Keynote Speaker

Antoinette Smith
Resource Recycling

Chemical recycling has been touted as the solution for managing our plastics problem, though we’ve heard this before with mechanical recycling claims and still have a long way to go. Join Antoinette Smith, Reporter for Plastics Recycling Update in the US, to learn about chemical recycling; how is it progressing in other jurisdictions around the world, and what lies ahead for expansion in North America?

Antoinette Smith started working as a reporter for Resource Recycling in June 2024 after spending several years covering commodity plastics and chemical value chains. In the role, she keeps abreast of industry trends, with a special focus on analyzing data. She recently relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after living in Houston, Texas, for more than a decade, where she was immersed in the chemical industry.

Innovation – The Trailblazers in Our Industry

In this session on innovation, we’ll hear from the trailblazers working on solutions for managing and manufacturing plastics: where PCR is king and old systems are revamped for in favour of new models that will shape how the industry grows in the next decade and beyond.

National and International Updates – Putting Alberta on the Map

In this session we turn our eyes outward. With the conclusion of INC-5, organizations across Canada are working toward a better future for plastic management. We’ll hear from their perspectives on where international and national policy is headed and get ready to adapt and adjust accordingly with Alberta’s future.

Producer Updates

With the shift to EPR across Canada, producers of packaging and brand owners have been making big commitments to sustainable initiatives including design for recycling and promises for incorporation of recycled content back into new materials. They must also keep up with regulation differences across jurisdictions and changing markets pressures. In this session we will hear from brand owners and industry members on how they are setting their PCR goals, what changes of course they have made in the past few years and where they see the future of recycled content in their products.

The Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and Inter Pipeline Ltd. have initiated a $10 million, ten-year research collaboration to advance the reuse and recycling of plastic in Canada and around the world. This Plastics Research in Action (PRIA) initiative funds innovative applied research projects, much of which occurs within our 190,000 square feet Productivity and Innovation Centre (PIC) that is located on the north side of Main Campus.

As home to much of NAIT’s applied research, PIC features solutions for business innovation – much of which relates to productivity:

Product testing
Technology adoption
Training and certifications
Productivity and innovation
Applied research
Industry conferences and events

We have numerous flexible workspaces that are adaptable in size and functionality, which gives our industry partners and clients a place to expand ideas and explore solutions. The A-wing of PIC is a 40,000 square foot space that houses wet labs, the analytical core, two microgrid controllers, and an advanced manufacturing core.

The building is designed to LEED Building and Construction certification standards, recognizing sustainability in design and construction. Solar panels installed above the glass canopy in the main foyer will generate 58 kilowatts of electricity per hour and will be used in distributed energy research.

Please join us for a tour during the Alberta Circular Plastics Day 2023 hosted by the Alberta Plastics Recycling Association (APRA) at PIC on March 15, 2023

Links and Facts About Recycling

Recovery

The 4 Rs of Reduce – Reuse – Recycle – Recover state the order of desirability in our efforts to manage waste. Our goal is to keep plastic resources at their highest value in the hierarchy. Recycling is preferred over landfill or recovery efforts for the energy savings and green house gas reduction. There are certain types of plastics that are a challenge to recycle through mechanical systems, and recovery can play an important role in achieving zero waste by complimenting recycling and reuse options. These technologies include pyrolysis (plastics to diesel or oil), energy from waste (using mass-burn in a closed-system where no harmful compounds or chemicals can be released), and chemical recycling (where the plastics are broken down into their building blocks, or monomers and then can be built back up into new materials).

Waste to Ethanol Facility, Edmonton

The Center for the Circular Economy at Closed Loop Partners has created a report that provides an overview of the current technologies for recovery. The report addresses a $120 billion potential market for plastics and petrochemicals that could be met by recovering plastics that are currently going to the landfill as well as significant environmental benefits for pollution and emission reduction. The report provides an industry overview and features companies across North America that are operating unique technologies that could be part of creating a circular economy for plastics.

In April 2022, the CIAC released a whitepaper on advanced recycling titled Advanced Recycling White paper: Seizing the Circular Plastics Opportunity. “Many Canadian companies are leading the way on research into advanced recycling. These new technologies transform plastic products back into their basic molecules, allowing the production of new resins, pellets, and plastic products that will continuously recirculate in the economy. Investing in plastics recycling infrastructure and technology will increase the availability and use of recycled plastics in products. Given recycled plastic resins have a lower environmental footprint than virgin resins, it will also increase the availability of made-in-Canada low-carbon products, providing an important trade advantage.”

In July 2022, The Conference Board of Canada released a report called Infinite Cycles: Canada’s Innovation Competitiveness in Chemical Plastics Recycling.

“Chemical recycling is an important pillar of plastic innovation. Firms in Canada, the United States, and elsewhere are developing innovative chemical recycling technologies to remedy the limitations of mechanical recycling.”

“Chemical recycling is an important pillar of plastic innovation. Firms in Canada, the United States, and elsewhere are developing innovative chemical recycling technologies to remedy the limitations of mechanical recycling.”