Waste Management 2018 - Post Conference Report

9th International Conference on Waste Management and the Environment

17 - 19 September 2018
Seville, Spain

Overview

The ninth International Conference on Waste Management and the Environment (WM18) took place in Seville, Spain. The Conference was organised by the Wessex Institute, UK, represented by Professor Juan Casares Long, a member of WIT’s Board of Directors; the Parthenope University of Naples, represented by Professor Massimiliano Lega; the University of Seville, represented by Professor Francisco Ortega Riejos; and Raremetal Recovery Institute, represented by Professor Hideaki Itoh.

This conference follows the success of previous meetings held in Cadiz (2002); Rhodes (2004); Malta (2006); Granada (2008); Tallinn (2010); the New Forest, home of the Wessex Institute (2012); Ancona (2014; and Valencia (2016).

The conference provided a forum for the exchange of scientific information and work on the current situation of waste management amongst professionals, researchers, government departments and local authorities.

Opening of the Conference

The conference was opened by Prof Francisco Ortega who welcomed the delegates to Seville, and gave a short presentation explaining the objectives of the conference and finished by explaining some of the attractions in Seville.

Prof Itoh, from the University of Nagoya then gave a short presentation regarding the previous eight conferences on waste management, followed by an emotional tribute to Prof Carlos A Brebbia.
Prof Juan Casares then described the work carried out by WIT and the achievements by Carlos over the last 35 years.

Invited Speakers

The conference was enhanced by a series of invited lectures, as follows:

• “Optimizing container location for selective collection of urban solid waste”, by Francisco Ortega, University of Seville, Spain.
• “Environmental impact assessment multi-level, multi-parametric framework for coastal waters” by Massimiliano Lega, University of Naples Parthenope, Italy.
• “Bioindicators as a tool in environmental impact assessment: Cyanobacteria as a sentinel of pollution”, by Roberta Teta, University of Naples Federico II, Italy.
• “Role of EDTA on metal removal from refinery waste catalysts”, by Meena Marafi, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait.
• “The setting up of a pilot scales pay-as-you-throw waste tariff in Aveiro, Portugal”, by Celia Dias-Ferreira, CERNAS – Polytechnic of Coimbra, Portugal.
• “Zeolite mixtures as adsorptive fill material with sustainable bearing capacity”, by Jun Boum Park, Seoul National University, South Korea.
• “Environmental impact follow up: A case study of several construction projects in various university campus”, by Jose Carlos Mora Barrantes, National University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica.
• “Analysis of solid waste management in Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria”, by Yakubu Obadaki Yusuf, Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria.

Conference Sessions

The papers presented during the conference were classified under the following session headings:

• Environmental impact
• The circular economy
• Reduce, reuse, recycle and recovery (4R’s)
• Behavioural issues
• Thermal treatment
• Industrial waste management
• Wastewater

There were numerous occasions for holding informal discussions during the coffee breaks and the excellent complimentary lunches.

Conference Publication

Papers presented at this conference will appear in Vol 231 of the WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment (ISSN: 1743-3541). All papers presented at the meeting since 2002 are available Open Access in the eLibrary of the Wessex Institute (https://www.witpress.com/elibrary) from where they can be freely downloaded by any interested parties.

A few papers have been selected for publication in the International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning. This Journal is an interdisciplinary journal covering the subjects of environmental design and planning, environmental management, spatial planning and sustainable development in an integrated way as well as in accordance with the principles of sustainability. The aim of the Journal is to inform its readers about all aspects of environmental planning and management.

ISAC Dinner

The meeting of the International Scientific Advisor Committee (ISAC) of the Conference took place over dinner. The meeting focused on the discussion of new topics to be included in the Call for Papers, aiming for the continuous evolution of the conference.

Conference Dinner

The Conference dinner took place in the Palacio Andaluz, where the participants could enjoy local food, especially the “tapas”. Entertainment was also provided with a high quality Flamenco show, in which the second of three parts was inspired by the well-known opera “Carmen” by Georges Bizet, based on the novel by the French writer Prosper Mérimée. The evening was particularly appreciated by the participants.

Closing of the Conference

The conference was closed by Professor Francisco Ortega Riejos, who thanked the delegates for attending and hoped that they would consider participating in Waste Management 2020, as well as other WIT conferences. Delegates commented that the conference had been highly successful in terms of quality of the presentations and the number of discussions that took place during the conference.

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