Topics

1. WASTE POLICY AND LEGISLATION

Need for appropriate legislation; international, national and regional guidelines; regulation and planning requirements; role of scientific and technical organizations; carbon tax.

2. WASTE MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

Integrated waste management; national strategies; future perspectives, waste as a resource; public and private partnership.

3. PUBLIC CONCERN AND EDUCATION

Public involvement and relationship; NGO's activities; mediation; education; communication; training in waste management and operation.

4. WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT AND DECISION TOOLS

Life cycle analysis; risk assessment; environmental impact assessment; EMAS; quality control procedures; cost benefit analysis; multicriteria analysis; auditing; BAT-Best Available Technologies.

5. WASTE CHARACTERIZATION

Standardization; analytical procedures, sampling, production variations vs time and geographical areas.

6. WASTE COLLECTION

Cost optimization; collection on demand; separate collection; case studies; subsurface systems; pneumatic collection; ergonomics of waste collection. 

7. WASTE MINIMISATION AND RECYCLING

Waste avoidance; waste logistics and recycling; new recycling technologies; material quality after recycling; packaging material; electronic waste; construction and demolition waste; batteries; end of life vehicle; market waste.

8. BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT

New developments in composting and anaerobic digestion; emissions from processing facilities; product quality; degradation and fate of emerging pollutants during biological treatment; biological treatment of special biowaste; challenges in using microbiology knowledge to explain biological process; assessment of indicators for evaluating product quality and humification.

9. THERMAL TREATMENT

Technologies and experiences; new technologies; production and use of RDF; emission control; treatment of residues; beneficial use of combustion ash.

10. MECHANICAL BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT PRIOR TO LANDFILLING

Mechanical pretreatment (separation, shredding, RDF-production, etc.); technology and experience; new technology, testing and landfill acceptance; off gas treatment; emission control.

11. SANITARY LANDFILLING

Sustainable landfill concepts for mechanically biologically pretreated municipal waste and special waste; processes and emissions; leachate and gas management; landfill design and construction; barrier design and performance; technologies for mitigation of landfill gas emission; waste mechanics; landfill operation; administrative and financial aspects; landfilling under specific conditions (tropics, islands, mountains, etc.); aftercare and reuse; waste disposal as final sinks for harmful substances; landfill remediation; case studies.

12. INTEGRATED WASTEWATER AND SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

Decentralized systems; closed substance cycles; future perspectives; cases.

13. WASTE MANAGEMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Minimisation of greenhouse gases from waste management activities and landfills, waste - CDM projects, minimisation of energy consumption, landfills as geological sinks for carbon and other elements.

14. WASTE MANAGEMENT IN DEVELOPING AND LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES

Appropriate technologies, experiences, international cooperation, financing, education.

15. ENVIRONMENTAL FORENSICS

Environmental liability in waste management; Legal Considerations, including strategic considerations for chemical fate in litigation and arbitration; Contaminant source identification, correlation and remediation; Historical reconstruction of contaminant release into the environment; Contaminant Fingerprinting for source identification and/or age-dating: analytical techniques, methodologies, legal aspects; Integrated Case Studies, employing environmental fate and damage assessments.

16. WASTE ARCHITECTURE

Functional requalification of old and new landfill sites; landfill mining for land reuse and remediation of degraded land; integration of pneumatic waste collection system in the urban space; design of facilities for separate collection systems; locations for waste disposal and relationships with the city; transfer stations; waste architecture and circular economy (reuse centres, etc.); architecture of buildings for waste treatment.

17. WASTE AND HEALTH

Impact of waste management practices on health; epidemiological surveys; public perception; potential health effects of different waste management technologies; communication; case studies.

18. SMART AND DIGITAL SOLUTIONS FOR WASTE MANAGEMENT & CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Smart waste collection; smart solutions for the management of waste in the city of the future; waste recycling and social change; waste energy recovery in small and big cities; food waste reduction; e-waste management; new business model; smart Waste Management and future European Partnership; smart technologies for the improvement of reuse and recycling; potentiality of the AR-Augmented Reality in the field of Waste Management; AI (Artificial Intelligence), ML (Machine Learning), IoT (Internet of Things), Big Data, cloud and edge computing, specific software for product design, manufacturing (including supply chains for procurement), logistics, sales e-trading, business analytics and any other circular economy steps, etc.

19. CONSTRUCTION & DEMOLITION WASTE FROM DISASTER WASTE

Characterisation; Management and environmental impact; etc.

20. NEW ISSUES ON GEOSYNTHETICS IN ENVIRONMENTAL APPLICATION

Potential release of microplastics; Use of recycled plastics in manufacturing new geosynthetics; etc.

21. CONTROL OF EMERGING CONTAMINANTS (EC) AND NANOPARTICLES IN WASTE MANAGEMENT

Minimisation of chemical in products (paper, plastics, etc.); EC in waste and sludges; Fate of EC in waste processing and disposal (composting, recycling, incineration, landfilling, etc.); Diffusion of EC from recycled products; Effects of EC on environment and health; etc.

22. CONTROL OF MICRO- & NANOPLASTICS (MNP) IN WASTE MANAGEMENT

Disintegration and biodegradation behaviour of different kind of plastics; MNP in waste and sludges; Fate of MNP in waste processing and disposal (composting, recycling, incineration, landfilling, etc.); Diffusion of MNP from recycled products; Effects of MNP on environment and health; etc.

23. CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Concepts, strategies, policies; Ecodesign of products; Energy and economic aspects; Sustainable final sinks; Materials, CO2 and energy balance; Role of the different waste management technologies; Life Cycle thinking and risks assessment; etc.

24. BIODIVERSITY AND WASTE MANAGEMENT

Negative and positive potential impacts of waste management on biodiversity aspects

25. WASTE ART

Different kind of art techniques by using materials from waste; Social involvement; Visualisation of waste problems

26. OTHERS

BAT (Best Available Technologies); IPPC regulations; fate of nanomaterials during waste management; Waste Management in emergencies; Plastic, bioplastics and new materials from waste; Natural based solutions in waste management; Sustainable landfilling for closing the material loop; Landfill mining