Abstract
This published proceedings is based on presentations from the EEC/WTERT 2018 Conference, hosted by The Earth Engineering Center at City College (EEC|CCNY) in October, 2018. The conference included speakers from around the world collectively representing the global perspective on best waste management practices. The conference started with a welcome from Dr. Vincent Boudreau, the President of The City College of New York, followed by Dr. Rosemarie Wesson, the Associate Dean for Research at the Grove School of Engineering, and Prof. Marco J Castaldi, the Chair of the Conference and Director of WTERT-USA.
Plenary lectures were given by Kathryn Garcia, the Commissioner of the Department of Sanitation of New York, Cristina Garcia a Policy Advisor of NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, Henrietta Goddard a Research Analyst with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and Paul Davison of Proteus Communications Group, UK. The Plenary session set the stage for holistic thinking regarding sustainable waste management and how to deliver the right messages regarding waste generation, recycling, material and energy recovery. The remainder of conference had presentations and discussions on technical aspects and processes, perspectives from local municipalities, industry, students and regulatory personnel.
There were a total of 120 attendees representing 12 countries across five continents (Belgium, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Korea, Sudan, UK and US).
The takeaway message from the conference was that the circular economy is coming. Good engineering will get us there, but until then we will need to strengthen collaboration efforts to manage the growing waste streams properly.