Regional Action. National Impact.
Join local, regional and national leaders for an interactive day focused on practical circularity solutions, local government action, Extended Producer Responsibility and the partnerships needed to move the circular economy forward.
Circularity is built through action.
Communities across the country are working to reduce waste, recover more materials, strengthen recycling systems and build more resilient local economies.
The Circularity Forum connects those real-world experiences with national research, industry perspectives and emerging policy to explore where circularity is going — and how we get there.
This is not designed as a day of back-to-back presentations. The Forum is built around conversation, practical examples, facilitated breakouts, audience participation and ideas that can be taken home and put to work.
Move Beyond the Conference Presentation.
The Circularity Forum is designed to get people from different parts of the system talking with one another about implementation, barriers, costs, policy and solutions.
Learn What Is Working
Hear practical examples from communities, researchers, recycling professionals and businesses already navigating circularity challenges.
Work Through the Details
Dig into contracts, ordinances, reporting requirements, EPR implementation, recovery barriers and other issues that determine whether good ideas actually work.
Help Shape What Comes Next
Bring your own experience into the conversation through facilitated breakouts, Q&A and candid discussion with leaders from across the field.
2026 Program
One Day. Multiple Perspectives.
Speakers and individual assignments are still being finalized. The program below reflects the current direction of the Forum and will continue to be updated as participants are confirmed.
Regional Circularity & Collaboration
Connect national circularity goals with the work already underway in St. Louis, the Midwest and communities across the country.
Networking Lunch
Continue the conversation with speakers, partners and attendees while building new regional and national connections.
Featured Circularity Perspective
A national perspective on product stewardship, Extended Producer Responsibility and how local action connects to broader circularity policy.
Local Levers for Change: What Can We Do Now?
A practical session combining expert perspectives with facilitated breakout discussions on the tools communities can use today.
EPR Pathways: State Models, Federal Needs
A policy and implementation conversation examining packaging EPR, municipal impacts, differences among state systems and the case for greater national consistency.
Mid-America Circularity Networking Reception
Keep the conversation going in a more informal setting with regional partners, Forum participants and invited circularity leaders.
Heidi Sanborn
Bringing a national perspective on Extended Producer Responsibility, product stewardship, recycling policy and the role communities can play in building stronger circular systems.
Local Levers for Change: What Can We Do Now?
Communities do not have to wait for the perfect state or federal policy environment to strengthen their recycling and circularity systems.
Topics & Tools
- Model local policies and ordinances
- Solid waste and recycling contracts
- Vendor and procurement requirements
- Reporting requirements and data needs
- Plastics reduction strategies
- Recovery obstacles and system gaps
- Cost sharing and municipal impacts
- Preparing local systems for EPR
Not Just a Panel
The session is designed to begin with focused expert perspectives and then move into facilitated breakout discussions.
Participants will have the opportunity to examine examples, compare approaches and report ideas back to the larger room.
Why Better Data Matters
Thornton, Colorado provides a practical case study in the information communities may need to document recycling costs and qualify for reimbursement under an EPR system. The discussion will use that experience to help communities think now about reporting, recordkeeping and data systems.
EPR Pathways: State Models, Federal Needs
Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility is moving rapidly across the United States. What do the emerging models mean for communities, producers, recyclers and taxpayers — and would greater national consistency produce a better system?
The Conversation
- Packaging EPR 101
- Differences among state EPR models
- Lessons from Colorado
- Lessons from Minnesota
- California and other emerging approaches
- Impacts on municipal recycling budgets
- Producer and business considerations
- Plastics recycling and recovery
- State-by-state policy complexity
- Opportunities for a national framework
Audience Discussion Is Part of the Program
This session is being developed as an active panel conversation rather than a series of separate lectures.
Time is being built in for participants to challenge ideas, ask questions and discuss what different EPR approaches mean in practice.
Talk About the Good, the Bad & the Ugly.
Progress requires more than polished success stories. The Circularity Forum is designed to create space for honest discussion about what works, what does not, where implementation gets difficult and what communities, businesses and recycling professionals need from one another to move forward.
Mid-America Circularity Networking Reception
After the formal program, continue the conversation with Forum participants, partners and invited regional leaders in a more informal setting.
The reception is intended as a preview of the kind of candid, collaborative Mid-America roundtable conversations that bring people together to discuss what is working, what is not and where stronger regional collaboration can make a difference.
Sponsored by MidAmerica Clean Future Alliance.
Bring Every Part of the System to the Table.
The Forum is designed for people who want to move beyond broad circularity goals and work through the practical decisions needed to make those goals real.
Join Us in St. Louis.
Reserve your place for an interactive day connecting practical local action, real-world implementation and the national circularity conversation.
- Full Circularity Forum program
- Expert panels and facilitated discussion
- Interactive breakout sessions
- Networking lunch
- Access to speakers and participants
- Networking throughout the day
Local & Community Participation
Forum organizers are working to make it possible for important local government, community and regional voices to participate in the conversation.
Special participation and invited-attendee arrangements are still being finalized.
Additional information will be posted as those options are confirmed.
Staying for RCon® 2026?
The Circularity Forum takes place Monday, September 28 at America’s Center in St. Louis in conjunction with SWANA’s RCon® 2026. RCon registration is handled separately by SWANA.
Circularity Forum 2026
September 28, 2026
St. Louis, Missouri
In-Person Forum
Circularity Through Collaboration
The Circularity Forum brings together organizations working locally, regionally and nationally to strengthen recycling, circularity and sustainable materials management.
Be Part of the Conversation.
The transition to a circular economy will not be built by one organization, one industry, one community or one policy. It will be built by people willing to work across those boundaries, share what they know and tackle the difficult questions together.
