SPI Announces Re|focus Recycling Summit & Expo agenda

SPI: The Plastics Industry Trade Association, Washington, has announced the agenda for its new Re|focus Recycling Summit & Expo and has launched the event website, www.RefocusSummit.org, as well.

In collaboration with its Recycling Committee, SPI says it has designed the event, which will be April 25-27, 2016, at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Florida, to assist brand owners and processors in taking their environmental goals from aspirational to operational.

The summit launches with an evening reception Monday, April 25. The next two days features sessions within seven concurrent tracks. Conference track topics include cutting-edge recycling technologies, product engineering and design, supply chain management and manufacturing with recycled content, regulatory and compliance issues, industry-specific topics on recycling to recovery and use of recycled content, sustainability challenges and solutions and global manufacturing trends in recycled content. The conference also features two plenary sessions with keynote addresses, and an off-site plant tour is in development, the SPI says.

"The Re|focus content will provide brand owners, processors, engineers and designers with resources to help them translate environmental goals into concrete actions. We want to help companies look at product manufacturing in a new way, with an increased focus on recycling and sustainability," says Gene Sanders, SPI senior vice president of trade shows and conferences. "It'll be about supply chain solutions, and our expo floor will reflect this mission as well."

The programming team is seeking speakers to participate in panel discussions and to engage other speakers and attendees through an active Q&A. Presentations should focus on practical implementation and application of leading best practices in the specific subject areas outlined, the SPI says. Those interested in submitting a speaker proposal can contact Ashley Patton at apatton@plasticsindustry.org.

"SPI consulted with the industry to identify the challenges facing the supply chain and outlined subject matter to address these areas," says Kim Holmes, SPI senior director of recycling and diversion. "The call for speakers will ensure we are aware of the best speakers outside our core group of thought leaders. We seek the best and brightest to round out many of the panel discussions where our experts are already involved."

The conference’s expo floor is designed to be a solutions-based space featuring material suppliers, equipment suppliers and recycling and sustainability service providers. SPI says Re|focus has received early exhibit commitments from numerous leading companies, including ADG Solutions and Davis-Standard, Bunting Magnetics, Fukutomi Green Products, Kice Industries, Plastics Technologies Inc., Phoenix Technologies, Rapid Granulator, Ravago, United Recycling and WEIMA America.

Attendee registration will open later in the summer and discounts will be available for members of SPI and official partner organizations. Additional summit information and the exhibit sales floor plan with exhibit categories can be found at www.RefocusSummit.org.