[Webinar] Collaboration: Opportunities for Accelerating Food Wast...

[Webinar] Collaboration: Opportunities for Accelerating Food Waste Diversion in Canada's IC&I Sector

In the first of a new, knowledge sharing webinar series, Circular Innovation Council will highlight key insights from a recent IC&I food rescue and organic waste diversion pilot project in Guelph-Wellington, Ontario, and facilitate a moderated panel discussion on roles and responsibilities for IC&I food loss and waste across Canadian jurisdictions.

Webinar title: Collaboration: Opportunities for accelerating food waste diversion in Canada’s IC&I sector

Date: Wednesday April 17, 2024

Time: 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM (ET)

Platform: Zoom

Cost: None

Featuring leaders from:

Jason Baillargeon joined Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada in 2003 and has had the opportunity to work on a broad range of files including public trust, branding, sector strategies, value-chain coordination, and international marketing. Jason was appointed Director of Food Policy in September of 2018. Jason has an honours degree in International BUsiness and an MBA from Carleton University.

Matt Hamilton has 25 years of engineering and management experience, focused mainly on waste management. For the past 15 years, he has been with Environment and Climate Change Canada, leading waste management and pollution prevention programs. He currently is Manager of ECCC’s waste sector greenhouse gas reduction group, which is focused on developing new regulations to reduce landfill methane emissions, and supporting initiatives to help accelerate biodegradable waste reduction and diversion in Canada. Prior to working for ECCC, he worked for the City of Ottawa, and as an engineering consultant in Canada and the United States. Matt is also Co-Chair of the Global Methane Initiative’s Biogas Subcommittee.

Leah is a passionate and professional environmental leader with extensive experience in managing community waste reduction programs. With over 20 years of service in the public sector, she helped kick start Strathcona County’s Green Routine waste collection program and more recently led the community through the development of a new Waste Management Roadmap, which outlines a collective, community-wide commitment to rethinking waste and diverting more from landfill. It prioritizes an expanded waste hierarchy: rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle, recover and residual, which moves the community towards a circular economy and leading practices in waste management. Leah is particularly enthusiastic about understanding and shifting behaviours associated with waste practices. She’s always looking for creative opportunities to educate and create positive change, innovation and environmental improvement.

Mr. Walsh is a Certified Engineering Technologist and Certified Facility Manager with over 29 years of experience in the environmental industry focusing on the optimization of water, wastewater, and solid waste utilities. Mr. Wash has been with the City of Guelph for over 16 years and in that time has held positions including General Manager of Wastewater Services, Project Director with the CAO’s Office and for the past eight years has been supporting the City’s Solid Waste Resources Division as Division Manager. As Division Manager, Mr. Walsh has championed circular economy principles and was a key proposal writer for the successful INFC Smart Cities award and was Chair of the Waste as a Resource Workstream as part of the Our Food Future Smart Cities initiative.

Das Soligo is the Manager of Solid Waste Services at the County of Wellington. He has worked his entire career at the County after graduating With Distinction from the University of Toronto, studying Geography, Resource Management and Environmental Studies.

Das is a member of the Board of Directors for the Solid Waste Association of North America’s Ontario Chapter, and is currently the Chapter’s past-President. He is passionate about the environment, politics and the waste industry, and is an active participant in a number of related Committees, initiatives and organizations.

Moderator: