Where: 76 Portland Place, London W1, UK

How much: £245 +VAT (standard delegate); APSRG members £195 + VAT

EUR 1,390 if booked before 30 November 2009 (EUR 1,490 after that)

£399 plus VAT if booked by 11 December 2009; special rates for local authorities and RECOUP members

Where: Olympia Conference Centre, London W14, UK

How much: £699 (private), £599 (local authority)

How much: EUR 1195 plus VAT if booked before 11 December 2009 (EUR 1295 plus VAT after that).

Local Authority Rate: EUR 895 plus VAT

Where: Sheraton Hotel, Brussels, Belgium

How much: EUR 1,445 plus 21% Vat if booked by 29 January 2010

• Safer Cosmetic products: product Stewardship meets Chemicals Policy (12 May 2010)
• Managing Food Waste: Opportunities for Product Stewardship (25 May 2010)
• Product Stewardship Laws for Electronics in the US: Learning Through Experience (3 June 2010)
• Life Cycle thinking for Product Stewardship Professionals (9 June 2010)

Participation in the calls costs US$90, but are free of charge for PSI members.

Who should attend? Industry representatives (small or large), entrepreneurs and policymakers with an interest in innovative techniques for reducing waste, emissions and water use in industry, in particular those working in our focus sectors: electronics, construction, automotive or photovoltaic, and/or who can contribute to, transfer and apply the work and results of the project.

Registration fee: Free

Contact: Dr Tony Curran at tcu@soton.ac.uk (contact before Friday 11 June).

Background: The conference is part of a project by Austrian Society for Systems Engineering and Automation that runs from 1 May 2009 to 30 April 2014 and is funded by the European Commission.

Topics Covered:

• Preparing for Registration
• Guidance on REACH Registration
• Overlapping Requirements with CLP/GHS
• Elements of Registration Dossiers
• Dos and Don'ts for Joint Submission
• Working with IUCLID

Price: EUR 1,995 plus VAT

Where: Frankfurt (Main Event) 5-7 July, or Cologne 13-15 September

Including speakers from: ECHA, DG Enterprise & Industry, Boots, WWF European Policy Office etc.

Price: EUR 1,439.90 plus VAT

Where: Crowne Plaza Europa Hotel, Brussels 6-7 July

When: 8 July 2010

Where: Institute of Physics, London, UK

Including speakers from: DEFRA, BIS, Valpak, Repic eBat, BatteryBack PLC etc

How much: £337.50 plus VAT if booked by 30 May (£375 plus VAT after that)

Post workshop review: The workshop was attended by over 100 delegates and discussed innovative approaches, experiences and solutions to the E-waste problem, covering the areas of policy, regulation, eco-design, the challenges and management strategies for governments, industry, NGO’s and society.

Key points raised will be released during the StEP workshop planned for late 2010 but now postponed to mid-2011.

The workshop was supported by the ‘Solving the E-Waste Problem’ Initiative (StEP), the United Nations University, the United Nations Environment Program and the Basel Convention. Major sponsors included the Brisbane City Council, The Department of Environment and Resource Management, Close the Loop Limited, Boliden Mineral AB and the Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association.

High-level experts and decision-makers from the packaging and the EPR world across Europe and North America will converge on Brussels to exchange views on the past, present and future of EPR for packaging.

Draft programme can be downloaded here.

Where: Hotel Le Plaza, Brussels; When: 6 October 2010; How much: Participation fee 350 euros

Further details: www.europen.be; www.proeurope-congress.com
Including speakers from: EUROPEN, PRO EUROPE, Procter & Gamble, DG Environment, StewardEdge

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Fee:      before / after 31 July 2010

Participants:  EUR 1290 / 1390   
Speakers:      EUR 690 / 790    
Students:       EUR 490 / 590

All companies in the electr(on)ics, automotive, solar and PV, chemical and recycling industry, power suppliers, electricity generators and distributors, contract manufacturers, material and component suppliers, service and logistic companies, collective systems, academia, consulting and public authorities (local, regional, international) are invited to attend and contribute.

These discussions are not only intended to allow for an exchange of ideas and information, but also to provide the basis for mapping out frameworks for greater international harmonisation of product stewardship schemes.

Europe already has a well-developed framework, there is a lot of activity on product stewardship currently underway in the US and Canada, and Australia is considering its options – so now is the time to debate how far rules and systems can and should be harmonised, and how far they need to be tailored to the local situation.

In November 2009 Australia’s Environment Protection and Heritage Council – the federal, state and territory environment ministers – endorsed the National Waste Policy: Less Waste, More Resources. This sets the agenda for waste and resource recovery in Australia over the next 10 years. To flesh out the National Waste Policy, an Implementation Plan setting out the aims, key directions, priority strategies and roles and responsibilities of governments was published earlier this month.

The primary focus of the first two to three years will be on product stewardship. Ministers have agreed a product stewardship framework, and will be starting with TVs and computers. The third voluntary agreement on packaging, the Australian Packaging Covenant, took effect on 1 July, but beverage container deposits are still under consideration as a possible supplement to this.

Last year the Australian environment department commissioned Perchards and the Australian consultancy MS2 to write a report summarising the key features of various producer responsibility schemes in Europe and North America, and now the Global Product Stewardship Council (see separate news item) and the Waste Management Association of Australia are organising the International Product Stewardship Summit to take things further. Australia’s Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts is one of the sponsors, and others will be announced shortly.

A full programme for the Summit will be published is soon. Email info@perchards.com if you would like to be kept informed.

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• Establish the most suitable waste prevention options for all waste streams within EU guidelines
• Boost the sustainability of your business by using waste as a resource
• Identify new opportunities in renewable energy generation offered by waste processing routes

Where: Hotel Bloom, Brussels

Download the brochure; Register now

An exchange of ideas regarding WEEE management between the public and private sectors.

Where: Auditorium of the Federal Attorney-General's office

A conference and exhibition on various topics related to recycling.

Where: Auditorium Hernán Rivera Antezana of the Chamber of Industry. 3pm - 9pm

View the programme here (Spanish);  View the event poster here (Spanish)