The grass is green on both sides of the plastic fence posts

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

APRA member Grant Harrington is actively involved in the plastics business. His latest venture is working with a company called Outlook Plastic out of Nobleford, AB. The production method, called Flow Molding, extrudes melted co-mingled plastic and molds it into decking, insert beams, fence posts, parking curbs and barrier posts. They receive the plastic to be recycled from Camrose, Medicine Hat, and Cochrane, among others and transform plastic paint pails and any broken trays. The products are 100% post-consumer and post-industrial high density polyethylene (HDPE).

“Each product is manufactured through the extrusion process with our proprietary molds to provide a wide variety of options for our clients,” remarks Grant. “Through premier material and profile options we can meet most needs in today’s market.”

Those needs include providing insert beams for concrete or aluminum form manufacturing, and the market extends mostly to the south of the boarder where the demand is high for plastic beams.

The posts last 80-100 years, two or three times the life of wood products for an increase of about a third of the cost.

Contact Grant for more info: gh@west-can.com, 403-329-1713

Brochure link with pricing

Keynote Speaker

Antoinette Smith
Resource Recycling

Innovation - The Trailblazers in Our Industry

National and International Updates - Putting Alberta on the Map

Producer Updates

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