17 Nov: Product stewardship: Understanding the emerging landscape

Tuesday 17 November, 9.30am-12.30pm

Online

This is a paid online workshop - click here to see more information about pricing.

Product stewardship: Understanding the emerging landscape 

Product stewardship is rapidly becoming a strategic issue for New Zealand businesses. Regulatory developments in Europe are reshaping expectations around product design, resource recovery and producer responsibility. It will increasingly affect every part of the value chain, from producers and retailers through to local government, recyclers and consumers. Organisations that understand these changes early will be better placed to manage risk, influence policy and capture emerging circular economy opportunities.

What will this interactive workshop cover?

• The different types of product stewardship, from brand to industry, voluntary to regulated
• How industry schemes work
• NZ and global extended producer responsibility (EPR) developments, learnings and impacts
• Shifting the economics of resource recovery (including the implications for industry and consumers)
• Key opportunities and challenges to inform strategic business planning and risk management.
• Industry scheme development and the pipeline for NZ

What will attendees come away with?

• A broad base understanding of what product stewardship is, how it works, what impact it might have, and what opportunities it might bring.
• Confidence to engage in related workstreams, planning or advocacy.

Who should attend?

This workshop will beneficial to many different professional areas, such as:

• Local authorities

• Product manufacturers

• Brand owners

• Resource recovery collectors

• Materials processors and recyclers

• Community-based organisations

• Behaviour change specialists

• Retail salespeople.

Your presenters

Karen Titulaer

Karen will be facilitating the workshop. She has worked internationally in strategy, sustainability, governance and risk roles and now operates as an independent consultant in resource recovery and product stewardship.

Her role leading the Legal, Risk and Sustainability teams at Villa Maria Estate sparked her passion for product stewardship. At Villa Maria, she was part of developing a brand that led the industry in sustainable product innovation. Karen also chaired the Glass Packaging Forum and sat on the Packaging Forum Board, and through this identified the opportunities and challenges of industry-led schemes.

Karen now sits on the Board of Ecogas, is Independent Chair for Zero Waste Tamaki Makaurau and continues her focus on how product stewardship can be a foundation for a prosperous circular economy.

Mark Hilton

Mark will present as a subject matter expert on global EPR developments. He is an engineer by background and has been involved in product policy development and implementation since 1997, with a particular focus on EPR (product stewardship) and related circular economy instruments, for packaging, e-waste, batteries, furniture and textiles. This has involved working with the European Commission, the UK Government, UK, EU and New Zealand NGOs, and US and Pacific states to design and develop product policy, as well as with numerous corporates to help them navigate complex regulation across a wide range of territories.

Mark lived and worked in Auckland in 2022/23 and continues to work with the New Zealand Eunomia team from his base in Sydney, focusing on product policy, circular economy and related waste and sustainability initiatives.