SOAR 2023 Call for Presentation Proposals

The formal call for presentation proposals is now closed. 

You may submit proposals for consideration at this time; however, these will be reviewed as needed to complete the conference schedule. 

Delivering practical solutions to the solid waste industry’s most difficult problems, SOAR showcases the promising technologies, ideas, and solutions that transform waste into a resource. As SWANA’s premier technical conference, SOAR connects experts and problem solvers in industry-changing conversations about your most complex challenges.

SWANA welcomes your novel ideas, approaches, and solutions for addressing our industry’s pressing issues.

You are invited to  submit a proposal for SOAR 2023, scheduled for April 17-20, 2023, in Atlanta, GA. Your proposal should spark debate, learning, and innovation; envision a future that promotes waste as a resource; and show participants a way to get there.

KEY ACTIVITIES

IMPORTANT DATES

 Proposal Submission Deadline

September 30, 2022

Notification of Acceptance

November 30, 2022

SOAR 2023
Georgia World World Congress  Center
Atlanta, GA

April 17-20, 2023

Submit a winning proposal

Priority is given to sessions that:

  • Provoke “You gotta attend SOAR 2023 to get this!” Reviewers are looking for fresh content and ideas, not something anyone can Google or that has been presented elsewhere.
  • Disrupt participants’ thinking and provide insights and solutions they can apply to their work. This is not a call for academic papers; the focus is on the practical, rather than the theoretical. 
  • Engage participants. Create an experience for participants that involves them in the learning process through engaging activities; provides opportunities for reflection and integration of what they’re learning into their real-world, work life situations; and engages them in problem solving with each other.
  • Identify by name, title, organization and contact information the industry experts who have AGREED to speak in your proposed session, not the names of people you would like to invite to present with you. List only speakers you have confirmed to present.
  • Feature two or more speakers, not single-person lectures. Each submission should include at least one public sector presenter.
  • Include up to three measurable learning objectives.

All sessions are peer reviewed by SWANA Technical Division members and staff.  

Proposals must be submitted by September 30, 2022, for consideration. The proposal submission system allows you to save a draft and edit it up until the proposal submission deadline. 

SOAR Tracks

 learning objectives

Your proposal MUST include learning objectives. Learning objectives measure what the student can be reasonably expected to do as a result of your session. Consider how SOAR participants will be challenged to apply what they learn, which can be on one or more of three levels:

  • Knowledge/Comprehension
    • The participant will be able to recall and explain facts, ideas and basic concepts you have presented.
    • Sample Action Verbs: define, duplicate, list, repeat, state, classify, describe, explain, identify
  • Application/Analysis
    • The participant will be able to apply what you’ve presented to new situations and to draw connections among ideas.
    • Sample Action Verbs: execute, implement, solve, use, demonstrate, interpret, operate, differentiate, organize, relate, compare, contrast, distinguish, examine, experiment, test
  • Synthesis/Evaluation
    • The participant will be able to use what is you’ve presented to justify a stand or decision or produce a new or original work.
    • Sample Action Verbs: appraise, argue, defend, judge, select, support, value, critique, weight, design, assemble, construct, develop, formulate, investigate.

 You may include up to three objectives. Use compelling action verbs to build your objectives.  Additional action verbs are available here.

Tracks are structured around SWANA's seven Technical Divisions. Your proposal content may cross into multiple TD specialty areas. You may select up to three tracks for each proposal.

Below is a list of topics to consider within each TD area and several that are common to multiple TDs. You may build your proposal(s) around these areas or any other provocative issues.

Topics Common to Multiple Tracks

  • Legislative and regulatory issues and changes
  • Social media and communications training to engage with stakeholders, including during emergencies
  • Innovative technologies, including automation, robots, and drones
  • Personnel issues, including changes and shortages in the labor pool and hiring, retention, training, and management strategies
  • Safety operations and building a safety-conscious culture
  • Sustainability and the circular economy
  • Environmental justice assessment and impacts
  • Facility siting and financing in light of environmental justice and other community concerns
  • Impact of global forces, such as the Ukraine War and COVID-19, on the industry
  • Contract development and management
  • Comparison of U.S., Canadian, and European policies, trends, and standards

Collection and Transfer

  • Assessment of electric vehicles and the use of alternative fuels, including evaluation of usage impacts
  • Rate studies, including pay-as-you-throw programs
  • Cost-effective route management
  • Transfer station floor maintenance
  • Transfer station feasibility and efficiency studies

Communications, Education & Marketing

  • Tracking greenhouse gas emissions for programs
  • Climate change mitigation and cost-effective ways to propel the circular economy and reduce the burden of recycling
  • Successful reuse and refill programs

Landfill Gas and Biogas

  • Satellite-based methane emissions research and measurement
  • EPA Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program
  • Compliance obligations and considerations between the landfill and energy developer
  • Original equipment manufacturers' role in renewable natural gas (RNG) plant development
  • Compressed natural gas and RNG trailer loading and unloading

Landfill Management

  • Leachate management, including volume-reduction techniques
  • Leachate PFAS treatment systems
  • Alternative intermediate and final covers, including cost avoidance
  • Airspace management
  • Recapture of settlement, including slopes, mechanically stabilized earth walls, and intermediate geomembrane cover
  • Post-closure planning and opportunities
  • Stormwater quality concerns
  • Contracting with new or existing developers for landfill gas to renewable natural gas

Planning & Management

  • Alternative Fuels:
    • Using Waste-to-Energy (WTE) and landfill gas as sources of energy for alternative vehicle fuels 
    • Exploration of recovery of alternative fuels, such as refuse-derived fuel (RDF) or solid recovered fuel (SRF)
    • Benefits of consuming waste as a low-carbon fuel source
  • Measurement, including the characterization of recycling using the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) and other industry standards
  • Forecasting solid waste generation rates
  • Cooperative purchasing of goods and services to maximize purchasing power
  • Integrating organics diversion programs into your solid waste management system
  • Exploring the role of landfills in managing society's PFAS waste
  • Long-term planning to ensure adequate disposal and processing capacity for community waste at a reasonable price
  • Establishing rate structures to cover community solid waste program costs

Sustainable Materials Management

  • Plastics, including single-use and micro-plastics
  • End-market expansion
  • Reuse opportunities
  • Food waste diversion programs
  • Methods to manage hard-to-recycle items, including facilities, resource recovery parks, and reuse programs
  • Effective managment of special wastes, such as batteries, e-waste, and mercury light bulbs
  • Carbon offset programs
  • Recycling labeling laws, litigation, and case studies
  • Solar energy arrays constructed on closed landfills and leachate and stormwater ponds
  • Multifamily organics collection and recycling programs
  • Flow control of waste options to direct waste generated by a local community to the community's facilities
  • Utilizing economies of scale to reduce costs
  • Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) initiatives

 Waste Conversion Technology Conference - Waste Conversion & Energy Recovery

  • Establishing North American MSW alternative fuel standards
  • Supporting and adopting a formal carbon credit and/or plastic credit platform and program within North America
  • Recovering energy from organic waste
  • California's SB1383 legislation and its compatibility with organics separation
  • Managing sludge  after anaerobic digestion of organic and other wastes
  • Exploring the relationship between new conversion technologies and current legislation
  • Ability of current WTE facilities to destroy PFAS
  • Recovery of aggregates and metals from WTE ash
  • Comparison of European, Canadian, and U.S. approaches to WTE and waste conversion
  • Recognition and verification of the role of WTE and waste conversion systems in the waste hierarchy

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