Covering your Tracks: Why Landfills are a Necessity in Developing Nations

Landfills–what image does this word startle into your mind?
Is it a landscape smeared with trash, piled high in the blistering heat of the Sun, with tires and plastic bags, old T-shirts and banana peels? With waves of toxic gases spiraling off, the smelly sock odor burning your eyes and the thickness of the air constricting your lungs? In fact, this is a negative connotation.Read More

Father of Waste Hierarchy Talks About Circular Economy and Zero Waste

In this interview, the Father of waste hierarchy – Ad Lansink – responds to questions like whether the circular economy has killed the waste hierarchy, and others.Read More

Nicole Kennard

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The Father of Waste Hierarchy Talks About the Current Status of Waste Management Worldwide

Ad Lansink is a former Dutch politician and the father of the waste hierarchy. Isonomia’s Steve Watson conducted an interview with Ad Lansink based on questions submitted by be Waste Wise’s community. This is the first of two installments of the interview. In the second installment, which will be published on 28th, November, Ad and Steve talk about circular economy and zero waste.Read More

Steven Watson

Steven Watson is a Research Assistant at Eunomia Research & Consulting. He is a regular contributor to the environmental blog Isonomia, writing on topics including self-sufficiency, public engagement, and the history of the waste hierarchy.Read More

Ad Lansink

Ad Lansink is a former Dutch politician and the father of the waste hierarchy. In the parliamentary elections of 1977, Lansink was elected to the Dutch parliament. He worked on a multitude of topics such as environment, energy, higher education, student and public health.Read More

James Greyson

James Greyson is a panelist at be Waste Wise offering expertise in circular economy and waste solutions.Read More

Jodelle Faye De Jesus

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Ask Ad Lansink, inventor of #LansinkLadder, about waste management

Submit your questions on waste management policies and solutions to us and Ad Lansink, inventor of the waste management hierarchy, will answer.Read More

Zero waste versus zero landfill

Peter Jones and Maxine Perella discuss about Zero waste versus zero landfill and what should circular economy thinkers realistically aspire to.Read More

Igniting Circular Economy into action

Watch our panelists James Greyson (BlindSpot Think Tank) and Geraldine Grennan (EPSRC) discuss Igniting Circular Economy into Action with Maxine PerellaRead More

Making Circular Economy truly global

Watch Christian Rudolph (nextcycle), Alex Lemille (Wizeimpact), and Adam Minter (Junkyard Planet) discuss making circular economy truly global with Maxine PerellaRead More

Untangling behavioural drivers behind food waste

Why do apparently rational consumers waste so much food? The drivers behind food waste are complex and include food pricing, logistical and storage issues.Read More

Drivers and barriers to waste management in India and Nigeria

Watch Thomas Vogler and Edith Iriruaga discuss the barriers and drivers for improving waste management in India and Nigeria.Read More

Short-lived climate pollutants: Public Health, Climate Change & Waste

Watch Dr. Nimmi Damodaran and Gary Crawford discuss the impact of short-lived climate pollutants from waste management on climate change and public health.Read More

Waste collection systems in developing countries

Watch Dr. Linda Godfrey, Maria Tsakona and Dr. Sanjay Gupta talk about improving waste collection systems in developing countries.Read More

Relevance of landfills in developing countries

Watch Sandra Cointreau, Derek Greedy and Asit Nema discuss the Relevance of landfills in developing countries – Public Health & Quality of Life themeRead More

Mike Webster

Mike Webster currently manages the London Community Resource Network (LCRN), developing skills for waste prevention and reuse projects across the city.Read More

D-Waste

D-Waste is a global consultancy firm with an extensive network of experts who are used to face challenges and walk in the red thin line between applied research and top level consulting.Read More

Natali Ganfer

Natali Ganfer is a senior research associate at the Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council (WTERT) at the Earth Engineering Center, Columbia University.Read More

Maria Tsakona

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Communicating Waste

Waste professionals are modern day alchemists! Alchemists tried turning base metals into gold. Waste managers are turning “waste” into resources everyday. But, their work and waste management in general don’t get deserved attention from the wider community. This lack of recognition not just…Read More

Eric Metelka

Eric Metelka is the Marketing Manager at G2 Crowd. He created The 2014 be Waste Wise 30 – Influencers, both individuals and organizations.Read More

The 2014 be Waste Wise 30 – Individual Waste Influencers

30 individuals who are effectively sharing stories about their work, insights about the waste industry and solutions. We call them Waste Influencers.Read More

Michael Keleman

Michael Keleman, Manager of Environmental Engineering, InSinkErator, oversees current research projects to help understand and communicate the impacts of food waste disposers on wastewater treatment infrastructure. He also works with municipalities promoting the diversion of organics from landfills and resource recovery at wastewater treatment plants.Read More

Julia Hailes

Julia Hailes wears many green hats, which principally involve environmental consultancy, speeches and writing. Since 1986, she has authored or co-authored nine books, including the million selling ‘Green Consumer Guide’ in 1988. She has also co-founded a consultancy called SustainAbility and and a charity called The Haller Foundation.Read More

Food waste disposal units – is the jury still out?

Watch Prof. Adam Read, Dr. Tim Evans and Michael Keleman discuss the relevance and sustainability of food waste disposal units.Read More

Appetite for reduction? Behaviour change and food waste

Watch Phillip Ward, Julia Hailes, Jonathan Bloom, and Dean Pearce discuss Behaviour Change and Food Waste as part of the 2014 Global Dialogue on Waste.Read More

Tim Evans

Dr. Tim Evans is the Proprietor of Tim Evans environment, which he founded in 1999 to provide independent advice to assist clients to sustainable solutions for organic residuals .Read More

Adam Read

Professor Adam Read is Ricardo-AEA’s Global Practice Director responsible for a waste management and resource efficiency businesses. He has a PhD in waste management decision-making from Kingston University.Read More

Dean Pearce

Dean Pearce is the Regional Commercial Manager at ReFood UK and has responsibility for business development and account management for its integrated food waste collection & recycling operation across South East United KingdomRead More

Jonathan Bloom

Jonathan Bloom is a journalist, consultant, food waste expert and the Author of the book American Wasteland, which won the IACP Green Matters Award in June 2011. He created the blog WastedFood.comRead More

Phillip Ward

Phillip Ward has 30 years experience in government and a further 7 years as a Director of WRAP. At WRAP, Phillip was involved in the development of the highly successful Love Food Hate Waste Campaign, the introduction of separate food waste collections by local authorities and inception of the Courtauld Agreement with leading retailers and brands in the UK.Read More

Maxine Perella

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Tell us your Circular Economy priorities, new job and other updates: February, 2014 Newsletter

Apply for Online Community Builder job, take a quick survey and watch/read Advice for Solving Plastic Pollution.Read More

Job Description: Online Community Builder

Summary

As be Waste Wise‘s Online Community Builder, you will be responsible for growing and maintaining an engaged community to enable collaborative learning and create a sense of belonging to “a global waste community” among its members.

You will mainly work … Read More

Plastic Pollution Coalition

Plastic Pollution Coalition is a global alliance of individuals and organizations working together to stop plastic pollution.Read More

Advice for solving plastic pollution

“There are solutions out there. If we can put a man on the moon and send rovers to mars, we can solve plastic pollution.” ~ Bill FrancisRead More

Are bio-plastics a solution to ocean garbage patches?

“Bio-plastics have a role, but there is no standard to say what makes a bio-plastic which truly degrades in the ocean.” ~ Nicholas MallosRead More

Is the Ocean Cleanup Array Viable?

“They should consider designing it to work at a river mouth or even upstream where there is a potential concentrated plastic pollution source.” ~ Bill FrancisRead More

Why cannot we just clean up all plastic in the oceans?

“The oceans are so huge. Cleaning them up is like sifting the Sahara desert by using a kitchen strainer.” ~ Bill FrancisRead More

What can each of us do to reduce plastic pollution?

“As I learned more and more about plastic recycling, I discovered that it has its own drawbacks. So, I started reducing my own personal plastic as the first step .” ~ Beth TerryRead More

How much plastic is in the oceans?

“Out of 700 sea water samples from all over the world – Indian Ocean, North and South Atlantic, the Sargasso Sea, the Antarctic, South and North Pacific – only 3 samples were plastic-free.” ~ Bill FrancisRead More

Can one person really make a difference to plastic pollution?

“When people see you do it, it becomes part of the norm. So, take your own bag to the store and bring your own bottles.” ~ Beth TerryRead More

Difference between Plastic Pollution and Marine Debris

“Plastic pollution isn’t just about plastic in the oceans but the entire life-cycle of plastics, from when it’s first made, through all the pathways until it becomes plastic pollution” ~Nicholas MallosRead More

The 2014 Global Dialogue on Waste and other Updates: January, 2014 Newsletter

The 2014 Global Dialogue on Waste starts on March 1st, 2014. In 2013, we amplified 20 hours of dialogue into 500 hours of waste solutions education.Read More

Amplifying Voices to Bridge the Waste Solutions Expertise Gap – Results from our 2013 Global Dialogues on Waste

Through our 2013 global dialogues on waste, we amplified 20 hours of time from the best in waste into 500 hours of education. Twenty seven experts from…Read More

Craig Dsouza

Craig D’souza is a Research Associate working on water issues in the developing world. He currently works with the Forum for Policy Dialogue on Water Conflicts in India on themes such as the Right to Water and Sanitation, and Industrial-Agricultural water allocations.Read More

Compatibility Between Recycling and Waste-to-Energy

This panel addressed the role of waste-to-energy (if any) in the waste management hierarchy of North America and Europe, provided international experience on the degree of compatibility between recycling and waste-to-energy, analyses the arguments for the juxtaposition of waste-to-energy and recycling, and discusses the policies adopted in some communities to build successful sustainable waste management systems, with the general aim of moving away from landfills.Read More

Making the Spittelau Waste-to-Energy Plant Possible

During discussions and debates, environmentally competent people showed that the facts are for waste-to-energy through a thorough analysis. But, the public acceptance was still at stake, so the Mayor asked Friedensreich Hundertwasser, a famous Austrian artist if he could do something about the appearance of the Spittelau plant. Friedensreich Hundertwasser then took an year to discuss and check his spirit and conscience about the request and finally accepted to do it. He then wrote a long letter explaining why he decided to do so. A qualified public opinion poll conducted later showed that almost 50% were in favor of the Spittelau waste-to-energy plant. About 47% or so, had no opinion and only 3% were actually opposing it.Read More