Associates, and Reuters. Mr. Hoffman has been an analyst for more than 29 years. He has been a director of research, president, chief operating officer of a broker-dealer, deputy director of research, head of fixed income research and group head of diversified industrial research, and head of global value research.

State of Solid Waste: A Financial Perspective on Sustainable Materials Management

The solid waste industry is at the start of the eighth year of a solid waste industry fundamental recovery and nine years into an overall economic cycle. Is the economy reaching a peak or is there an opportunity for continued, gradual expansion?

In this session, you’ll learn where the business cycle for solid waste is relative to the long-term industry trends and the overall economic cycle and framed against the four phases of the business cycle: expansion, peak, contraction and trough.

• What is different about this cycle from previous ones and how those differences are manifesting into behavior by the service providers and their suppliers and vendors?
• How has the industry altered its operating structure in reaction to start of the latest recovery in 2009?
• How sensitive is the solid waste market to housing business cycle?
• What is the prospect of sustainable materials management gaining a successful foothold without subsidies?

Following four years of virtually no volume growth, 2011 to 2014, the solid waste industry meaningfully altered its capital spending behavior and drove out excess operating cost. The industry remains in an expansionary phase with housing starts below the long-term average. There remains upside in commercial/small container growth from new business formation as housing steadily climbs to 1.4 million to 1.5 million starts and service interval upgrades have not returned to pre-2007 levels.