CRLC | Supply Chain 360 | Embracing Circular Economies and Sustainability
The Columbus Region Logistics Council (CRLC), an initiative of the Columbus Chamber, is all about industry collaboration.
Your Columbus Region Logistics Council took a deep dive into understanding the impact of circularity and sustainability on Thursday, June 13 from 7:30 am to Noon to learn about:
- Leadership in sustainability
- Implementation strategies
- Journey stories
- Understanding the importance of repurpose in our circular economy
- Artificial Intelligence in sustainability
This half-day workshop, at Ohio Dominican University, delivered a wealth of information that warehouse and logistics operations professionals, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) leaders, and small business owners will want to hear. A variety of topics were presented to appeal to business owners and leadership in warehouse and logistics companies.
Why? “The circular economy is celebrated as a trillion-dollar opportunity beginning to penetrate industries around the world. There’s no sector or region left untouched by the potential for reinventing systems, products and services in a fashion that ultimately creates no waste and even regenerates natural systems.” (Credit)
Keynote Panel | The State of Circularity in Central Ohio – presented by SWACO and Partners
Recycling means business and Central Ohio’s circular economy is a team effort. This panel keynote, facilitated by SWACO, brings together partners representing various viewpoints of the green economy to share insights into the journey of our recyclables and uncover nearly 400 businesses in the Region that rely on these materials for their operations.
Breakout Sessions A
By taking just a few minutes to recycle the right way, you help reduce pollution, contribute to cleaner water, conserve limited natural resources, support our economy, and reduce central Ohio’s reliance on landfill. SWACO’s Outreach Administrator, Amy Densborn, will answer your recycling questions and share how your business can make small changes to be more sustainable. If you’re a beginner on the recycling journey or an avid sustainability leader at your company, either way, this session will help you navigate recycling, bust a few myths, and deliver the steps you need to implement sustainable changes at work.
Learn from Lead Dragon Trainer, Charlie Morrison, owner of MCR Medical, and his team how to negotiate UP the supply chain to achieve minimal waste. Learn how to achieve diversion goals by eliminating void/fill and staging shipping to create minimal waste, among other sustainability practices. Build a culture of growth without waste to achieve sustainability goals.
Located in Columbus, Ohio, the Rumpke Resource and Recycling Center is the largest and most technologically advanced facility in North America. To help fuel a circular economy, we strive to keep operations and production within the Midwest. After processing materials from nearly 50 Ohio counties, we send 80% of them to in-state manufacturers that create new products. As Ohio’s recycling leader, Rumpke collaborates with businesses, schools, municipalities and other organizations to meet their sustainability goals. Through greener solutions, we can preserve our community and environment for generations.
How can we increase environmental, social and economic Sustainability and increase the Resiliency of our businesses?
Increase efficiencies of resources used per products created and services delivered:
- Reduce Resources (e.g., hours, tools, materials, energy, and workforce) used
- Reduce Waste generated, including non-reusable
How can Leadership do this?
- Align & Engage Workforce in the Transformation Processes
- “Align” Communication Tools & Processes
- SME Fully Engage Workforce System
- A Problem Solving & Transformation Management System
- Accountabilities System…for Real!
- Work Processes Visualization
- THE Talent Management & Leadership Triumvirate: Management & Leadership (M&L), Human Resources, and Peer SME System
- New World Project Teams
Increase the value of your business to: the global community, your customers, your supply chain, your workforce, your talent pipeline…and then some! Increase the Resilience of your business!
Breakout Sessions B
Note – Breakout Repeats Next Session
This session is a panel discussion around:
- Customer requests/push for more sustainability
- How operations adapted to requests and increased our sustainability
- How facilities had to change/enhance and put metrics and focus on increased sustainability
- Customer impact/results
Note – Breakout Repeats Next Session
Damon Carson is the owner and founder of repurposedMATERIALS. With yards in Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Iowa, Ohio, and South Carolina, his company focuses on “repurposing” waste and obsolete materials from Corporate America.
repurposedMATERIALS is actually Damon’s second foray into the waste stream of America albeit with a very different and unique business model. Several years back, he sold a garbage company that he had co-owned in the Colorado ski resorts of Vail and Breckenridge to Waste Management.
Want to learn how sustainability can drive profitability by cutting your energy, packaging, and freight costs while improving transit times? Over the course of 45 minutes, you’ll learn how to:
🔥Translate sustainability mumbo jumbo into easy-to understand logistics concepts.
🔥Take simple steps to cut your logistics costs by up to 20% and emissions by 40% or more.
🔥Win more business with America’s largest retailers and marketplaces.
🔥Increase your shipping capacity by up to 75% while reducing your packaging costs!
🍺Brew better beer that’s cheaper and greener!
Nike’s head of Sustainable Supply Chain Transformation called the session a “Great course for organizations early in their emissions reduction journey, or have tackled their quick wins and now want to think about “what else”. We’ll even do a quick analysis of how Bath & Body Works’ nearshoring initiative slashed their manufacturing-logistics emissions on many products by over 99%, and what lessons you can learn from it!
Circular Thrift is a sustainable fashion start-up focused on scaling the local re-use of fashion and accessories. The business offers consumers convenient ways to shed or exchange clothing through publicly accessible drop bins, front door clothing pick-up, product category focused swap events, off-line thrift pop-up sales, a virtual thriftstore, and remanufacturing projects. Since its launch, Circular Thrift has organized the collection and sorting of 13,000 items, keeping roughly half of these items in local circulation through resale, swap, or donation to an organization serving the local community. Estimated landfill diversion, and carbon emissions offset, and reduced water and energy usage through the community’s sustainability efforts are documented on the Circular Thrift website.
Medical Device manufacturers have hundreds of millions of dollars in surgical instrumentation sitting in the field. Each Sales Rep has excess inventory that they rarely use. At the same time, Reps need new surgical sets to meet the demands of hospitals and their patients. Inventory management is the biggest capital expense companies face, and surprisingly, there was no mechanism to take unused and excess inventory and get it to a place of need for patient care. Instead, companies were manufacturing new equipment to satisfy this need while other pieces sat idle. This created an unsustainable new manufacturing cycle and significant bottom line expense.
In this session, you will learn how the company, InQ (“in-que”), identified this issue and the challenges we faced to implement behavior change. Attendees will learn how:
- Todays medical device industry is dealing with the problem by creating new, and unneeded, inventory
- A case study of the first ever software being piloted inside a large orthopedic company
- How behavior change is a direct threat to a more sustainable future
- How to deal with behavior change and finding a “green” champion
- How to use budget realities to implement green solutions
Breakout Sessions C
This session is a panel discussion around:
- Customer requests/push for more sustainability
- How operations adapted to requests and increased our sustainability
- How facilities had to change/enhance and put metrics and focus on increased sustainability
- Customer impact/results
Damon Carson is the owner and founder of repurposedMATERIALS. With yards in Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Iowa, Ohio, and South Carolina, his company focuses on “repurposing” waste and obsolete materials from Corporate America.
repurposedMATERIALS is actually Damon’s second foray into the waste stream of America albeit with a very different and unique business model. Several years back, he sold a garbage company that he had co-owned in the Colorado ski resorts of Vail and Breckenridge to Waste Management.
This session will discuss the federal Research and Development Tax Credit and how environmentally responsible companies could potentially benefit from it.
Ross Alessandro is a Tax Shareholder at Schneider Downs who is primarily focused on helping organizations to identify, quantify, substantiate, and sustain both federal and state R&D tax credits.
Since 1956, Schneider Downs & Co., Inc. has been providing accounting, tax, consulting, and business advisory services through innovative thought leaders who deliver their expertise to meet the individual needs of each client. Schneider Downs works with large and small businesses, both publicly and privately held, as well as nonprofit organizations, government entities, service firms and professional associations. We help our clients reach their goals through insight, innovation, and experience.
Learn how to save money with correct product packaging from Welch Packaging. Corrugated Boxes are a renewable, recyclable product!
Scott Walk, Suzy Kramer, Tara Cahill, and Julia Gracey. Not pictured John Stepp.
TRC is dedicated to achieving excellence in quality products, innovation, and sustainability, actively participating in the circular economy. Our 4R strategic vision focuses on extracting value from materials once deemed obsolete: Repair, Recycle, Repurpose, and Reuse. Our primary emphasis is the tangible positive influence we have on the sustainability initiatives of our local, regional, and global customers. Discover the profound impact of prolonging the lifespan of consumable products on the circular economy, as we prioritize creating value from materials previously considered at the end of their usefulness.
Thank you to our Sponsors!
Presenting Sponsors
Impact Sponsors
Signature Sponsor
Venue Sponsors
Investor Partners
