Congress Themes

Climate Change and Waste Management

ISWA in November 2009 released its first report on the relationship between Waste Management policies and practices and the effects these could have on Greenhouse Gas emissions. The report is available on the website www.iswa.org/publications. What does the pending renewal of Kyoto protocol mean for the Waste industry and how will future Climate Change policies impact? The main aims of this theme are to tackle the carbon footprint problem in industry and to develop the procedures and strategies needed to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions (for example by using solid waste as alternative fuel or raw material, or even the introduction of such uses in the product design phase).

Zero Waste and Waste Prevention Policies

The EU Waste Framework Directive of 2008 requires all member States to publish a waste prevention policy programme within the end of 2013. The question of what influence the waste industry can have in changing the line management of certain industrial sectors to reduce their waste output and enhance recovery, is the central theme. Which strategies does the waste industry have to implement so that the ideas it puts forward are understood and applied in waste management throughout the various productive sectors and in particular in the product design phase. Particularly relevant in this area is the detailed analysis of the Life Cycle Assessment to be carried out in each industry, aiming to increase their productivity, allow recovery of resources and/or their efficient use, and reduce polluting emissions and waste production.

International Waste Trade

This theme discusses the international impact of the waste trade. The fine line between waste trade and waste trafficking, between export for recovery and export for disposal, is important to define to ensure sustainable and correct practices. Poorer countries are vulnerable to malpractice and yet are those who most need low cost raw materials to sustain industrial development. The rapidly increasing quantities of waste finishing at sea is also disturbing evidence of unsustainable international waste management practices. The report may call for an international waste treaty.

Economically Developing Countries

The waste industry’s key focus on promoting sustainable waste management worldwide inevitably has to concentrate its energy in providing economic, technical and social solutions to promote sustainable practices in economically less developed countries. Developing the legal framework, creating funding for treatment plants through such mechanisms as the CDM, establishing comprehensive collection schemes in urban areas, creating recycling networks, transforming open dumps into sanitary landfills; all are questions needing rapid answers to help these countries out of their waste crises. Given its geographic location, Florence 2012 will specifically attempt to open this dialogue across the Mediterranean and Middle Eastern regions.

Specific waste crises

This theme discusses waste management in certain geographical realities characterised by specific conditions, relative both to lack of funds and localisation (for example isolated areas, over-crowded tourist areas, war or post-war zones, areas subject to natural catastrophes and areas which host large events)

Recycling of specific waste streams and final residue management

Rapid technological development is creating a new and ever changing amount of waste which operators have historically not had to treat. Such recent examples are the WEEE waste streams now (in Europe at least) monitored and governed by EU laws. Other examples include the rise of bio plastics substituting traditional plastics, especially films. In some countries the recycling of used tyres is becoming a fast growing business. The theme aims to look at how the waste industry is adapting to such changes, what new organisational structures are required and what are the technological challenges involved. At the same time the theme looks upon the management of particular categories of waste which have always existed but are now subject to new forms of recovery, reuse and valorisation. An important example is the solid waste produced by agro-industrial activity: produced in great quantities, they can be transformed into fertilisers, animal food, raw materials, thus reducing waste disposal costs and environmental impact.

Management and impact of urban hygiene in cities

The waste industry has developed from its early origins of essentially keeping the streets clean (urban hygiene). How the industry keeps urban areas clean is still a critical question – not related specifically to the collection of waste but to littering, graffiti and illegal dumping. This theme explores how littering and graffiti impact on the urban environment, in terms of public perception of urban decay, and what city authorities and waste operators are doing to fight back. What are the financial costs of this and what human resources are involved in policing the cleanliness of urban areas? What are the causes of illegal dumping of waste, their relation to waste collection systems, to taxes and to law and order enforcement?

Apart from the themes explored here the Congress will also discuss in-depth traditional questions related to waste management practices and policies. So technical papers relating to energy recovery, hazardous waste, landfill management, waste collection and transport technologies, recycling and minimisation, biological treatment of waste and healthcare waste management, the environmental impact of waste disposal plants, the impact of incorrect waste management on human health, will all be leading topics treated in the Congress.