2025 Conference

2025 conference itinerary

Congratulations to our 2025 Awardees

Waste Diversion Project 2025 Keep Cass County Beautiful

End Market of the Year 2025 Soil Dynamics/Hillside Solutions

Commonwealth Award 2025 Keep Nebraska City Beautiful

Member of the Year 2025 Assurity Life Insurance Company

Green Team of the Year 2025 Goodwill Omaha

Advocacy Champion 2025 Coalition for Environmental Improvement

Meet our Keynote

Heidi Sanborn

Executive Director, National Stewardship Action Council and Stewardship Action Foundation

Heidi has been a leader in the solid waste industry for 34 years, working with industry, government, and the public to reduce waste, improve product design and recyclability, and implement cost-effective projects and policies that protect public health and the environment and support a circular economy. Heidi formed the National Stewardship Action Council (NSAC). She soon thereafter formed the Stewardship Action Foundation as a 501c3 to educate and support the work of NSAC, which is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization that will engage primarily in lobbying and advocacy work for Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) anywhere in the U.S. and at any level of government. Heidi teaches courses to professionals in the waste industry, including Sustainable Resource Management Professional courses. She is an active member of industry associations including as an Advisory Council member to SWANA and serves as an elected official on the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Board of Directors and other local boards on her personal time.

2025 Keynote Slides

Meet our Morning Session Speakers

Carin Stuart

Carin Stuart has spent 25 years working in government affairs and compliance within the electronics and battery industry. She worked for Energizer Holdings for 11 years, overseeing their compliance and safety programs for batteries and electronic devices. In early 2022, she joined Call2Recycle, overseeing the steward program as well as government relations. She has an undergraduate degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University.

Call2Recycle Presentation Slides

Kent Holm

As Director of Environmental Services for Douglas County, Nebraska, Kent administers the County’s solid waste management and environmental compliance. He chairs the Heartland 2050 Regional Planning Initiative’s Natural Resources Committee and the Committee’s Solid Waste Working Group and is a member of the Omaha Climate Action Planning Team. He is a newly elected Board Member of the Nebraska Chapter of SWANA, also serving as Legislative Advocate. He also participates in the SWANA Core Advocacy Group and Lithium Ion Battery Work Group, and is a member of the Nebraska Recycling Council’s Advisory Council.

Strategic Planning Slides

Meet our Innovative Solutions Speakers

Michael Duckworth

Michael Duckworth is the Founder and CEO of Positive Energy LLC. A proud Nebraska native, Michael is deeply committed to building the infrastructure necessary to safely divert hazardous materials—such as vape waste, lithium-ion batteries, and THC/hemp-derived products—from landfills. His work focuses on preventing environmental risks, including potential fires, and ensuring the secure processing of these materials to support a domestic critical mineral supply chain.

Dana Stahl

Dana Stahl is the Executive Director of Keep Cass County Beautiful and has been actively involved with the organization since 2019. She has spearheaded several innovative initiatives, including a recycled-reusable bag campaign, an alternative glass recycling drop off, and a sustainable dinnerware program. Passionate about global sustainability, Dana travels extensively to study recycling and waste reduction initiatives, bringing fresh ideas back to implement locally. Her vision for Cass County is a zero-waste community—where choosing reusable options and viewing waste as a resource becomes second nature.

Connor Streit

Connor is a full-time orthopedic sales representative and the founder of PolyPath, a Nebraska-based startup focused on solving a growing medical waste problem. Through his experience working in the operating room, Connor discovered that hundreds of thousands of pounds of clean, unused sterile wrap — a high-grade polypropylene material discarded by Nebraska hospitals each year — could be recovered and repurposed. PolyPath was created to intercept this waste before it reaches landfills and develop innovative ways to transform it into valuable new products. Connor is now building partnerships with hospitals, innovators, and community members to scale the collection effort and unlock the untapped potential of this overlooked material.

Meet our Organics Recycling Speakers

David Annis

David Annis has worked in College and University Dining since 1977 when he started his first Dining job in college. David worked at the University of South Dakota for 9 years rising to the position of Dining Manager. David moved to the University of Oklahoma in 1986 and worked there for 33 years, as an Assistant Director of Dining, Director of Dining, Director of Housing and Dining, and as a University Associate Vice President. David retired from OU in 2019 and came to UNL a month later as the Director of Dining. He first installed a Liquid Food Digester (LFC) at the University of Oklahoma in 2014. Since coming to UNL has installed digesters in all five of our main dining centers. These digesters keep @ 125,000 pounds of food waste a year from going to the landfill.

Daniel Buller

Daniel Buller, Executive Director, has been with Crossroads Mission Avenue since 2015. He is known for having a strong desire to help people in need, a commitment to helping people find a better way to live, and a passion to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a lifelong gardener, Daniel’s interest in Vermicomposting was piqued as he sought out ways to reduce food waste at the Mission. It has become a vital part of Crossroads’ Workforce Development Program, giving individuals a purpose and job skills, while addressing big issues like food insecurity and environmental sustainability.

La Sonya Luther

La Sonya Luther is a faith-rooted ecological designer, livestock farmer, herbalist, and homeschool advocate who leads La’SouL’s Little River Bait & Blessings Co.—a regenerative microenterprise rooted in aquaculture, composting, and sacred stewardship. Inspired by the whisperings of prayer and the wisdom of the soil, she fuses scripture with sustainability to teach real-world solutions for nutrient cycling, food justice, and Earth care. A modern-day Black Pioneer with New Orleans roots and Midwest grit, La Sonya is developing the Living Waters Spiral Sanctuary—a mobile bait shop and spiral eco-sanctuary that transforms waste into witness through duckponics, aquaponics, and culturally grounded education. Her work honors the rights of Mother Earth and uplifts underserved families to become Earth Stewards and Water Protectors through hands-on learning and faith-based resilience.

Jeff Phillips

Mr. Jeff Phillips is a Senior Project Manager with SCS Engineers and has more than 23 years of experience overseeing solid waste management projects for municipalities, solid waste agencies, and both private and public entities. Jeff manages and performs project work primarily related to Sustainable Materials Management (SMM) such as programs, services, and facility assessments, community engagement and outreach, training, and strategic planning. Jeff is currently the Vice Chair of the Iowa Composting Council.