The Northern Ireland Waste & Resource Management Conference 2026

Turning Circular Ambition into Action

Conference Chair Dan Cooke, Director of Policy, Communications and External Affairs, CIWM

9:20     Opening Remarks

Keith Patterson, CIWM NI Chairperson

Session 1 – Strategic direction for the waste and resources section in NI

9:25     DAERA Presentation 

9:40     PackUK and Packaging Extended Producer Responsibility: how reducing waste and increasing recycling rates will drive circularity?

• What pEPR means to producers, manufacturers and the waste management industry
• The PRO and PackUK
• What Efficient & Effective means to local authorities in Northern Ireland
• The LAPCAP model: An overview

Esther Carter, Chief Strategy Officer, PackUK

10:00  Are Waste streams a “Lost Opportunity”?

• Current state of play globally on resources
• Role of waste and resource managers
• Innovations in material extraction
• Presidential report highlighting 6 materials

Tim Walker, Ex President, CIWM UK

10:20  The evolving policy landscape for materials, infrastructure, and waste tracking

• As widespread policy changes continue to sweep across the UK, LARAC will provide an update on the impact on local authorities.
• This will include pEPR, ETS, DRS and other parts of the UK-wide collection and packaging reforms, updates on the Digital Waste Tracking requirements to be placed on Northern Irish authorities from October 2026
• The challenge of infrastructure and collection and recycling of challenging items, including batteries, vapes and textiles.

Tom McBeth, Policy Officer, LARAC  

10:40   Q&A Session 1  Vision, Strategy, and Solutions        

10:50   Morning Coffee Break, Exhibition Viewing & Networking

Session 2 – From procurement to delivery

11:20  The Procurement Act – one year on

• Navigating the new landscape: Key changes under the Procurement Act 2023 and what they mean for waste sector procurement in Northern Ireland.
• Legal risks and early lessons: Emerging case law, direct award pitfalls, and managing procurement challenges under the new regime.
• Contract management: The shift in scrutiny to the back end of the procurement lifecycle, and practical steps for contract monitoring

Micaela Diver, Partner, A&L Goodbody

11:40   The Office for Environmental Protection and its work relating to Waste & Resource Management

OEP Interim Chair Julie Hill will give a brief introduction to the organisation and its work so far in Northern Ireland

• Look ahead to the first progress report on the Environmental Improvement Plan
• How things are going with plans to reduce waste and implement a circular economy

Julie Hill OBE, Interim Chair, Office of Environmental Protection 

12:00   The Business of Recycling

• WRAP’s support to increase the quality and quantity of NHM recycling in Northern Ireland and beyond

Bettina Gilbert, Director of Resource Management, WRAP

12:20   Turning C&D Ambition into Action

Geoff Bailey, CEO, Turmec

12:40   Q&A Session 2   Regulation, Service Delivery, and Environmental Performance        

12:55   Lunch, Exhibition Viewing & Networking

Session 3 – Critical challenges & circular opportunities – a focus on batteries and plastics

2:00     Lithium-ion batteries | The good, the bad and the downright dangerous!

• What is thermal runaway and why does it happen in these batteries?
• Why do we use them and where can we find them?
• What are some of the other issues and what is being done?
• How are they treated at end of life?
• What do we see happening moving forward?

Christopher Porter – Sustainability Consultant and Circular Economy Lead, SLR Consulting Ltd. 

2:20   A Risk-Based Approach to Fire Protection

This session explores how anticipating and prioritising fire hazards leads to better safety outcomes in waste and recycling operations.

• Why fire safety is about more than just fire systems
• Anticipating and prioritising hazards to focus where it matters most — including asking the uncomfortable “what happens if” questions
• Selecting solutions to mitigate risk — not just meet compliance
• Aligning stakeholders behind a single, risk-led approach
• Why understanding how detection and suppression actually work — and how they interact with your process — is critical
• Real-world examples of how different solutions perform in practice

Keith Picton, Director at Blazequel

2:40  Plastic Packaging, Closing the Loop

Michael Cunningham,  Director, Polymer Matters

3:00  Recycling and Circularity – is it achievable?

• Circularity what does it really mean
• Regulation – the gaps
• Failure to support recyclers
• Public perception knowledge and interest in recycling
• Cost of failure to us all

Brian Finnegan, CTO, Shabra Plastics & Packaging

3:20   Circularity Pays

This session will show how measuring what is actually recycled creates value for councils, MRFs and brands.

• Polytag is helping make circularity pay
• Using traceability, data and collaboration, we turn recycling insight into action
• Live deployments across the UK, including Northern Ireland

Rosa Knox-Bradley, Project Delivery Lead, Polytag

3:40   Q&A Session 3  Critical challenges and circular opportunities

3:50     Closing Remarks

Darragh McConville, Chair of Recycle NI

3:55     Conference Ends