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Event Details

Environmental Ethics on Trial: The Good, "The Bag," and The Ugly

A year-long pilot study of the Hefty EnergyBag program in Omaha recently concluded. The Hefty EnergyBag program provides a method for the collection of “soft plastics” that are not currently accepted for mixed recycling streams—plastics such as bread bags, potato chip bags, toothpaste tubes, candy wrappers, etc. Residents purchase orange Hefty-brand bags, fill the bags with their non-recyclable soft plastics, and place the bags into recycling bins. When the bags arrive at recycling sorting facilities, they are removed from the recycling stream and reserved for alternative uses. In the Omaha pilot, that alternative use was as a fuel source for a Kansas City cement kiln.

Proponents of the EnergyBag program say that using these soft plastics as fuel is far preferable to them ending up in a landfill, where they can take hundreds of years to decompose. They argue that the benefits of diverting this waste from landfills outweighs the risks posed by the greenhouse gasses emitted when such waste is incinerated.

However, opponents of the program are concerned that this alternative fuel source is no less harmful than burning coal—possibly even more so. They also worry that waste-to-energy programs hinder zero-waste efforts, which aim to reduce the production of non-recyclable plastics in the first place.

What are the environmental ethical considerations of EnergyBags? Come explore this topic with us as the audience votes on the ethical fate of the EnergyBag!


The program will include lively presentations from community and business leaders, such as:

  • Hal Daub, Senior Counsel, Husch Blackwell
    Trustee, Business Ethics Alliance
  • Dale Gubbels, CEO, Firstar Fiber
    Trustee, Business Ethics Alliance
  • Beverly Kracher, Executive Director, Business Ethics Alliance and Daugherty Chair in Business Ethics & Society, Heider College of Business, Creighton University
  • Rick Yoder, Chief Sustainability Officer, UNO College of Business Administration

AND MORE!

5:00-6:00 Appetizers and Networking

6:00-8:00 Program and Discussion

Please note that tickets are non-refundable, but may be transferred to another party in the case that you are no longer able to attend the event. We appreciate you supporting the Alliance in this way.

Photo and Video Release: By attending a Business Ethics Alliance community program, you grant permission to record on photography film and/or video, pictures of your participation. All of the material photographed may be used, in any form, as part of any future publications, brochures, or other printed materials used to promote the Alliance, and further that such use shall be without compensation.

Venue Information

Scottish Rite
202 S. 20th St.
Omaha, NE 68102
+1 (402) 342-1300

Organizer Information

Business Ethics Alliance


523 N 20th Street
Labaj Building Room 104
Omaha, NE 68178
+1 (402) 280-2235

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