Featured Speakers

Join SWANA President, Tim Flanagan as we kick-off the 60th Anniversary of WASTECON.  Our keynote speaker for the evening is Councilmember Joe LaCava from the City of San Diego.  Mr. Lacava is the chairperson of the City's Environment Committee.  He is an active community leader on climate change and infrastructure. 

Join Diego Ugalde and Jovon Quarles, former Navy SEALs turned Pathfinders with The Trident Approach, as they share their methods and motivations for building trust and leading teams in times of chaos.

Their keynote addresses the fundamental notion that you cannot operate as an elite team if you have not developed the self to an elite level. Over the course of the talk, they will share some of the hardest lessons learned in order to bring awareness to how mental resiliency, emotional intelligence, and deep connection to the self can impact one's life and the teams they serve. 

Carlos Silva Filho, SWANA's 2022 Lawrence Lecturer

Considering the expected population’s growth—around 8.5 billion people in 2030 and 9.7 billion in 2050—the equivalent of almost three planets could be required to provide the natural resources needed to sustain current lifestyles. According to the Global Footprint Network we are consuming natural resources faster than the planet can replenish and current levels show that we would need 1.75 planets Earth to fulfill our needs every year.

Due to such “way of life”, we are now facing a triple planetary crisis: increased pollution, biodiversity loss and global warming, which affects not only the environment but also the health and living conditions of millions of people worldwide, mainly the most vulnerable ones.

Adequate waste management can play a substantial role in mitigating the critical effects of the triple crisis. Waste can be an asset and a resource used by several other sectors and the waste sector is not part of the problem, but the solution to it.

Join SWANA CEO, David Biderman and Battle Motors founder and CEO, Michael Patterson for a conversation about the impact and future of electric vehicles for the solid waste industry.

California is leading the US with Extended Producer Responsibility legislation. Heidi Sanborn is a key leader in the pursuit of new legislation in California and the US.

What makes a song successful? Many times it’s the hook, or the title grabs you. Maybe the melody is memorable, or the chorus is catchy. Creating a “theme song” to concisely capture and convey your overall mission or the direction you want your people and organization to go in is a powerful tool to improve focus and drive change. In this keynote presentation we’ll explore the best in-house slogans of all time and how to create our own internal tagline that everyone will rally around.

It’s a way to reset, recharge, and re-energize your people and point them in a direction with energy, enthusiasm, and focus. These one-sentence micro mission statements are perfect for short-term goals, projects, new initiatives, and other areas you want to change the thinking and get buy in.

In this keynote presentation we’ll explore the best way to capture the direction you want your people go, gets them to pull together, pushes them to do more, and holds everything together with one cohesive message.

What if you could confidently step into any room and compellingly share your value? What if you went from feeling invisible and unremarkable to noteworthy?

In her keynote, Dr. Wall will help you discover why social capital is so important to further their careers and businesses. You'll learn a unique three-step process to communicate impact and value in a fascinating, compelling, and relevant manner, regardless of your audience.  You will understand how articulating value properly using Dr. Wall's process can help build better teams that support individual and organizational success, as well help your organizations grow engagement and inclusion.

Ms. Shaw will provide a timely update on EPA’s grant programs and other waste-related initiatives being implemented under the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. She will also provide a review of EPA’s broader Circular Economy efforts, including the National Recycling Strategy.

Join us for a look at a solution for food waste recovery.  Solana Center for Environmental Innovation conducted a 6-month pilot program that helped the San Diego region connect food waste generators with agricultural sites to close the loop.  Learn how San Diego County is planning to move from linear organics management systems to localized circular economies.

Join our panel of Solid Waste leaders as they reflect on the week and what was learned. The panel will discuss how can we build a strong sustainable path forward together?