Quantitative and qualitative data collection have challenges, including lack of ownership, governments with no data, decisions with poor data, and extrapolating city-level data with household samples.

SPEAKERS

Sanjay Gupta, Waste Management Specialist

Dr. Sanjay K Gupta has been working globally with waste, recycling, circularity, and zero waste issues since 2000. He has been part of dozens of innovative initiatives that involved informal sector waste workers’ improvement in livelihood, women entrepreneurship in waste, mass recycling campaigns, dustbin-free cities, zero waste towns, and schools. He also contributed to award-winning reports like Global Waste Management Outlook, Status of Solid Waste in World Cities, and Global Indicators for Solid Waste Management. He returned from Switzerland on the request of the Assam Government to help contribute to the Swachh Bharat Mission and was credited with turning towns from dirtiest to fastest moving cleanest towns and zero waste schools and communities. He comes with direct experience in implementing projects, executing innovative concepts and is an advisor to state governments and municipalities in achieving Swachh Bharat Goals. Currently, he lives in Delhi.

Shiza Aslam, Circular Economy Expert

Shiza Aslam is a circular economy expert with over five years of experience in industrial ecology, assessments, and exploring informality and decent job aspects of the waste sphere. With a background in Environmental Engineering and a master's degree in environment, science, and policy, she has received technical training in landfill design and management as well as lifecycle assessment. Shiza has worked on various national and international projects focused on secondary resource management, social sustainability, life cycle assessments, public health, and economic benefits of inclusive waste management. She serves as a research fellow and heads the Circular Plastic Institute at the Karachi School of Business and Leadership.

Tariq Bin Yousuf, Solid Waste Management Consultant

Dr. Tariq Bin Yousuf has 33 years of experience in the Solid Waste Management sector. He worked for Dhaka North City Corporation as an Additional Chief Engineer and led the Clean Dhaka Master Plan. He worked as a consultant for JICA, ADB, UN-HABITAT, World Bank, and UNICEF in waste and sanitation sector. He contributed to conducting a feasibility study on integrated waste management, experienced in using waste-wise city tools for waste generation and quantity surveys, including plastic leakage. He was involved in conducting studies on institutional and monitoring frameworks for sustainable plastic management, including plastic circularity, policy analysis (EPR guideline), financial needs, PPP models, etc. Presently he is working as a Solid Waste Management Specialist for the supported ‘Urban Development City Governance Project’ for four cities in Bangladesh.

MODERATOR

Mansoor Ali, International Solid Waste Management Expert

Dr Mansoor Ali is an expert in international solid waste management and recycling with more than 35 years of experience in planning projects, designing systems, evaluations, research, teaching, and training. His areas of expertise include program development, evaluations, policy, and institutional development in low-income countries. He completed his PhD on the topic of income and employment from solid waste collection and recycling in 1996 from WEDC, Loughborough University UK, and worked on a number of related projects in 18 developing countries. He has carried out some pioneering work in waste collection, recycling, livelihoods from waste, and small-scale waste collections for UK Research Organisations and was a lead author of the DFID topic guide on solid waste management on the integration of the informal sector, governance, and innovation. He is a visiting faculty at WEDC, Loughborough University, Brescia University Italy, LSE Cities, and IHE Delft. Currently, he is a Theme Lead on the Waste Burning Programme with the Royal Academy of Engineering and a consultant to the Green Climate Fund (GCF) on programme management through IMA International. Further details about the work of Dr Mansoor Ali are available at his website; www.mansoorali.co.uk.