WasteMINZ Conference 2025 Presentation Pitch

Why submit a pitch?

• To help create a better future
• To inspire others through your thought leadership
• To share your learnings
• To challenge people’s thinking
• To gain exposure for your work and your organisation, leading to additional opportunities
• To enhance your reputation in the industry
• To present research findings, or case studies
• As a bonus, presenters receive a 10% discount on the registration fee.

How to submit your pitch

Click the Submit your presentation tab above. You'll need the following information:

• Your contact details and bio
• Your co-presenter's contact details and bio (if applicable)
• A presentation name
• A 100 word description of your presentation. Think of it like an elevator pitch - what are the most important parts of the presentation?

Presenters' costs

If you are selected to present, you will be responsible for your own expenses and must register for the WasteMINZ conference. Presenters receive a 10% discount on the registration fee.

Key dates

• Last day to get your presentation pitch in: Friday 21 February
• Presenters notified of outcome of their presentation pitch by: 14 March 2025
• Presenters to submit any additional information: 20 March 2025
• Preliminary conference programme released: 3 April 2025
• Last day to get PowerPoint presentations to the WasteMINZ team: 26 May 2025

Feel free to get in touch with Fiona Lavin if you have any questions. You can reach her on fiona@wasteminz.org.nz.

We look forward to hearing your great ideas!

The following are some suggestions of broad topics you might like to consider. Your pitch can be technical or application-based (such as case studies, which we encourage), but should include learnings and, if applicable, potential solutions.

1. What are the numbers telling us? – Data plays a huge role in identifying issues and planning for future solutions. We want to hear about the barriers and potential solutions to collecting data, challenges for businesses managing large datasets, and traceability of products through the waste ecosystem.
2. Starting at the beginning – Supporting greater product stewardship and within that extended producer responsibility, should look first at the highest levels of the waste hierarchy. We are looking for case studies of successful schemes in Aotearoa and overseas, both mandatory and voluntary, and looking at how to design problem waste out of the system. We would also like to hear about innovative reuse systems.
3. Compost, a growing business – It's a dirty job but someone has to do it. We want to hear about your compost story, and how we break down the barriers to composting at all levels - local and small-to-medium scale composting. Other topics include Clopyralid - why this is still such an issue after so many years? What are the potential ways to make progress? What are the opportunities and challenges with the use of organic products in the primary sector?
4. Placing the future at the forefront – The future is coming ready or not! We are keen to explore the role of AI in this sector including - opportunities and risks, uses of drones, and AI to drive down contamination. Other topics include where will the industry be or where do we want it to be in 30 years, and how we excel into the future.
5. Changing hearts and minds – Best practice in influencing change across our communities, measuring the impact and success of behaviour change campaigns, and engaging with the disengaged. How do we get communities and organisations on board our waste management journey?
6. Bin there, done that – Landfills have been a large part of our waste management landscape, and closed, existing and new landfills will be a part of our future. We want to explore issues with capacity and potential solutions, landfill emissions, what makes a good landfill, challenges with classes 3-5 and potential solutions, reclaiming landfills and work being done in the vulnerable landfill space.
7. Trends in waste management – Locally and globally, what trends are we seeing in: C&D waste working with builders and maximising diversion; hard-to-recycle waste; batteries; biosolids; collecting waste in dense environments; and how to achieve high diversion rates are just some of the topics of interest.
8. He rau ringa e oti ai, many hands make light work - Any project that had two or more organisations joining forces to get stuff done. This could include topics such as social and environmental procurement or partnering with community organisations to do things differently.
9. Let’s get technical - Upskill the sector by imparting your technical expertise or insights in the realm of contaminated land management and disposal to land. We want to highlight how the sector is actively contributing to a regenerating Aotearoa. This could include presentations on detailed risk assessment, modelling or innovative remediation techniques with examples from New Zealand or overseas that have important learnings for the sector.  Share your case studies showcasing sustainable land use, how to ensure long-term resilience of contaminated sites impacted by climate change, remediation including the management of PFAS, examples on how to bridge the gap between conventional risk assessment and Conceptual Site Models (CSMs), and Mātauranga Māori and indigenous perspectives on all of the above.
10. Snapshots - This session is a firm favourite with the audience (previously called Pecha Kucha) and allows you to present a snapshot about anything that you are passionate about in under 10 minutes. Got a great project for a case study, a good news story on food redistribution, or trying out something new for staff, the sky is the limit!