National Cricket Centre, Sophia Gardens

Main Conference - Breakout Sessions

The afternoon of the main conference was dedicated to breakout sessions, covering a wide-range of topics.

Breakout Session 1: Collaboration in Innovation: Brokerage Session

Innovate UK Business Growth hosted a brokerage session aimed at fostering knowledge transfer connections between UK based organisations and international partners including opportunities for collaboration between regions involved in the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN). Academics and third sector representatives were also invited to attend and share their areas of interest. The session included information on the various businesses support packages available to facilitate international innovation collaborative opportunities. The session proved to be a great opportunity for delegates to meet other like-minded innovators and learn more about the Welsh Government Innovation Team’s available support for innovation and circular economy projects.

Breakout Session 2: Encouraging Circular Behaviours in Wales and Across the Globe

This session delivered a deep dive into the insights that shaped Be Mighty. Recycle campaign strategy, exploring the activities that inspired audiences in Wales and revealing the impact on both food waste prevention and recycling behaviours. The session also showcased food waste prevention campaigns delivered in partnership with countries across the globe, demonstrating how tailoring approaches to cultural and audience nuances maximises impact. Delegates learned about the challenges and opportunities associated with delivering a bilingual citizen-facing campaign and the work needed to tailor messaging to specific audiences.

Speakers included:

Breakout Session 3: Impact of Academia: Research, Skills, and Innovation

This session featured a panel discussion with an emphasis on audience interaction and questions. Academics from Welsh universities shared how their research is impacting the transition to a circular economy in Wales and beyond and discussed how students are developing the skills needed to further the circular economy.

Speakers included:

Breakout Session 4: Circular Economy in Action: Pathways to Sustainable Development

This experiential and immersive workshop was delivered by the CEIC team (Cardiff Met and Swansea Universities) and explored how they have supported organisations to develop innovation and Circular Economy (CE) capabilities and reduce their carbon footprint and increase productivity. CEIC has supported over 120 organisations business and third sector organisations to develop a Clean Growth plan and a Carbon Reduction Plan by helping them understand circular economy (CE) principles and develop the innovation skills to implement new processes and practices within their organisation.

Speakers included:

Breakout Session 5: Driving Circularity in the Public Sector

During this interactive workshop delegates learned how Government policy and practice align, and how the Welsh public procurement influences customers to adopt these principles across the procurement cycle to drive responsible consumption. Following presentations outlining how public procurement is identified as a key driver in Wales’ circular economy strategy and how following a sustainable procurement hierarchy is an important first step for organisations, delegates participated in a workshop to consider what steps they could take to ensure that procurement exercises result in the best sustainability outcomes.

Speakers included:

Breakout Session 6: From Linear to Circular - Repair and Reuse Across the Value Chain

This session focused on how reuse and repair can work for citizens and consumers. Using Wales’ repair and reuse route map: Towards a Universal Culture of Repair and Reuse in Wales, the panel session examined how reuse and repair can be expanded.

Speakers included:

Breakout Session 7: Circular Innovation in Business: Case Studies

This session featured innovative case studies from businesses and organisations driving the circular economy through innovation and partnership. In two different sessions, delegates heard from businesses and organisations from Wales and further afield who shared their story, shared learnings, and detailed the successes they’ve had in embedding circular principles in their everyday practices. In the first session delegates learned about the AMRC’s work on digital transformation with SMEs, heard about Smile Plastics’ success in creating beautiful products out of post-consumer plastics, and WRAP’s work with partners including Amazon and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in developing Circular Living Standards for consumer products. In the second session, Polytag presented their work on recycling traceability and highlighted a project with Ocado, CIRCULEIRE - Irish Manufacturing Research outlined the work they undertake in Ireland to support circular innovation and collaboration, and the W. Howard Group gave an overview of the Pillo project and their work to solve the problem of MDF waste.

Speakers included:

Breakout Session 8: Wales’ Recycling Successes

This session explored the success Wales has had in becoming one of the top recycling nations and the progressive approach that the Welsh Government and local authorities have taken to enable these achievements. Panellists covered topics such as the Welsh Government’s collection blueprint, the recently enacted workplace recycling regulations, and Wales’ ambitions to become the best recycling nation in the world. Delegates heard about Pembrokeshire County Council’s recycling journey over the last two decades and the work that has gone into achieving a recycling of over 70% in Pembrokeshire. Biffa also outlined their experience and some of the lessons learned following the introduction of the workplace recycling regulations in Wales and Recressco presented a case study of their work reprocessing and recycling glass.

Speakers included: