197 - Circularity Day 2 recap with Cory Connors

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[SUMMARY]:

Circularity 2021 was a two-day conference that brought together people from various industries to discuss sustainability. Corey and Adam attended the event and shared their experience. They met new people, made new connections, and attended some great sessions. One of the highlights of the conference was the US Plastics Pack presentation of the awards, which attracted a crowd of around 1200 people. The event also had micro-presentations lasting one to two minutes, which allowed small companies to present their ideas quickly. Corey and Adam attended a recycling conversation featuring representatives from the Recycling Partnership, Eureka Recycling, Nestle, a sustainability consultant, and a PCR or Virgin plastic manufacturer. The discussion focused on why sustainability goals were not being met and the roles that different stakeholders could play. Adam asked a question about the impact of labels and RFID on recycling, which led to more follow-up from the panel. Corey had lunch with a group of people discussing repair and sustainability, which led to a conversation about packaging. They also met with the R Cup people who were doing reusable cups at music venues and sports venues. Adam met with Nashil Sony, who's building a whole startup around software and pet recycling, and was able to make connections for him with some other folks. The conference had a pre-competition collaborative energy, with companies like Mattel, Hasbro, Lego, Coke, and Pepsi working together on sustainability initiatives. They discussed standardizing packaging and using technology like near-infrared handheld scanners to test materials for recycling. Overall, Corey and Adam found the conference to be informative and a great opportunity to learn from people who are smarter than them. **Guest Introduction**

In this episode of the Sustainable Packaging Podcast with Cory Connors, Cory and Adam are coming to us live from Circularity 23 in Seattle. Cory and Adam are two of the most influential voices in sustainable packaging and they share their experiences and insights from the conference.

**Overview**

In this episode, Cory and Adam discuss their experience at Circularity 23, the largest circular economy event in North America. They share their highlights from the conference, including the US Plastics Pact presentation, the recycling conversation, and the roundtable discussion on repair. They also discuss the importance of making new connections and the role that everyone can play in achieving sustainability goals.

**Timestamped Chapter Summary**

- 0:00:00 - Introduction

- 0:00:27 - Overview of the conference

- 0:01:11 - Highlights from the conference

- 0:02:30 - The US Plastics Pack presentation

- 0:03:41 - The recycling conversation

- 0:05:15 - The impact of labels and RFID on recycling

- 0:06:38 - The importance of repair and sustainability

- 0:07:35 - Making new connections

- 0:08:20 - The role that everyone can play in achieving sustainability goals

**Links and Resources**

- US Plastics Pack

- Eureka Recycling

- Myers Printing

- iFixit

**Quotable**

- "It's been a tiring day as I think most conferences get on day two. Lots of great sessions, lots of great people, lots of great energy." - Adam

- "One of the best conferences I've ever been to. So well put together. The food is amazing, the people are amazing, and the press are the best." - Corey

- "I love being able to listen to them, listen to their concerns, listen, get a different perspective on why our goals are not being met and the roles that we look at, that the goals aren't being met and the roles that we can all play." - Adam

- "It was just quick and it felt like TikTok sessions." - Corey

**Social Media Handles**

- Corey Connors: @coreyconnors

- Adam: @adampackaging

**Conclusion**

Corey and Adam share their insights from Circularity 23 and the importance of making new connections and playing a role in achieving sustainability goals. They highlight the US Plastics Pack presentation, the recycling conversation, and the roundtable discussion on repair as some of the key highlights of the conference. With the right mindset and collaboration, achieving sustainability goals is possible.

Guest Introduction

Overview

Timestamped Chapter Summary

* 0:00:00 - Introduction

* 0:00:27 - Overview of the conference

* 0:01:11 - Highlights from the conference

* 0:02:30 - The US Plastics Pack presentation

* 0:03:41 - The recycling conversation

* 0:05:15 - The impact of labels and RFID on recycling

* 0:06:38 - The importance of repair and sustainability

* 0:07:35 - Making new connections

* 0:08:20 - The role that everyone can play in achieving sustainability goals

Links and Resources

* US Plastics Pack

* Eureka Recycling

* Myers Printing

* iFixit

Quotable

* "It's been a tiring day as I think most conferences get on day two. Lots of great sessions, lots of great people, lots of great energy." - Adam

* "One of the best conferences I've ever been to. So well put together. The food is amazing, the people are amazing, and the press are the best." - Corey

* "I love being able to listen to them, listen to their concerns, listen, get a different perspective on why our goals are not being met and the roles that we look at, that the goals aren't being met and the roles that we can all play." - Adam

* "It was just quick and it felt like TikTok sessions." - Corey

Social Media Handles

* Cory Connors: @corygated

* Adam: @packagingpastor

Conclusion

[TRANSCRIPT]

[0:00:00] (Adam): Hey, you are live so we don't our audio. Oh, testing. Guys, listen, it's been a long day, the audio is not working, laptops aren't getting hooked up to the internet. We're rolling on the cell phone. Coming to you live from circularity with the band end.

[0:00:27] (Corey): Backstage. All access.

[0:00:29] (Adam): Yeah, look at that, all access pass speaker with the DJ press. Anyway, apparently we're live now. My iPad hasn't for me.

[0:00:41] (Corey): Corey, we did it, we're exhausted. I still have another half day tomorrow but it's been an awesome time. I'm so thankful that you were here. We met a lot of great people and connected with people a lot for the first time, which is not normal for us usually we know most people, but to make some new connections, some brand new people, brand new companies, very excited, no doubt.

[0:01:11] (Adam): Yeah, it's been a tiring day as I think most conferences get on day two. Lots of lots of coffee being consumed by myself and lots of great sessions, lots of great people continued, lots of great energy. Corey is going to be here tomorrow. I'm on a flight back home to Salt Lake City so if you are able to watch us right now, that's great. I know it's like 07:00 on the east coast, hopefully you're not watching us, hopefully you're spending time with your family and you see this on replay and you decide to comment on or whatever. But corey.

[0:01:49] (Corey): What's?

[0:01:49] (Adam): Maybe a highlight or two from the day. I'm going to pretend like we have a microphone. This microphone doesn't work. But Corey, why don't you talk about the copy that you don't really have to pretend.

[0:02:08] (Corey): We got to experience the largest crowd I've ever seen in my career. I think it was probably 1200 people listening to the US Plastics packed presentation of the awards up on the 7th floor. Did you go up there for anything?

[0:02:29] (Adam): Wow.

[0:02:30] (Corey): We've been saying that there's four floors of presentation there's four floors and seven years ago.

[0:02:38] (Adam): Yeah. Is what I think is the way it is.

[0:02:41] (Corey): That was Abraham Lincoln.

[0:02:44] (Adam): Oh, never mind.

[0:02:45] (Corey): Yeah, nothing to do with nothing to do.

[0:02:47] (Adam): I mean it could be well, nice.

[0:02:49] (Corey): Hat, he liked boxes. But to watch Emily Pauldo and the team from the US plastics Pack present percent and to see the award winners which I have got the honor to interview them all yesterday for my podcast. Sustainable Packaging podcast with Corey Connors was amazing and to get to see that many people and I think what was cool in addition to that, John SME and team at Circularity 23, they had these micro presentations like two minutes or a minute and a half and I just thought that was really cool. They let small companies come up and present, this is our idea, this is what we're doing.

[0:03:41] (Corey): Here's why it's great, here's why it's important. And it was just quick and it felt like TikTok sessions and I think this is a lot of the problem with these advances. Some of the presentations can be very long and very uninteresting and uninformed and.

[0:04:01] (Adam): Not ours when we present the best. No, we're clearly right, Chris.

[0:04:05] (Corey): Yeah, we're perfect. But no, most have been incredible here and one of the best conferences I've ever been to. So well put together. The food is amazing, the people are amazing, and the press are the best.

[0:04:21] (Adam): I think clearly the social media influencers are top their game.

[0:04:25] (Corey): Two of the best in the building.

[0:04:27] (Adam): Yeah. Obviously, Corey and I got to sit in on a recycling conversation. It was the recycling partnership, eureka Recycling. Chastity from Nestle was there. There was a sustainability consultant and then a PCR or Virgin plastic manufacturer, I believe, and that was fantastic. I love being able to listen to them, listen to their concerns, listen, get a different perspective on why our goals are not being met and the roles that we look at, that the goals aren't being met and the roles that we can all play.

[0:05:15] (Adam): I thought that was a really well done, well worth it. 1 hour of time. I got to ask a question about the impact that labels and RFID might have and actually have gotten a lot of more follow up from that from the panel. So we're going to be kate Davenport is up at Eureka Recycling in Minneapolis. And so Myers Printing, where you should go for all of your printed packaging and label needs. We're going to go see the facility and check out what they're doing and just get an even more better understanding of what our products actually do in the recycling stream.

[0:05:58] (Adam): And then what was really cool I don't know. We haven't connected since then. But at lunch, were you at a table with a, like, a roundtable discussion?

[0:06:09] (Corey): I met no, I was at a table, but eating. But no, it was rectangle.

[0:06:18] (Adam): So I went into a room and they had these table tents, and it was like, here's the conversation. So mine was this guy from I fixit, I fixit.com these guys. And I thought, what am I doing here? Why did I sit down?

[0:06:36] (Corey): What happened here?

[0:06:38] (Adam): There are people who are there. And I was like, you all are so smart. And what was really cool about it was just listening to why repair is sustainable and why that is struggling to get traction. And then they started asking me questions about packaging, and I was like, thank you. I can finally right.

[0:06:58] (Corey): Something in mind.

[0:06:58] (Adam): I don't know about electronics recycling, right. But it was a phenomenal conversation, one that I was not prepared for. I sat down to eat, and all of a sudden, I'm in the middle of the repair manifesto conversation. But it was fantastic. I learned a lot. It's one of my favorite things about hosting the podcast, is just being able to learn from people who are smarter than me. So if you've been on my podcast?

[0:07:22] (Corey): No.

[0:07:23] (Adam): You're smarter than me, except for Corey. We're unequal. We're equally at the bottom. But we're most smarter than Avalio. Yeah.

[0:07:31] (Corey): Sorry, Avalio. When you're not here, we get to make fun of you.

[0:07:35] (Adam): It's quite true. But yeah. So, day two, I thought I was only in the one session and then had some stuff with work that I was doing. And then I had the roundtable lunch. And then subsequently I met with the R Cup people who were doing Reusable cups at music venues and sports venues. And that was fascinating. I'm super excited to keep following what they're doing. They've got a partnership with you, too.

[0:08:03] (Adam): I met with my friend Nashil Sony, who's building a whole startup around software and pet recycling, was able to make connections for him with some other folks. And it was just a very dynamic day.

[0:08:16] (Corey): I connected with him. He said, Adam said that I should talk to you. And I said, okay.

[0:08:21] (Adam): Yes.

[0:08:22] (Corey): Great.

[0:08:22] (Adam): Perfect. Yeah. That's kind of what this whole thing is about. I heard a term I'd never heard before, which was and then I've forgotten it. Pre competitive or pre competition. So there was somebody there from, like, Mattel, and then he said, yes, we would love to work with Hasbro or Lego on these sustainability initiatives. Or it was mentioned about Coke and Pepsi working together on sustainability initiatives.

[0:08:53] (Adam): There's very much that kind of energy here. This pre competition collaborative. Let's work on some stuff.

[0:09:05] (Corey): What if packaging was standardized? What if Coke and Pepsi had the same shape bottle? Why not? We know what the label means. We know that the label differentiates it.

[0:09:15] (Adam): It's clearly the most important. I mean, everyone loves labels.

[0:09:17] (Corey): Yeah, labels are great.

[0:09:19] (Adam): If you love labels, you should buy.

[0:09:20] (Corey): Them from Label Company. Let me know.

[0:09:22] (Adam): Yeah. Wow.

[0:09:25] (Corey): It's a fantastic concept, and I think it's a part of the future.

[0:09:30] (Adam): Yeah. The other booth that I saw that I actually made a TikTok video about. Was it B-A-M-F? That's bad. No, that's not. They're one of the largest companies in the world and I chemical Company. The chemical company. But they have a little spin off where they have near infrared handheld scanners that any company can have or really any person could have. It's $120 a month. You can take the scanner and you can scan your material and see if it's going to pass the near infrared technology when it goes to the murph.

[0:10:10] (Adam): And so I thought that was pretty BAMF when it comes to recycling. Yes, exactly. No, that was really cool, though, to see that there's technology that's available for regular people.

[0:10:27] (Corey): Well, and as a packaging supplier, aurora would be very interested in that. We want to be able to show our customers that, look, here is a test that says this material will get recycled. What a cool concept. What an important concept to be able to standardize that to test it, to show the result, and it produces a graph and really cool.

[0:10:55] (Adam): Yeah.

[0:10:56] (Corey): And what he was showing us was how this Htpe bottle had a shrink graph sleeve and those materials were different and the scanner could tell the difference between the two. Fascinating.

[0:11:12] (Adam): Yeah. I thought that it was super informative, and that's kind of been the general feel. It's just like, let's help each other, let's inform one another because this is a conference about Circularity, and GreenBiz has done a phenomenal job, incredible with it. It's like the Marcos Pizza of conferences.

[0:11:33] (Corey): It might be. Why do I keep the Pizza Hut?

[0:11:37] (Adam): Bring up Marcos Pizza. Well, it doesn't look like anybody wanted to comment, and that's okay.

[0:11:42] (Corey): That's all right. We're fine, if you will.

[0:11:44] (Adam): We do. And if you catch us on replay, please feel free to comment and we'll try to jump in and answer anything. Corey, any last Monday?

[0:11:52] (Corey): Yeah, we'll see you Monday. Stay tuned for four podcast episodes, at least from this. Actually, it'll be five by the time I'm done. And then we did our live yesterday. So thank you all for listening and for participating in our content. We truly appreciate it. We love what we do.

[0:12:10] (Adam): And if someone who is here from Spec right, watching this, I got a ton of questions about Spec right. You should be at circularity. There's a lot of people ask me questions I'm like, I mean, I know enough to be dangerous, but you got to talk to the people. There lots of data questions, lots of EPR questions. So. Adam laura matthew ah. Simon hyman. Yeah, we'll make sure that you get out here next year, but it was great. Thanks, everybody.

[0:12:36] (Adam): Appreciate it. And like I said, feel free to drop some comments in and we will do our best to answer them. Goodbye.

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197 - Circularity Day 2 recap with Cory Connors

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