Main Session Hall

Main Session Hall

In this opening panel session, leaders from Burnbrae Farms, Keurig Dr Pepper Canada and Walmart Canada will discuss how they embrace a culture of sustainability, test and learn on their paths to finding more sustainable solutions and embrace collaboration to tackle environmental challenges.

Fast Five Sponsor Highlight

Struggling with the complexities of EPR? Let H2 Compliance North America guide you to sustainable success. Discover how our team can help your business navigate regulations, reduce costs, and enhance your brand reputation. Join us to learn how PROs and producers can work together for a greener future.

Main Session Hall

Discover how the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) is leading the charge towards a more sustainable future in the consumer goods sector. Alain Brandon of Loblaw Companies Ltd, Katie Decker of Kenvue Canada, and Jeff Bezzo with SC Johnson chat with Cedric Dever, of the Consumer Goods Forum about key initiatives aimed at reducing environmental impact, promoting ethical sourcing, enhancing product transparency, and piloting reuse solutions. Special focus will be on the Golden Design Rules, a set of industry standards aimed at minimizing packaging waste and improving recyclability. Learn how these guidelines are driving innovation and collaboration among global brands, fostering new approaches to packaging that prioritize durability and reusability.

Fast Five Sponsor Highlight

In this session, Wes Johnsen, Director Net Zero for Bruce Power, will share why businesses are choosing Ontario-made Clean Energy Credits and why they are an essential tool to meet sustainability targets for Scope 2 emissions.

Main Session Hall

As businesses strive to meet ambitious climate goals, addressing indirect emissions within the value chain has become essential. This session will explore best practices for engaging suppliers, partners, and stakeholders to accurately measure, report, and reduce Scope 3 emissions. Learn from industry leaders about successful collaborative strategies, innovative tools, and frameworks that drive collective action and transparency. Discover how working together can lead to significant environmental impact, cost efficiencies, and enhanced corporate reputation.

Main Session Hall

As sustainability becomes a central focus, the retail industry faces increasing pressure to reduce waste and enhance recyclability. GFL Environmental Founder and CEO Patrick Dovigi kicks off the session with a look at how they are advancing sustainability through collaboration and their vision for a circular economy here in Canada. Following is a panel discussion with a look at how retailers like Canadian Tire are navigating the complexities, from meeting regulatory requirements to improving product and packaging lifecycles in addition to insights from GFL Environmental and MachineX on how retailers and consumer goods companies can collaborate. Join us to understand the critical impact of recyclability on packaging and how it contributes to a circular economy.

This session highlights the crucial role of data in environmental compliance and its impact on EPR reporting. Learn how data is transforming decision-making, discover essential data types and collection strategies, and gain practical insights on improving efficiency in EPR and sustainability programs. We’ll also cover best practices in data management to streamline reporting and meet evolving regulations.

In this session, we delve into how industry leaders, both retailers and brand owners, leverage tools available on the market today to accelerate along the pathway of creating more sustainable products. Identifying critical attributes, validating claims, choosing safer components and ingredients all with the focus on aligning policies, engaging stakeholders and promoting transparency while advancing sustainability goals. Additionally, we will explore the underlying motivations driving these initiatives. By doing so, we enable the creation of trustworthy product curation and attribute-based marketing programs that cater to consumer demand and drive sales.

Retrofits of retail buildings is becoming an increasing priority to enable organizations achieve their emission targets. They’re often held by landlords focused on the bottom line, tenants may have limited ability to encourage landlords to decarbonize despite ESG goals of their own. Few owners have robust plans, and tenants don’t know how to engage their landlords. Join RBC and Sofiac as we explore RBC’s recent commitment to decarbonize its retail branch network, and discuss innovative ways to achieve retrofits in a Canadian retail setting.

Lunch and Learn

Join us for an engaging fireside chat, featuring Brookes Shean, Site Acquisition Director at FLO, and Mylène Champagne, Director of Environment and Technical Risks at Metro. Discover how Metro, is attracting new and retaining existing customers by hosting FLO EV chargers at more than 130 locations across Quebec and Ontario. Don’t miss this opportunity to gain insights into the future of retail from industry leaders, and to learn how FLO can support electrifying your parking lots.

Producer responsibility organizations (PROs) have a critical role in helping producers meet regulatory targets and manage the complex supply chain within each jurisdiction’s regulatory framework. But how can PROs further ensure producers get the most value out of this recycling system?
Join us for an engaging panel discussion where Allen Langdon, CEO of Circular Materials, and Philippe Cantin, VP of Producer Responsibility at Éco Entreprises Québec (EEQ) will lead a panel of producers in exploring the vital role PROs play in maximizing value across the recycling supply chain. The conversation will cover key areas such as infrastructure, investment, cost optimization, eco-design, and securing access to recycled materials for producers to use in new packaging and products— a first-of-its-kind system that is advancing the circular economy in Canada.

EPR legislation in Canada is reshaping the plastics recovery landscape. This bears a great chance to build upon existing local infrastructure to maximize plastics recycling while minimizing the environmental impact at the same time. EFS-plastics and Ice River Springs have found efficiencies in the local Circular Economy for the past two decades and continue to refine and innovate their processes applying the triple bottom line principle (people/planet/profit). Meeting the aggressive EPR targets and managing costs will require close collaboration with every stakeholder in the Circular Economy to accelerate plastics recycling in Canada.

Join Deloitte and industry leaders as they discuss driving sustainability in food retail. Explore key aspects of sustainable food production, including market demand, practices, processing, packaging, procurement, and labeling. Gain insights into challenges and opportunities across the value chain, and learn about frameworks for credible sustainability claims, helping retailers reduce scope 3 emissions and meet their goals.

Fast Five Sponsor Highlight

Why is accurate packaging data so important? What about collecting accurate packaging data before you sell your products? Moving the needle on packaging sustainability shouldn’t be an afterthought. Rather than just collecting data on what you’ve already placed on the market, we can unlock right the first time as a realistic option for Canadian retailers. 

Main Session Hall

Join us for an in-depth exploration of how brands can achieve business growth while balancing responsibility and consumer expectations. Discover methods for framing sustainability value creation opportunities within existing business strategies, unlocking financial investments, addressing the need for new business models, and upholding brand responsibility to earn trust. We will share information on recent trends in consumer expectations, investments that are being made my businesses and the path to long-term resilience. We will also discuss the evolving legal risks versus marketing benefits of sustainability claims, providing a roadmap for navigating scrutiny and maintaining trust.

Full EPR can have a true impact on environmental outcomes. As the first full EPR program for packaging and paper in North America, Recycle BC will share key program elements and learnings from 10 years of advancing environmental outcomes and achieving program objectives on behalf of producer members. Hear how system design, innovation and partnerships can improve recycling rates, plastics management and access local end markets. 

On behalf of the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Parliamentary Secretary Julie Dabrusin will deliver remarks and a federal update from the Ministry, emphasizing Canada’s commitment and highlighting ongoing actions to reducing plastic waste through the national plastics registry, actively engaging countries around the world in global plastic waste reduction treaty negotiations, and outlining robust efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through targeted policies and sustainable practices.

The retail sector holds tremendous power, interacting with every part of the economy daily. This session delves into how industry leaders, both retailers and brand owners, can leverage collaboration to accelerate the pathway of creating more sustainable products. By rethinking design, embracing innovation, and enhancing transparency, we can pave the way for transformative sustainability practices. Leave this session feeling inspired to lead change and empower communities around you to drive sustainable action while fostering economic growth.