THE ISWA WORLD CONGRESS 2026
2 billion tonnes every year and rising*
Waste or resource?
Opportunities to protect and enhance health, environments and economies.
* Global waste generation per annum.
Source UNEP Global Waste Management Outlook Report 2024)
Poster Zone
Showcasing technical insights and detailed use-cases, the Poster Zone at the 2026 ISWA World Congress gives you the opportunity to hear authors present their work. This year’s Poster Zone will include the following posters and poster sessions.
Hazardous waste: health care waste
Day 1 | Poster session from 14:00
SafeGripper: An Engineering Control to Reduce Needle Stick Injuries in Healthcare Waste Management
By Nazhatul Nasir, MEDIVEST SDN BHD
Learning objective/s:
Understand the risks of needle stick injuries in healthcare waste handling and learn how the SafeGripper engineering solution reduces direct contact with hazardous waste, improving worker safety and supporting safer healthcare waste management practices.
Overview: Healthcare waste workers play a vital role in maintaining safe hospital environments but are frequently exposed to occupational hazards during clinical waste handling. Needle stick injuries (NSIs) remain one of the most serious risks, particularly during the manual sealing of infectious waste bags using the traditional “goose-neck” method. Such incidents expose workers to blood-borne pathogens including HIV, Hepatitis B, and Hepatitis C, posing significant threats to worker health and safety. Existing preventive measures, such as personal protective equipment and training, are often insufficient to eliminate these risks due to human factors and limitations in current work practices.
To address this challenge, the Kaido-Y Quality Control Circle from Medivest Sdn Bhd developed SafeGripper, an innovative engineering control device designed to reduce direct hand contact with contaminated waste bags during sealing. The device functions as a protective barrier between the worker’s hand and the waste bag while enabling secure closure through an ergonomic grip and integrated cable tie mechanism. This design ensures both safety and ease of use without disrupting existing workflows.
The SafeGripper was developed through a structured quality improvement approach involving problem identification, root cause analysis, user-centered design, iterative prototype development, and pilot testing. A total of five design iterations were produced to optimize functionality, ergonomics, and durability before final implementation. This systematic approach ensured that the final design effectively addressed operational challenges while remaining practical for daily use.
Pilot trials were conducted across eight hospitals in southern Johor, Malaysia. The implementation demonstrated significant improvements in both safety and operational efficiency. No needle stick injury cases were reported among waste porters during the pilot phase. In addition, user feedback indicated increased confidence, improved compliance with safe handling practices, and reduced perceived risk. Workflow efficiency was also enhanced, with notable gains in task productivity during waste sealing activities.
By integrating engineering safety controls into routine waste handling operations, SafeGripper demonstrates how practical innovation can reduce occupational hazards at the source. The solution contributes to safer healthcare waste management practices and supports the broader goal of protecting workers from harmful exposures, aligning with global efforts to ensure that individuals are safeguarded from the adverse impacts of hazardous healthcare waste.
A Conceptual Framework for the Selection of Sustainable Healthcare Waste Treatment Systems: Integrating Technological, Operational, Institutional, and Sustainability Dimensions
By Senam Tengey, Jospong Group of Companies/ Liverpool John Moores University
Learning objective/s: To develop an integrated conceptual framework for selecting sustainable healthcare waste treatment systems by combining technological options, treatment approaches, and institutional factors to improve decision-making, system performance, and sustainability outcomes.
Overview: Healthcare waste (HCW) management remains a critical global challenge, particularly in developing countries where rapid population growth, increasing healthcare demands, and infrastructural limitations exacerbate the risks associated with improper waste handling and disposal. Ineffective healthcare waste management poses serious threats to public health, environmental sustainability, and occupational safety. Although a range of treatment technologies and management strategies exist, current approaches are often fragmented and fail to adequately integrate technological, operational, institutional, and sustainability dimensions, thereby limiting effective decision-making and sustainable outcomes.
This paper aims to develop an integrated conceptual framework for the selection of sustainable healthcare waste treatment systems as part of ongoing doctoral research to propose a decision-making tool for an effective sustainable healthcare waste treatment system in Ghana. The research utilizes a qualitative design, relying on a critical review of existing literature from peer-reviewed journals, policy documents, and international guidelines. Academic databases such as Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed were used to identify relevant studies on healthcare waste management, treatment technologies, sustainability assessment, and institutional governance. A thematic and narrative synthesis approach was employed to extract, categorize, and analyze key concepts, enabling the identification of critical variables and their interrelationships.
Guided by systems thinking, the study conceptualizes healthcare waste management as a complex and interdependent system requiring coordinated consideration of multiple factors. The framework identifies two primary predictor variables: the choice of treatment technology and the choice of treatment approach defined by key factors such as waste characteristics, generation rates, cost considerations, infrastructure availability, regulatory compliance requirements, and environmental performance. Importantly, the framework incorporates institutional factors as moderating variables, recognizing their critical role in shaping the effectiveness of technological and operational decisions. These institutional determinants include regulatory frameworks, governance structures, organizational capacity, technical expertise, stakeholder engagement, and management commitment. The study argues that the success of healthcare waste treatment systems is not solely dependent on technological advancement but is significantly influenced by the strength of institutional support and policy enforcement. The outcome variable is defined as an effective and sustainable healthcare waste treatment system, operationalized through a multidimensional set of performance indicators, including treatment efficacy, operational efficiency, environmental impact, economic viability, and social acceptability. This holistic perspective ensures that sustainability is evaluated beyond technical performance to encompass broader socio-economic, environmental and governance (ESG) considerations. To enhance analytical rigor and support future empirical validation, four hypotheses (H1–H4) are proposed to examine both the direct effects of technological and treatment choices and the moderating influence of institutional factors. While the study is conceptual in nature, the proposed framework is designed to be empirically testable using quantitative or mixed-method approaches.
This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge by bridging the gap between technological decision-making and institutional dynamics in healthcare waste management. It advances a theoretically grounded and integrative model that addresses the complexity of sustainable healthcare waste treatment. Practically, the framework serves as a decision-support tool for policymakers, healthcare administrators, and environmental managers, enabling more informed, context-sensitive, and sustainability-oriented choices, particularly in resource-constrained settings.
Closing the Loop: Certified Healthcare Waste Management as Climate-Resilient Infrastructure in Rural Sub-Saharan Africa
By
Learning objective/s: • Understand the compliance gap between healthcare waste policy and ground-level practice in rural sub-Saharan Africa, using Ghana’s Upper West Region as a case study
• Recognise how certified, subscription-based healthcare waste collection functions as climate-resilient infrastructure in geographically dispersed, low-resource settings
• Identify practical pathways for integrating healthcare waste management into national climate resilience and circular economy frameworks
• Apply lessons from a replicable rural service delivery model to comparable settings across the Global South .
Overview:
Landfill best practice
Day 1 | Poster session from 14:15
Landfill and Dump Site Burning in South and Southeast Asia: Detection and Policy Impacts
By Metta Nicholson, Stanford University
Learning objective/s: 1) Demonstrates the use of a machine-learning smoke recognition tool for detecting the presence of open burning at waste disposal sites; 2) evaluates the impact of open burning regulations on the frequency of open burning activities at waste disposal sites in South and Southeast Asia.
Overview: The open burning of municipal solid waste at landfills and dump sites releases harmful air pollutants, including particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and carcinogenic volatile organic compounds, leading to potential health harms for people nearby. Landfill burns can be intentional, aimed at reducing the buildup of waste at sites that have limited alternate waste management options, or accidental, typically resulting from methane buildup from organic material decomposition. Though there have been ongoing efforts to curb the open burning of municipal solid waste across South and Southeast Asia, the effects of regional and national open burning regulations on waste burning practices at the landfill and dump site level have yet to be systematically explored.
This study addresses this gap in knowledge by leveraging high-resolution daily satellite imagery of landfill burning combined with a new global database of landfill locations. Using a fine-tuned, open-source foundation model combined with a newly-developed temporal machine learning model trained on earth observation data to recognize the presence of smoke, we track visible smoke events at 627 landfills and dump sites across Bangladesh, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Northern India between 2017 and 2026. Using this multi-model approach, we quantify changes in burning frequency at each site during both pre- and post-open burning regulation periods. We also analyze trends in burning among landfills based on site-specific characteristics, location, and climate variables. Finally, we overlay the presence of detected smoke with gridded population data to estimate changes in the number of smoke days for people living near the site as a result of open burning policy implementation. Preliminary results suggest that occurrences of open burning are most frequent at open dump sites compared to sanitary landfills across the region, including those within population centers, and persist despite the introduction of regulations targeted at reducing open burning. This research may inform future policy approaches aiming to reduce open waste burning across South and Southeast Asia.
Time-Dependent Hydrogen Sulphide Behaviour in Landfill Gas
Implications for Treatment Strategy, Capital Allocation, and Gas System Design.
By Marcus Holden, Holden Environmental
Learning objective/s: To show how peak-based H₂S design leads to overinvestment and risk, and to provide a time-aware framework for aligning treatment strategy, cost, and performance with landfill development phases.
Overview: Hydrogen sulphide (H₂S) is a critical contaminant in landfill gas, directly affecting engine reliability, gas upgrading feasibility, corrosion rates, odour emissions, and operational safety. Current industry practice typically designs H₂S treatment systems based on peak observed concentrations, leading to the deployment of permanent, capital-intensive infrastructure. This approach implicitly assumes that elevated H₂S concentrations persist over the operational life of a landfill gas asset.
This paper challenges that assumption and identifies a recurring design mismatch in landfill gas systems. Drawing on due diligence experience and operator observations across multiple sites, it is shown that H₂S behaviour is strongly time-dependent and closely linked to landfill development phase, capping status, and gas field stability. Elevated concentrations are commonly associated with active or uncapped phases and frequently decline rapidly following capping and stabilisation, transitioning to a long-term low-H₂S condition. The mismatch between peak-based design and time-limited H₂S duty has practical consequences. It can result in over-investment in permanent treatment systems, under-utilisation of installed assets, and reliance on informal or poorly controlled operational practices to manage short-term sulphur peaks. These include semi-controlled oxygen ingress upstream of activated carbon systems to enhance apparent removal capacity, introducing additional safety and integrity risks where not explicitly engineered and monitored. A time-aware framework for H₂S management is proposed, incorporating both concentration and expected duration of elevated H₂S levels into treatment selection. The framework supports modular, scalable treatment solutions during high-load phases, combined with smaller long-term polishing systems, and emphasises upstream controls such as capping progression and wellfield optimisation as primary mechanisms for sulphur reduction.
The paper also highlights a limitation in current landfill gas forecasting approaches, which typically treat H₂S as a fixed or worst-case parameter. In practice, time-dependent contaminants such as H₂S impose constraints on system performance, treatment demand, and lifecycle cost that are not adequately captured in methane-centric models. A simplified time-dependent modelling approach is outlined, enabling sulphur concentration, mass loading, and treatment demand to be evaluated alongside gas generation. While the proposed framework is informed by practitioner experience rather than continuous long-term datasets, the consistency of observed behaviour across multiple sites suggests that time-dependent representation provides a more appropriate basis for engineering design and Best Available Techniques (BAT) in landfill gas applications. The findings have direct implications for infrastructure planning, capital allocation, and operational risk management. Adopting time-aware H₂S management strategies offers the potential to reduce unnecessary capital expenditure, improve system resilience, and better align treatment infrastructure with evolving landfill gas conditions.
From waste to resource: circular economy approach for ammonia recovery from landfill leachate
By Luís Marinheiro, AST – Soluções e Serviços de Ambiente, Lda.
Learning objective/s:
• Understand the challenges and opportunities of ammonia recovery from landfill leachate.
• Explore the integration of membrane-based processes for selective ammonia transfer.
• Recognize the role of technological innovation in advancing circular economy strategies for waste management.
Overview: Landfill leachate is a highly complex wastewater stream that poses significant environmental management challenges due to its variable composition and contaminant load. At the same time, it contains valuable resources that are still largely underexploited, such as ammonia nitrogen. Recovering ammonia from landfill leachate, which may exceed hundreds of tonnes each year, offers an opportunity to shift leachate management from a treatment and disposal-oriented approach to a circular model in which pollutants are transformed into useful products.
This work explores an integrated treatment concept aimed at recovering and valorising ammonia from landfill leachate through membrane-based processes. The approach combines pressure-driven membrane treatment with membrane degasification to selectively transfer ammonia from a concentrated liquid stream into an acidic capture solution, enabling its conversion into value-added ammonium salts with potential use in fertiliser applications. The innovation of this work lies in the application of an innovative hollow-fibre membrane contactor, combined with process integration in pressure-driven membrane-based processes. Laboratory-scale tests confirmed the feasibility of the proposed approach with both synthetic ammonia solutions and real leachate, through optimisation of operating conditions based on ammonia mass transfer coefficients. These early findings highlighted the potential of this application for resource recovery from complex landfill effluents, and work is now progressing to pilot-scale validation under real operating conditions at a landfill site.
By integrating ammonia recovery into existing leachate treatment schemes, this work reinforces the practical transition toward a circular economy, showcasing how technological innovation can unlock new value chains from waste streams.
Gene-resolved metagenomics reveals competing nitrogen pathways in a landfill leachate sequence batch reactor
By Samuel Rattray, Northumbria University
Learning objective/s: Understand how gene resolved metagenomics can identify competing nitrogen pathways and under recognised microbial contributors within landfill leachate sequencing batch reactors to support more efficient and evidence-based landfill leachate treatment systems.
Overview: Landfill leachate can contain high concentrations of ammonia and organic nitrogen (>1000 mg/L), requiring efficient and effective biological treatment to ensure environmental protection from pollution. Sequence batch reactors (SBRs) are widely used for onsite landfill leachate treatment selected because they facilitate biological nitrogen removal through cycled nitrification and denitrification within a single operational system. However, nitrogen removal depends on complex microbial interactions, that are often poorly resolved using taxonomy-based approaches alone.
This study aimed to provide new understanding of the organisms, processes and interactions taking place in SBRs. In the future this new understanding could be used to optimise biological treatment of landfill leachate. We applied gene-resolved metagenomics to sludge from an industrial landfill leachate SBR to investigate the organisation of nitrogen cycling pathways within the SBR microbiome and how competing microbial processes may influence nitrogen removal. Optimised DNA extraction enabling Nanopore sequencing and downstream functional analysis using the SqueezeMeta pipeline, including taxonomic profiling and metagenome assembled genomes (MAG) reconstruction.
The microbial community of the SBR was dominated by Nitrospira and Nitrosomonas, consistent with their established role in nitrification, the oxidation of ammonia to nitrite and nitrate that initiates biological nitrogen removal in landfill leachate treatment systems. In contrast, denitrification potential, the reduction of nitrate to gaseous nitrogen, enabling permanent nitrogen removal from the reactor, was distributed across a diverse microbial community including novel unidentified taxa. Functional enrichment analysis identified Actinomycetota as possessing the highest proportional abundance of nitrogen metabolism genes, suggesting that unrecognised, low abundance taxa may contribute disproportionately to nitrogen transformation within SBR systems more widely.
Gene resolved analysis also identified several taxa not commonly associated with landfill leachate SBR nitrogen cycling. Mycobacterium and Mycolicibacterium encoded genes linked to both nitrification and denitrification pathways, while archaeal taxa Nitrososphaerota and Nitrosarchaeum were associated with ammonia oxidation and nitrous oxide reduction, respectively. highlighting previously unrecognised microbial contributors to key SBR nitrogen cycling functions that are poorly resolved using conventional taxonomy-based approaches.
In addition to conventional nitrification-denitrification pathways, nitrogen retention pathways assimilatory nitrate reduction (ANR) and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) were widespread, with related genes detected across most phyla and within Nitrospira associated MAGs. The coexistence of nitrogen removal and nitrogen retention pathways suggests that nitrogen cycling within landfill leachate SBRs is governed by metabolically interconnected and competing microbial processes, which would directly influence reactor performance and treatment efficiency.
Overall, this study demonstrates how gene resolved metagenomics can move beyond taxonomy-based interpretations to identify hidden microbial contributors and competing nitrogen transformations within landfill leachate treatment systems.
Contamination & systems enabled behaviour change
Day 1 | Poster session from 15:45
The Missing Link in Sanitation–Health Research: Evidence Gaps on Solid Waste in Brazil
By Cláudia Sousa, Insper
Learning objective/s: The study uses an Evidence and Gap Map (EGM) to assess how Brazilian sanitation–health research incorporates MSW services and to what extent it enables the analysis of interdependencies across sanitation components.
Overview: Brazil’s basic sanitation framework explicitly encompasses water supply, sewerage, municipal solid-waste (MSW) management and stormwater drainage (Brasil, 2020), yet the empirical evidence base remains fragmented and does not adequately support integrated analysis across these components. This study uses an Evidence and Gap Map (EGM) to assess how Brazilian sanitation–health research incorporates MSW services and to what extent it enables the analysis of interdependencies across sanitation components.
Following a systematic search of Scopus and Web of Science (2010–2025), we identified and mapped 16 eligible studies across intervention categories adapted from WASH evidence-mapping frameworks (Prasad et al., 2023) and health outcomes reflecting sanitation-related transmission pathways (Teixeira et al., 2014), applying established EGM methods (Snilstveit et al., 2016). The mapped evidence is highly concentrated on expansions of water supply and sewerage and on classical outcomes linked to fecal–oral transmission, general morbidity and child malnutrition, with relatively few studies able to support strong causal inference. Evidence explicitly engaging MSW services is limited and is largely based on ecological or municipal-level analyses that rely on collection and disposal indicators rather than evaluations of specific MSW treatment or management interventions.
Importantly, the structure of the evidence base itself limits the ability to identify causal interactions across sanitation services. While a small number of studies suggest that MSW variables are associated with relevant health outcomes – including lower child diarrhea and malnutrition morbidity in municipalities with higher collection coverage (Souza et al., 2021), and strong correlations between waste-management indicators and severe diarrhea (Juvakoski et al., 2023) – such findings remain insufficient to support robust conclusions about complementarities across services.
The EGM also identifies major gaps directly relevant to integrated planning: no identified evaluations of stormwater drainage interventions, despite their legal status as a core sanitation component (Brasil, 2020), and limited attention to service quality and reliability mechanisms such as distribution losses and intermittence (Nunes et al., 2021). Taken together, the Brazilian evidence base reveals not only a gap in MSW-focused research, but also a structural limitation: the scarcity of integrated study designs capable of capturing complementarities and interaction effects across sanitation services.
These findings suggest a misalignment between the integrated nature of sanitation policy frameworks and the fragmented structure of the underlying evidence base. Strengthening the role of MSW in sanitation–health research will require study designs that explicitly incorporate multiple service components and generate policy-relevant causal evidence on which combinations of interventions deliver the largest health, equity, and broader socio-economic gains, consistent with global estimates of the burden attributable to inadequate WASH conditions (Prüss-Ustün et al., 2019).
Urban Cleaning and the Circular Water Cycle: A Water Reuse Model Enabling Local Prosperity in Cascais
By Ana Raimundo, EMAC – Empresa Municipal de Ambiente de Cascais, E.M., S.A.
Learning objective/s: Understand strategic role of urban cleaning; identify wastewater valorization via treatment & regulation; quantify savings (4,744→800 m³/day); analyze governance (waste mgmt, water utility, regulator); evaluate scalability & replicability.
Overview: In water-scarce Mediterranean regions, maintaining high standards of urban cleaning and waste management services with potable water creates significant vulnerability. In Cascais, Portugal, the municipality’s water matrix revealed that 67% of municipal water consumption (1.2 million m³/year) is used for green space irrigation, with over 30% of total municipal uses not requiring potable quality. Drought periods increasingly threaten the continuity of street washing and container cleaning services—activities essential to the tourism-driven local economy.
Cascais Ambiente, the municipal waste management and urban cleaning company, in partnership with Águas do Tejo Atlântico (responsible for wastewater treatment), developed the Water Reuse System (ApR) to address this challenge. The system transforms treated wastewater into a strategic resource that closes the urban water cycle. Tertiary treatment (sand filtration + UV disinfection) at Guia WWTP meets the quality standards of Portuguese Decree-Law 119/2019—legislation that prepared Portugal for the entry into force of Regulation (EU) 2020/741—and was licensed by the Portuguese Environment Agency in 2024.
Currently, reclaimed water is used in street sweeping and washing operations—core urban cleaning and waste collection support activities—replacing 4,744 m³/year (13 m³/day) of potable water, covering 12% of municipal cleaning needs. The 2026 target is 41.5 m³/day (38% coverage). Future expansion to green space irrigation offers 800 m³/day in potable water savings—a critical opportunity, given that 67% of municipal water consumption currently supports irrigation.
Beyond direct cost savings on municipal water bills, the model ensures continuity of cleaning and waste collection support services during droughts, protecting Cascais’ tourism-driven economy. Clean streets, well-maintained public spaces, and environmental leadership enhance the municipality’s brand, attracting visitors, residents, and businesses. A dedicated pipeline network is planned to scale distribution to green spaces, golf courses, and private sector users (hotels, industry). The innovation lies in governance and waste valorisation. The project creates a functional ecosystem aligning the waste management and urban cleaning company (Cascais Ambiente), the water utility (Águas do Tejo Atlântico), and the regulator (APA)—transforming legislation into operational reality.
The model’s scalability is demonstrated through its phased approach: beginning with truck-based distribution for street cleaning, enabling testing and refinement, then, in the future, moving to a dedicated pipeline network for mass distribution. Replication in other municipalities with wastewater treatment plants is straightforward, following the same legal framework (Decree-Law 119/2019) and governance structure.
This replicable model positions urban cleaning and circular waste management as drivers of environmental resilience and local economic flourishing.
Waste Translation: From Systems to Streets
By Amanda Young, University of the West of Scotland, presented by Alasdair Meldrum, Albion Environmental Ltd
Learning objective/s: Participants will gain insight into fly tipping as a system signal linked to bulky waste service design, and how clearer waste communication, including digital tools, can support household understanding, use in practice, and safer disposal behaviours.
Overview:
Fly-tipping of household bulky items remains a persistent environmental problem in Scotland, despite established waste management systems and national circular economy ambitions. Services shaped by legacy service design and different social and spatial contexts often struggle to align with contemporary household needs, contributing to unintended disposal behaviours. Communication failures play a critical role in this misalignment, particularly where complex disposal routes, charging structures, and service variations are poorly translated into public-facing information. While fly-tipping is often framed as a behavioural or enforcement issue, this research positions it as a system signal highlighting weaknesses at the interface between waste services and everyday lived experience.
Existing doctoral research demonstrates a consistent misalignment in communication between Scottish local authority bulky waste services and the public. This is evidenced through analysis of publicly available council bulky waste service information, Freedom of Information (FOI) requests, and a household survey conducted as part of the doctoral research. The analysis reveals recurring barriers related to service visibility, booking processes, payment options, and reuse pathways.
Across datasets, residents report strong support for clearer, multi-channel communication, while service information is often fragmented and inconsistently presented across local areas. The convergence of these findings across independent data sources indicates that the issue is systemic, reflecting shortcomings in how services are communicated rather than isolated household behaviour. The evidence highlights a critical translation gap between system design and public understanding. Even though services exist, inadequate or inaccessible communication undermines legitimate disposal routes, increasing reliance on informal or uncontrolled alternatives. This gap is therefore conceptualised not as a failure of service provision, but as a failure to effectively communicate how waste systems function in practice across diverse local contexts. Addressing this gap requires attention to how waste services are rendered understandable and usable at household level.
Within this context, industry experience offers insight into how translation challenges may be addressed in practice. Digital waste communication platforms, such as the MyBins app, provide an illustrative example of how complex service information can be translated into accessible and timely public guidance. Grounded in operational experience, such platforms highlight the importance of consistency, usability, and logistical realism in digital communication, while also demonstrating the limitations of generic software-led approaches that are detached from service delivery realities. This perspective underscores the role of industry in supporting practical translation at the interface between waste systems and public use.
This Scottish case study has clear implications for waste communication and service design more broadly. The findings suggest that communication should be treated as infrastructure within waste systems, rather than an ad hoc or engagement activity. By positioning translation as a shared responsibility between academia, industry, and public authorities, this work contributes to evidence informed discussions on how clearer communication can support safer disposal, material retention, and more effective circular economy outcomes across diverse governance and service delivery contexts. While digital platforms show promise for cleaner translation of waste services, further research is required to explore user experiences, behavioural change, and measurable impacts over different contexts.
From Waste to Resource: A Smart, Citizen-Centric Approach to Used Cooking Oil Management in Cascais
By Ana Raimundo, EMAC – Empresa Municipal de Ambiente de Cascais, E.M., S.A.
Learning objective/s: Understand UCO disposal impacts; identify smart collection tech (powder, IoT, solar) plus door-to-door campaigns; quantify 25→50 m³/year, >80% GHG cut; analyse governance with universities/utilities; evaluate scalability to HORECA.
Overview: Used cooking oil (UCO) disposal is a major environmental challenge. When poured down drains, UCO damages sewage networks, increases wastewater treatment costs, and contaminates water resources—one litre of oil can pollute up to one million litres of water. In Cascais, Portugal, only 8–10% of household UCO was properly collected before the intervention, with most ending in wastewater systems or mixed waste, causing blockages, higher energy use in treatment plants, and methane emissions when landfilled.
To address this, Cascais Ambiente redesigned the UCO collection circuit through a dual-strategy pilot. First, households receive oil solidifying powder that converts liquid UCO into solid, spill-proof waste—easier to store and dispose. This low-tech innovation removes key barriers to citizen participation. Second, 100 smart collection points equipped with IoT fill-level sensors, geolocation tracking, and solar panels were installed across the municipality, enabling real-time monitoring and data-driven route optimization. The system replaces fixed-calendar collection with efficient, on-demand logistics.
The project combines technological innovation with door-to-door awareness campaigns, informing residents about proper disposal and the environmental benefits of recycling. This behavioural change component has been critical to increasing participation rates. The recovered UCO is refined into biofuel for municipal waste collection vehicles, achieving over 80% greenhouse gas emission reduction compared to fossil fuels. It is also repurposed into detergents, cosmetics, and plastics—avoiding virgin raw materials and strengthening the circular economy.
Results are measurable and growing. From the baseline of 8–10% recycling, the project achieved 25 m³/year of UCO collected, with a target of 50 m³/year by 2025. Smart collection has reduced fuel consumption and operational costs by eliminating unnecessary collection trips. The model also prevents oil from reaching sewage systems, reducing blockages, maintenance costs, and energy use in wastewater treatment. The environmental benefit is significant: one litre of oil can contaminate up to one million litres of water.
The project is supported by a robust governance ecosystem involving the municipality, water utilities (Águas de Cascais, Águas do Tejo Atlântico), academic institutions (Nova SBE, University of Warwick, UCL), and technology partners (GreenCatch). This cross-sectoral cooperation has been essential to transform UCO from a problematic waste stream into an economic asset.
The infrastructure is modular, the platform is centralized, and the user experience is simple—enabling scalability from a pilot in Carcavelos-Parede to the entire municipality. The replicability potential extends to other waste generators, including HORECA establishments (hotels, restaurants, cafeterias), representing a significant opportunity for additional valorisation. This practical, replicable model demonstrates how circular economy principles can link waste, energy, water, technology, and civic participation into an integrated urban management system.
Bridging the Intention-Behaviour Gap in Indonesian Urban Food Waste Reduction: An Integrated Value-Belief-Norm and Theory of Planned Behaviour Analysis Using Secondary Data
By Riska Hasan, University of Edinburgh
Learning objective/s: To investigate the intention-behaviour gap in Indonesian urban food waste reduction by integrating Value-Belief-Norm and Theory of Planned Behaviour frameworks through secondary data analysis and Structural Equation Modelling.
Overview: Indonesia generates approximately 20.93 million tonnes of food waste annually, the largest volume in Southeast Asia and second largest globally, yet urban household food waste reduction behaviour remains persistently low despite growing public awareness and government commitment under SDG Target 12.3. Central to this problem is the intention-behaviour gap: the well-documented divergence between individuals’ stated intentions to reduce food waste and their observable daily behaviour. This dissertation investigates the psychological and normative mechanisms sustaining this gap in the Indonesian urban context by integrating two complementary theoretical frameworks: Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory (Stern et al., 1999) and the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzen, 1991).
VBN theory explains pro-environmental behaviour through a causal chain from biospheric values and environmental beliefs to personal moral norms, while TPB foregrounds attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control as proximal determinants of intention and action. Neither framework alone fully accounts for the intention-behaviour gap; their integration offers substantially greater explanatory power, as established in prior cross-cultural research. Critically, this integration has never been tested in an Indonesian or Southeast Asian context, representing a significant gap in both behavioural theory and regional sustainability research.
The study employs a quantitative secondary data design, drawing on the World Values Survey Wave 7 Indonesia dataset (2018, n ≈ 3,000) and the BRIN household food waste measurement dataset (Martianto et al., 2024). Structural Equation Modelling using R is used to test the integrated model, compare its explanatory power against single-framework alternatives, and explore sociodemographic variation in model pathways. Data limitations, including the absence of direct measures for ascription of responsibility and perceived behavioural control in WVS, are acknowledged transparently and treated as defining an agenda for future primary research in Indonesia.
Findings will contribute to the cross-cultural generalisability of VBN-TPB theory and provide evidence-based guidance for Indonesian policymakers and sustainability practitioners seeking to design more effective food waste reduction interventions.
From Awareness to Action: Closing the Intention–Behaviour Gap in Household Recycling through Digital and Media Interventions
By Alasdair Meldrum, Albion Environmental Ltd
Overview: This paper explores the persistent intention–behaviour gap in sustainable consumption, specifically within household recycling practices. While consumers increasingly express positive attitudes toward environmental sustainability, this often fails to translate into consistent pro-environmental behaviour. Drawing on a real-world collaboration with Albion Environmental Ltd, this study examines the combined role of an environmental podcast (Rubbish Talk) and a digital waste management tool (MyBinApp) as complementary interventions targeting both awareness and action. The paper integrates consumer behaviour theory with applied digital innovation to propose a dual-stage framework: (1) attitude and awareness formation through infotainment media and (2) behavioural activation through digital nudging and habit formation tools. The study aims to contribute to both theory and practice by demonstrating how integrated communication and digital systems can bridge the gap between intention and action in circular economy contexts.
1.Introduction
The transition toward a circular economy requires not only systemic and infrastructural change but also meaningful shifts in consumer behaviour. Recycling, as one of the most visible forms of pro-environmental action, is widely promoted across the UK; however, inconsistencies in participation and contamination rates suggest a disconnect between consumer intention and actual behaviour. This phenomenon, often referred to as the intention–behaviour gap (Carrington Neville & Whitwell, 2014), presents a critical challenge for policymakers and practitioners.
Despite widespread awareness campaigns, many consumers who express positive environmental attitudes fail to consistently engage in correct recycling behaviours. This paper argues that awareness alone is insufficient to drive behavioural change (Bamberg & Moser, 2007) and that a more integrated approach is required, combining both cognitive engagement and behavioural intervention.
This study is situated within a collaborative project involving Albion Environmental Ltd and the University of the West of Scotland, focusing on two key initiatives: the Rubbish Talk podcast, designed to increase environmental awareness through engaging, accessible content, and MyBinApp, a digital platform aimed at improving recycling behaviour through personalised prompts, reminders, and guidance. The aim of this paper is to explore how these two interventions can work together to address different stages of the consumer decision-making process (Solomon, Bamossy, Askegaard, & Hogg, 2023), ultimately reducing the intention–behaviour gap in household recycling.
2.Literature Review
The intention–behaviour gap has been widely documented within consumer behaviour and environmental psychology literature. The Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) suggests that behaviour is driven by intention (Ajzen, 1991), which is in turn influenced by attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioural control. While TPB has been effective in explaining intention formation, it has been criticised for its limited ability to predict actual behaviour, particularly in sustainability contexts (Bamberg & Moser, 2007).
Research highlights that pro-environmental intentions often fail to translate into action due to practical barriers, habitual behaviours, lack of convenience, and contextual factors. The Value-Belief-Norm (VBN) theory further explains how personal values and environmental beliefs shape behavioural norms (Stern, 2000), yet again does not fully account for the disruption of established habits.
More recent work emphasises the importance of habit formation and situational cues in driving behaviour. Habits are automatic responses developed through repetition and context, suggesting that interventions must target not only attitudes but also routines and environmental triggers (Verplanken & Wood, 2006; Gardner, 2015; Lally, Van Jaarsveld, Potts & Wardle, 2010). Digital technologies have emerged as a promising mechanism for behaviour change, particularly through the use of nudging strategies. Nudges are subtle design features that guide behaviour without restricting choice, such as reminders, prompts, and simplified information (Weimann, Schneider & vom Brocke, 2016). In parallel, media platforms such as podcasts offer opportunities to engage audiences emotionally and cognitively, potentially strengthening attitudes and awareness through storytelling and infotainment (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986).
However, there remains a gap in the literature regarding how these different mechanisms, awareness-building and behaviour-triggering, can be integrated into a cohesive framework for sustainable behaviour change (Thogersen, 2021).
Organics & energy from waste
Day 2 | Poster session from 13:30
Digelis® FoodWaste : a SUEZ Innovation for enhanced biogas production by the digestion of animal byproducts biowastes
By Pierre-Olivier Descamps, SUEZ
Learning objective/s: Learn how Digelis® FoodWaste uses biological-thermal hydrolysis to boost biogas yield from food waste (up to +5%) and cut operating costs (up to -30%) by eliminating water dilution and optimizing pretreatment, fluidification, impurity removal, and digestion.
Overview: Biogas plants producing biomethane and digestate are crucial for the circular economy, energy transition, resource management, and food supply safety. Food waste is expected to become a key feedstock for biogas, especially in the EU, with mandatory source-collection and recovery policies. However, much food waste is still delivered packaged or poorly sorted. Conventional depackaging solutions faces technical challenges, notably the need for heavy water dilution in pretreatment, which greatly increases downstream costs due to oversized equipment and higher energy consumption.
Digelis® FoodWaste is an innovative technological integration concept designed to significantly enhance Food Waste Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility performance. The process relies on natural biological and thermal hydrolysis and acidification to fluidify organic matter via biodegradation, without adding water. This eliminates the conventional upstream dilution phase and operates through a progressive, controlled sequence of treatment steps.
Digelis FoodWaste integrates pretreatment and digestion within a coherent process architecture tailored to food waste characteristics. Our estimates show similar CAPEX but significantly increased revenues via reduced organic matter loss in refusals (targeting up to +5% biogas per ton of raw material) and reduced OPEX (targeting up to -30%) compared to conventional depackaging-based processes.
SUEZ developed and operates a demonstration unit in Angers, France (2000 t/year capacity), fully integrated into an existing AD plant, allowing representative food waste flow integration. The objective of this demo and ongoing study (results pending) is to benchmark process performance against conventional process lines at semi-industrial scale.
Use of in-vessel automatic rotating composter in the processing of municipal biowaste: a case study of Latvia
By Dace Āriņa, Waste Management Association of Latvia
Learning objective/s: The aim of the article is to reflect the results of the first pilot project launched in Latvia on the use of a rotating composter in the recycling of municipal biological waste.
Overview: In accordance with Directive (EU) 2018/851 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 amending Directive 2008/98 on waste, additional requirements were set for Member States for which the deadline for achieving the above targets has been extended. The Member State concerned shall take the necessary measures to increase the amount of municipal waste prepared for reuse and recycled: to at least 50% by 2025; to at least 55% by 2030; to at least 60% by 2035. The Directive also sets out requirements for calculating the achievement of the targets, stipulating that, for the purpose of calculating whether the targets have been achieved, the amount of municipal biodegradable waste (MBW) entering anaerobic or aerobic treatment may be counted as recycled if the treatment results in compost, digestate or other material with a similar recycled content compared to the amount input to the treatment, which will be used as a recycled product, material or substance. From 1 January 2027, Member States may count MBW entering aerobic or anaerobic treatment as recycled only if it has been separately collected or separated at source.
In areas with low population density, the most recommended method of recycling household biological waste is composting closer to the source of biological waste.
In Latvia, many municipalities have started composting biological garden and park waste in open piles. Unfortunately, the Spanish slug Arion vulgaris invasion in Latvia, which progressed rapidly in 2024 and 2025, is the reason for the decline in the popularity of open composting technology, including home composting, in municipalities. Closed automatic rotating composting technologies, which are able to provide high temperatures (+55 °C – +60 °C “hot composting phase”) for a certain time, may become an alternative solution. In Latvia and the other Baltic countries (Estonia and Lithuania), rotating composters have not been used in the recycling of biological waste so far.
The aim of the article is to reflect the results of the first pilot project launched in Latvia on the use of a rotating composter in the recycling of municipal biological waste.
According to data compiled by the Central Statistical Bureau Republic of Latvia, in 2025, in pilot area – Alūksne city – lived 6084 inhabitants, and in 39 multi-story apartment blocks (24 and more apartments) lived ~2500 inhabitants. Multi-story apartment blocks will use biological waste containers (240 litre) located near each house for separate biological waste (Waste code: 200109 – Separately collected food waste of households, restaurants, public catering institutions, and retail premises and other comparable waste from food processing) collection – one time per week. Waste collected and transported to composter, operated by local regional waste management company “ZAAO” Ltd. in Circular Economy Center “Kaudzītes”, Gulbenes county, Latvia. In-vessel automatic rotating composter BIOCOMP12/45 manufactured by Kollvik Recycling S.A.S., vessel capacity 5,1 m3, processing capacity 95 000 litres per year (if waste density is 0.6).
The composter operated in test mode for 1 year (from 01.04.2025 till 31.03.2026), during which the optimal composition proportions of biological waste were tested (Table 1). Compost tests were carried out in accredited laboratories “VIRSMA” Ltd. and “Vides audits” Ltd.
Tests results show that the compost complies with Class 1 according to the Cabinet of Ministers Regulations No. 571 (13.09.2022.) “Procedures for the termination of the application of waste status to material obtained from biodegradable waste”: there are no undesirable impurities in the compost (glass, plastic, metal), no Salmonella has been detected, no Escherichia coli has been detected and chemical elements (Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, Hg, Pb) concentrations do not exceed the maximum permissible values.
The control of the composting process showed that adding wood chips is the most optimal way to achieve the required moisture conditions.
The in-vessel automatic rotating composter can be used in the Baltic States climatic conditions (4 seasons) to obtain high-quality compost, if the moisture content of the composted mass is regulated.
Composting as a Potential Municipal Strategy for Cellulose-Based Textile Waste Management
By Marisa Freitas, School of Health, Polytechnic Institute of Porto
Learning objective/s: Evaluate composting as a municipal strategy for cellulose-based textile waste; compare biodegradation in industrial vs. community systems; assess the effect of mechanical pre-treatment on efficiency; and examine the impact of textile additives on compostability and compost safety.
Overview: The rapid expansion of textile production and consumption, driven by fast fashion, has intensified textile waste generation worldwide. Global fibre production has more than doubled since 2000, while waste management systems remain insufficient, particularly for post-consumer textiles. Conventional recycling technologies are limited by fibre heterogeneity, contamination and material degradation. These challenges also affect cellulose-based textiles such as cotton and regenerated fibres (e.g., lyocell), which, although inherently biodegradable, often undergo pre-treatment, dyeing and finishing processes involving additives and potentially hazardous chemicals. Consequently, cellulose-based textile waste remains poorly integrated into municipal organic waste management systems. Nevertheless, composting offers a promising biological route for biodegradable textile fractions; however, its performance under municipal-scale conditions, the role of textile structure and the effects of textile-associated chemical additives on compost safety remain insufficiently understood.
A two-step experimental approach was designed. Cotton and lyocell textiles (no pre-treatment or dyeing applied) were tested in whole and mechanically shredded forms under real operational conditions at a municipal organic waste treatment facility (LIPOR, Portugal). Industrial composting was conducted over 55 days in a controlled aerobic tunnel system with forced aeration and irrigation, while community composting operated over 90 days in a three-stage system including mesophilic, thermophilic and maturation phases. Biodegradation efficiency was quantified by determining residual dry mass through gravimetric analysis. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to assess fabric structural changes. In a second phase, ten textile configurations (cotton and lyocell fibres) incorporating pre-treatment and synthetic dyeing were subjected to composting trials. Biodegradation was determined by sieving and quantifying the residual material after an 84-day cycle. Samples exhibiting >50% mass loss are currently being further assessed for compost safety through ecotoxicological tests using representative soil organisms (Lactuca sativa and Eisenia fetida).
Results demonstrated that mechanical pre-treatment significantly enhanced biodegradation efficiency across all conditions (p < 0.05), with shredded textiles consistently outperforming whole fabrics in both composting systems. This suggests that reduced particle size improves microbial accessibility and enzymatic degradation of cellulose fibres. A clear system effect was also observed, with community composting achieving the highest performance, reaching mass losses above 93% for both cotton and lyocell. Industrial composting showed lower but still substantial degradation, strongly influenced by fibre configuration and pre-treatment. Differences between fibre types were more evident in industrial conditions, where cotton showed higher biodegradability than lyocell. This difference was reduced in the community system and is consistent with structural characteristics, since cotton contains more amorphous cellulose domains, facilitating enzymatic access, whereas lyocell has higher crystallinity and a more compact structure that limits microbial penetration. SEM analysis provided direct visual confirmation of these processes. Untreated fibres exhibited smooth, compact surfaces, while post-composting samples showed progressive deterioration, including pitting, fibrillation, surface erosion and fragmentation. Microcosm composting trials achieved >50% weight loss in at least 80% of configurations, demonstrating the effectiveness of the tested systems for cellulose-based textile degradation. Ecotoxicological assays are currently in progress.
Overall, the results demonstrate that composting systems can effectively degrade cellulose-based textile waste under municipal-scale conditions, supporting their potential suitability for integration into organic waste management strategies. Performance is strongly influenced by fibre structure and mechanical pre-treatment, highlighting the importance of simple upstream sorting and size reduction to improve efficiency at municipal scale. Microcosm results further confirm the robustness of the approach and its applicability to representative textile waste. While the findings support technical feasibility, full implementation requires a precautionary approach to compost quality and end-use safety. Ongoing ecotoxicological assessments will provide essential evidence to confirm environmental safety and support regulatory alignment for land application. Although this is a pilot-scale study, the results indicate that composting may be considered a complementary pathway for low-value or biodegradable textile fractions rather than a replacement for existing systems, enhancing circularity through integration into municipal organic waste infrastructures and contributing to more resource.
Unlocking Value from Heterogenous Food Waste: A Techno-Economic Assessment of Hydrothermal Liquefaction
By Halimat Abdul-rahman, ETE WAGENINGEN
Learning objective/s: Explain how hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) converts high-moisture food waste into energy-dense biocrude. Evaluate the significance of realistics feedstock composition in improving the accuracy of techno-economic assessments. Assess the economic viability of HTL systems for urban food waste mgt.
Overview: Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) has emerged as a promising thermochemical pathway for converting high moisture biomass into energy dense biocrude without the need for energy intensive drying. Food waste (FW), which constitutes a major fraction of municipal solid waste, represents an abundant and underutilized resource for sustainable energy recovery. However, most existing techno-economic assessments rely on simplified or idealized feedstock compositions, limiting their applicability to real-world waste management systems characterized by significant compositional variability. This study addresses this gap by developing a process-scale techno-economic model of HTL using heterogenous FW derived from household, restaurants, and fruit retail streams in a secondary city in Nigeria, based on representative composition data. The process was simulated in SuperPro Designer®, incorporating continuous operation to evaluate performance and economic feasibility under practical conditions. The HTL system achieved a biocrude production rate of approximately 3,857Kg/h, corresponding to 37.7 wt.% on a dry basis, consistent with reported values for carbohydrate rich feedstocks. The economic analysis indicates a total capital investment of $32.1 million, with annual revenues of $41.6 million and a net operating cost of $32.9 million per year. The process demonstrates strong economic performance, with a return on investment (ROI) of 28.7%, an internal rate of return (IRR) of 20.3%, and a payback period of 3.48 years. These findings highlight the potential of HTL as a scalable and economically viable solution for FW valorization within integrated waste management systems. By incorporating realistic feedstock variability, this study provides a more robust basis for decision-making and supports the deployment of HTL technologies in diverse urban contexts, particularly in rapidly growing cities in developing regions.
Enhancing NOx Reduction Performance of SNCR System in Waste-to-Energy Plants: A Practical Approach through CFD Simulation and Automated Control
By Zi-Yi Zhan, ECOVE Environment Services Corporation
Learning objective/s: Understand how to optimize aging EfW plants. Learn to use CFD simulation to increase nozzles from 4 to 12, reducing NOx to 65 ppm.Gain skills in automated control to stop ammonia slip and “equipment regeneration” to support the circular economy.
Overview: With increasing environmental awareness and tightening global emission standards, reducing nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions and improving treatment efficiency have become critical challenges for waste-to-energy (EfW) plants. In Taiwan, many EfW facilities have been in operation for over 20 years. Changes in waste composition due to industrial development and population growth have led to declining equipment performance and increased maintenance challenges.
This paper presents a case study on the enhancement of the selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) system at the Xizhou EfW plant. The SNCR technology injects reducing agents, such as urea, into high-temperature flue gas, where they react with NOx to form nitrogen (N₂) and water (H₂O). In this project, ECOVE Environment Services Corp. optimized the nozzle configuration through advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation. The number of urea nozzles was increased from four to twelve in a two-tier arrangement, enabling improved coverage and reaction efficiency. In addition, a fully automated control logic was implemented to minimize ammonia slip and enhance system stability.
The enhancement also adopted an equipment regeneration strategy. Existing facilities, including the urea storage tank and heating system, were retained, while only critical piping and spray control units were upgraded. This approach minimized resource input while achieving optimal emission reduction performance.
Following the enhancement, the system has demonstrated stable operation, with the average NOx emission concentration of the two furnaces reduced to approximately 65 ppm, showing significant improvement compared to pre-enhancement conditions. This solution not only effectively enhances pollutant reduction efficiency and supports compliance with more stringent emission standards, but also demonstrates the sustainable value of upgrading and revitalizing existing facilities, aligning with the principles of circular economy.
Material streams: WEEE & plastics
Day 2 | Poster session from 16:15
Waste Implications of Croatia’s Energy Transition - Projected Waste from Photovoltaic Panels, Electric and Hybrid Vehicle Batteries, and Wind Turbine Blades
By Natalija Golubovac & Mak Kisevic, SAFEGE d.o.o. – SUEZ Consulting
Learning objective/s: 1. Provide a methodology to estimate end-of-life waste from PV panels, EV/hybrid batteries, and wind turbine blades, enabling circular waste planning and capacity forecasting
2. Examine how product lifespans, design assumptions, and early losses influence waste dynamics and long-term material stock
Overview: Europe’s accelerated energy transition is reshaping energy generation and supply systems, but it is also creating large, time-shifted waste streams that are neither adequately anticipated in national waste-management planning nor supported by sufficiently developed, scalable reuse and recycling technologies and processing capacities across the EU.
This paper presents an integrated, multi-stream assessment of future end-of-life waste arising from photovoltaic (PV) panels, electric and hybrid vehicle batteries, and wind-turbine blades, using Croatia as a representative small EU Member State with rapid renewable deployment and limited domestic recycling capacity. A cohort-based, stock-driven material flow model is applied to project the timing and relative magnitude of end-of-life waste under alternative national policy pathways, complemented by sensitivity analyses addressing lifetimes, deployment dynamics, material intensity, and technology evolution.
The results show that waste generation follows strongly non-linear and technology-specific trajectories. Battery waste accelerates first due to short service lifetimes, while photovoltaic waste is heavily delayed and concentrated around a mid-century peak driven by recent installation cohorts. Wind-turbine blade waste emerges in distinct, cohort-driven waves linked to historical installation vintages and the transition to larger turbine classes. Crucially, these waste streams increasingly overlap in the 2040s–2050s, creating cumulative pressures on waste-management systems that rely on fundamentally different and currently underdeveloped treatment routes.
The findings demonstrate that reactive, single-stream approaches to waste management are insufficient in the context of the energy transition. Instead, anticipatory, technology-specific and integrated planning is required to align renewable-energy deployment with realistic treatment capacity, technological maturity, and investment timelines. The modelling framework is transferable to other EU Member States and provides a practical basis for aligning energy-transition targets with circular-economy and waste-infrastructure planning.
Key projections:
• PV waste reaches 41 481– 47 423 t by 2053, with cumulative in-use stocks of 202 500 – 432 750 t. Flows remain low until ~2038, then rise steeply; a pronounced peak occurs 2045–2053 (36.7– 40.3 kt in a single 9-year window) driven by retirement of large 2023–2025 installation cohorts.
• Battery waste from M1 passenger vehicles totals 34 426 – 72 099 t by 2050, with stocks 115 – 496 kt. Battery waste dominates near-term flows (steep rise from mid-2030s) due to short lifetime.
• Blade waste from the existing 1 264 MW fleet reaches ~13 051 t by 2049; cumulative stocks 28 – 44 kt by 2075. Retirements create temporally concentrated waves in the 2040s.
Results reveal distinct dynamics: battery waste peaks earliest, PV waste is strongly back-loaded with a mid-century spike, blades produce smaller but sharp waves. Sensitivity analyses show shorter lifetimes can advance peaks by up to 10 years; material-intensity reductions of ~45–50% could lower long-term stocks by 25–50%, mainly post-2050.
Waste generation does not scale linearly with installed capacity – cohort effects, early failures (PV) and technology-specific parameters create temporal mismatch between deployment and decommissioning. Reactive, single-stream approaches are insufficient. Anticipatory, technology-differentiated and integrated planning is essential to align waste infrastructure development with renewable rollout and EU circular-economy targets (Battery Regulation 2023/1542, Critical Raw Materials Regulation 2024/1252, WEEE recast 2024/884).
The modelling framework – combining national policy targets, turbine-level blade inventories, early-loss mechanisms and cross-stream sensitivities – is replicable for other EU Member States and supports evidence-based infrastructure decisions in the context of the European Green Deal and Net-Zero Industry Act.
End-of-Life Photovoltaic Panels in Mozambique – waste estimation and management pathways
By Leticia Sarmento dos Muchangos, Hiroshima University
Learning objective/s: Get an overview of the current and projected amounts of end-of-life waste from solar panels in Mozambique, Southern Africa, until 2050.
Overview: Lower-income countries are increasingly relying on solar photovoltaic (PV) systems to electrify their nations, often with little to no consideration for the resulting end-of-life (EOL) PV e-waste. Moreover, the quality of imported solar products is often poor, accelerating the generation of EOL PV e-waste. Nonetheless, the e-waste stream, a recognised emerging and hazardous issue in those contexts, remains understudied. In Mozambique, in Southern Africa,６\, where nearly 40% of the population still lacks access to electricity, renewable energy has become a crucial component of the country’s national electrification efforts. Off-grid technologies, such as solar PV, play a vital role in rural areas. By the end of 2022, over 200,000 solar home systems had been installed across Mozambique, benefiting more than 1 million people. Additionally, it is estimated that around 3,000 tonnes of solar equipment were imported that year. However, due to limited e-waste regulations, a lack of systematic collection, and inadequate management infrastructure — along with improper disposal, which characterises countries like Mozambique — the growth of solar energy systems poses significant health, environmental, and economic risks from EOL PV e-waste. The part of the study presented here focuses on understanding the current material flow and management of EOL PV e-waste in Mozambique, to contribute to the broader aim of supporting the development of a circular, sustainable management system. Specifically, the objective is to quantify current and projected EOL PV e-waste to assess the environmental impacts.
Dynamic and Probabilistic Plastic Flow Modelling of WEEE in the European Union
By Christoph Becker, VITO
Learning objective/s: To understand the impact of Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) product and consumption variability on projections of waste EEE flows and their impact on waste management policymaking and capacity planning.
Overview:
Realistic estimates of plastics in Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) are essential for recycling operators and policymakers.
Yet, current estimates rely on highly simplified product attributes that insufficiently account for product variability in product weight, service lifespan, and material composition. This study examines how their variability affects projections of plastics entering the post-consumer WEEE flow in the European Union (EU27). To do so, we develop a relational database that links product attribute estimates from more than $30$ sources. The database enables the comparison of estimates reported across studies using different classification systems. Using this database, we implement a Monte Carlo approach to estimate End-of-Life (EOL) from Put-on-Market (POM) flows of plastics in WEEE for the period $2005$–$2022$, with particular attention to high-value plastics such as polypropylene (PP) and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). The results show substantial variation in reported product attributes across the literature, reflecting rapid changes of products and consumption. When propagated through the model, this variability leads to wide uncertainty ranges in projected EOL plastic flows. At the same time, the derived EOL plastic flows are broadly consistent with the spread of independently published point estimates. Uncertainty in plastic fractions is found to contribute more strongly to the spread of modelled EOL flows than uncertainty in service lifespans. The study demonstrates that explicitly accounting for product attribute variability is both feasible and necessary for more credible plastic flow projections. The novel approach improves the transparency and robustness of estimates, therefore providing a stronger basis for evidence-based policymaking and waste management adaptation and capacity planning.
From Data to Decisions: Plastic Waste Inventory and E-waste Forecasting for Circular Economy Planning in Kazakhstan
By Vera Mustafina, Kazakhstan Waste Management Association “KazWaste”
Learning objective/s: Learn how plastic waste inventories and e-waste forecasting tools can support circular economy planning, infrastructure development, EPR systems, investment prioritization, material flow analysis, and evidence-based waste governance in emerging economies.
Overview: Reliable waste data is essential for effective waste management planning and circular economy transition. However, many emerging economies continue to face fragmented waste statistics, weak material flow tracking, inconsistent reporting systems, and limited integration of data into infrastructure, investment, and policy planning processes. As a result, waste systems are often developed without sufficient understanding of actual material flows, future waste generation trends, or recovery potential.
This poster presents Kazakhstan’s experience in applying practical data-driven tools for plastic waste inventory and e-waste forecasting to support evidence-based decision-making and long-term waste system planning.
The first case study focuses on the development of a national plastic waste inventory using the UNITAR product-lifetime methodology. The assessment analyzed domestic production, imports, exports, product lifespan, and waste generation trends for the period 2013–2022. The methodology enabled estimation of plastic waste generation by polymer type and production sector, as well as assessment of recycling rates and material losses.
The inventory demonstrated significant growth in plastic waste generation over the analyzed period and highlighted major gaps between waste generation and recycling capacities. The results also revealed limited availability of harmonized waste flow data and the need for stronger integration between statistical systems, waste operators, and policy institutions. The generated data provides a stronger foundation for infrastructure planning, identification of priority waste streams, and development of circular economy policies and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) systems.
The second case study presents an e-waste forecasting model developed to estimate future generation, collection, and recycling scenarios for waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) through 2050. The forecasting model was designed to support long-term planning for collection systems, recycling infrastructure, secondary raw materials recovery, and environmental impact reduction.
The forecasting scenarios demonstrated substantial projected growth in e-waste generation and highlighted associated environmental and economic risks, including the loss of valuable secondary materials and increasing pressure on waste management systems. The model also enabled estimation of potential recovery volumes and identification of future infrastructure needs for collection, dismantling, refurbishment, and recycling activities.
The presented approaches demonstrate how waste flow analysis and forecasting tools can support:
• evidence-based infrastructure and technology planning;
• prioritization of investment needs;
• development of EPR systems and circular economy policies;
• identification of priority waste streams and recycling capacities;
• improved transparency for public and private sector decision-making;
• stronger integration of waste data into national planning processes.
The Kazakhstan experience demonstrates that waste data should be considered not only as a reporting requirement, but also as a strategic planning instrument for improving resource efficiency and supporting circular economy transition. Practical tools such as material flow analysis, product-lifetime methodologies, and long-term forecasting models can help governments and stakeholders better understand future waste streams, anticipate infrastructure needs, and improve resource recovery systems.
The methodologies and lessons presented may be relevant for other emerging economies seeking to strengthen waste governance, improve material flow analysis, and support data-driven planning for plastics and e-waste management.
From India to Malawi: Effective system scaling to shape the resilient plastic waste-free cities of tomorrow
By Sophie van den Berg, WASTE
Learning objective/s:
-Understand how a multi-stakeholder (diamond) approach can improve the effectiveness and scalability of a plastic waste management system.
-Discover how to analyse, mobilise and connect key actors in achieving system change together with improvement of the enabling environment.
Finance, EPR & circular business models
Day 3 | Poster session from 12:00
Extended Producer Responsibility for Construction Packaging Waste in China: Lessons from the EU and UK
By Han Wang, Loughborough University
Learning objective/s: Participants will learn how EU and UK EPR mechanisms, including producer registration, eco-modulated fees and reverse logistics, can inform a China-specific framework for shifting construction packaging waste from contractor-led disposal to producer-led source prevention.
Overview: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) offers a way to move waste governance beyond disposal and recycling at the end of a product’s life. Instead, it asks producers to take greater responsibility for the environmental effects of the products and packaging they place on the market. In many sectors, such as consumer packaging, electronics, batteries and vehicles, EPR has already become an important policy tool. However, industrial and business-to-business packaging has received much less attention. Construction packaging is a clear example. Building materials are usually delivered to sites in cement bags, pallets, plastic film, strapping, cardboard cartons and other protective packaging. After unpacking, these materials are often handled as ordinary site waste, even though many packaging decisions are made earlier by building-material manufacturers, suppliers and packaging producers. This creates a responsibility gap: upstream actors decide how packaging is designed and supplied, while contractors and local waste systems are left to manage the waste.
This research examines how EPR could be used to address construction packaging waste in China. China produces more than two billion tonnes of construction waste each year, and packaging forms a significant but often hidden part of this wider waste stream. China has recognised EPR as a national policy direction since 2016, but its packaging-related implementation has mainly focused on beverage cartons. Construction packaging has not yet been brought into a clear producer-responsibility system. At present, construction waste governance in China remains mainly contractor-centred. This may be suitable for some site-generated waste, such as concrete, bricks, soil and demolition waste, but it is less suitable for packaging. Contractors usually cannot influence how packaging is designed, have no direct relationship with the original packaging producer, and often lack the economic incentive or logistics system needed to return low-value packaging through formal recovery channels.
The research draws lessons from the EU and the UK. The EU’s Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation provides a broad approach to packaging governance. It covers sales, grouped and transport packaging, and includes requirements on packaging minimisation, recyclability, recycled content, producer responsibility, fee modulation and reuse. The UK offers a more staged model. Its Plastic Packaging Tax encourages recycled content in plastic packaging, while the revised packaging EPR scheme introduces producer registration, data reporting, cost recovery and recyclability-based fee modulation. Alongside these policy examples, producer-led take-back schemes, pallet pooling systems and paper-sack recycling initiatives show that reverse logistics for construction-related packaging can work in practice when responsibilities, data and incentives are clear.
Based on these examples, the research considers what a construction-packaging EPR framework for China would need to include. Key elements would include a clear definition of construction packaging as a separate waste and resource stream; identification of building-material manufacturers as key obligated producers; a producer register; material-specific reporting; phased fee mechanisms; possible recyclability- or reuse-based fee modulation; a scheme administrator or producer responsibility organisation; and reverse-logistics links between construction sites, suppliers, recyclers and manufacturers. The research also considers practical barriers, including fragmented supply chains, weak data on construction packaging, low material value, high handling costs, informal recovery channels and the need to connect national policy with local construction-waste management.
The research argues that China does not lack the idea of producer responsibility. The main challenge is how to turn this idea into a workable system for construction packaging. EU and UK experience can provide useful lessons, but these mechanisms cannot simply be copied. They need to be adapted to China’s construction sector, regulatory structure and market conditions. The research contributes by reframing construction packaging waste as a producer-responsibility issue, rather than only a contractor-managed construction-waste issue, and by outlining how EPR could support a shift from downstream disposal towards upstream prevention, better packaging design and more organised recovery.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) for Textile Waste: Challenges and Opportunities through the Case of Croatia
By Ivana Presečki, University of Zagreb Faculty of Geotechnical Engineering
Learning objective/s: Learn how to design effective EPR systems for textile waste, including governance, financing, and integration of reuse and recycling flows.
Overview: Textile waste is among the fastest-growing waste streams in Europe, driven by increasing consumption and shortened product lifecycles. In response, the European Union is introducing new regulatory measures, including mandatory separate collection of textile waste and the development of Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) schemes.
In Croatia, total textile and footwear waste generation reached 54,537.5 tonnes in 2024 (14.1 kg per capita). Of this amount, only 22.7% (12,363.4 tonnes) were collected separately, while 65.2% (35,557.7 tonnes) remained in mixed municipal waste, with additional shares in bulky waste (11.3%) and end-of-life vehicles (0.8%). Despite gradual improvements, the system remains inefficient, with 79% of textile waste still landfilled and only 8.7% recycled. At the same time, textile consumption reached approximately 83,396 tonnes (21.6 kg per capita), indicating a significant gap between consumption and waste management performance.
Reuse plays a significant but largely unrecorded role in the textile system. In Croatia, reuse occurs through donations, second-hand markets, and online exchange platforms, but these flows remain outside formal monitoring systems. A national survey of 3,003 households shows that 67.6% purchased secondhand items in 2024, with textiles the dominant category (74.8%). The estimated total mass of reused textile products reached 12,421 tonnes.
In addition, instruments supporting circular material flows are emerging. In 2024, end-of-waste status was granted for 36.2 tonnes of textile waste following preparation for reuse, resulting in equivalent quantities of new materials, while 238 tonnes of production textile residues were classified as by-products and reused as secondary raw materials, including inputs for technical textiles, felt production, and further reuse applications. These mechanisms support the development of secondary raw material markets and facilitate material recovery beyond conventional waste management systems.
This paper analyses the potential and challenges of implementing EPR systems for textile waste in Croatia, combining regulatory analysis, waste flow assessment, and benchmarking against European models. The study highlights key barriers, including insufficient collection infrastructure, limited recycling capacity, and a lack of reliable data on reuse flows.
The findings provide recommendations for improving data collection, increasing separate collection rates, and integrating reuse and secondary material markets into future EPR systems, supporting the transition towards a circular textile economy.
Value Retention Strategies: Moving Beyond Recycling to Remanufacture, Repair and Reuse
By Sonia Sanchez-Torres, Oakdene Hollins
Learning objective/s: Define value retention beyond recycling, assess its environmental and economic benefits, identify barriers to reuse and repair, understand enabling policies and standards, and integrate value retention into waste systems to complement recycling instead of competing with it.
Overview: Circular economy discussions frequently prioritise recycling as the default solution to waste and resource challenges, yet recycling often represents a loss of material value, energy and embedded carbon. Higher value strategies – including reuse, repair, refurbishment and remanufacturing – are widely acknowledged in principle but remain underdeployed in practice.
This session will focus on value retention as a critical, yet under-realised, pillar of circular economy delivery.
Drawing on Oakdene Hollins’ extensive work in remanufacturing, reuse systems, and secondary material markets, the session will examine how value-retention strategies can deliver substantial environmental and economic benefits when designed and implemented effectively. It will explore why such strategies struggle to scale, the conditions under which they become commercially viable, and how they can be integrated into existing waste and resource systems rather than treated as niche solutions.
The session will address the practical realities of applying value retention across sectors, including manufacturing, furniture, and automotive, and will highlight the organisational, logistical, and behavioural changes required to support wider uptake. Particular attention will be given to the role of product design, service models, standards, and market demand in enabling durable, repairable and remanufacturable products.
By grounding discussion in evidence rather than aspiration, this session will provide delegates with a realistic understanding of where value retention delivers the greatest impact, how it complements recycling and net zero objectives, and what is required to move these strategies from pilots to mainstream practice.
What the session will cover:
• Defining value retention and why it delivers higher environmental and economic value than recycling alone
• Practical examples of reuse, repair, refurbishment and remanufacturing across key sectors
• Barriers to scaling value retention models, including design constraints, economics, logistics and consumer behaviour
• The role of policy, standards and procurement in enabling value retention
• How value retention strategies interact with recycling systems rather than replace them
• Aligning value retention with circular economy targets, net zero ambitions and market demand.
The Missing Link Is the System: Designing Institutional Infrastructure to Scale Circular Bioeconomy Solutions in Urban Food Systems
By Bernadette Dzifa Agbefu, International Water Management Institute
Learning objective/s: To present and evaluate the Circular Bioeconomy Innovation Hub as a system-level model that aligns stakeholders, policy, and markets to scale circular bioeconomy solutions and transition from fragmented pilots to coordinated, city-wide adoption in urban food systems.
Overview: In rapidly urbanizing sub-Saharan Africa, organic waste 60% of Ghana’s municipal solid waste, accumulates in cities, driving emissions while depleting soils for food production. Technical solutions exist, but fragmentation across sectors stalls scale. This paper argues that the primary constraint to achieving circularity is not technological, but institutional, specifically, the absence of coordinated infrastructure to align actors, incentives, and implementation pathways. It posits that the missing link is institutional design.
The study presents the Circular Bioeconomy Innovation Hub in Ghana as a system-level scaling innovation. The Hub functions as an institutional infrastructure that integrates co-ownership, living labs, policy advisory, applied research, monitoring, and market-oriented partnerships within a unified operational architecture. Using a practice-based systems analysis of 2025 implementation evidence, the study demonstrates how scale was operationalized through 16 co-owning institutions, 7 living labs, and behaviour change interventions reaching 15,612 students across 23 schools practicing daily waste segregation and composting. At the ecosystem level, 111 stakeholders were convened to shape the CircularEconomy4Ghana innovation pipeline, alongside contributions to national policy processes. Rather than treating capacity building, demonstration, policy engagement, and enterprise development as discrete interventions, the Hub integrates them as mutually reinforcing system functions. The novelty lies in conceptualizing the Hub as an integration architecture, a transferable governance model that reduces fragmentation, pools resources, structures experimentation, and links behaviour change to investable circular value chains.
The findings reposition scaling as a design feature rather than a downstream outcome. The model offers practical relevance for lower-income and rapidly urbanizing contexts, demonstrating that transferability depends on replicating core platform functions rather than duplicating localized activities, thereby enabling sustained adoption, investment readiness, and policy alignment beyond Ghana.
Advancing Circular Economy Practices: Policy Initiatives and Economic Feasibility of Circular Procurement in the UK Public Sector
By Langqiu Zhao, Imperial College London
Learning objective/s: To understand the perceptions and attitudes of UK public procurement stakeholders towards the circular economy, and to elaborate on the potential barriers and driving factors underlying the implementation of circular public procurement strategies by different public sectors in the UK context.
Overview: There is a need to transition rapidly to a circular economy to address the issues of resource depletion, waste generation and environmental degradation. Achieving the goals of a circular economy requires action and support from the whole society, which cannot be achieved without the joint participation of both private and public sectors. Given its substantial purchasing power and social influence, the public sector can play a significant role in driving the transition towards sustainable development and a circular economy. This study examines the integration of the circular economy strategies in public procurement, with particular focus on the opportunities and challenges encountered by the UK public sector in incorporating circular economy principles. This research helps to fill a gap in the research and literature regarding the focus on Circular Public Procurement (CPP) in the UK, providing UK policymakers and public procurement stakeholders with a roadmap for the transition to sustainable public procurement from a circular economy perspective.
The research objectives of this paper are to understand the perceptions and attitudes of UK public procurement stakeholders towards the circular economy and to elaborate on the potential barriers and driving factors underlying the implementation of circular public procurement strategies by different public sectors in the UK. The primary aim is to explore the feasibility of circular public procurement and its implications for social development and government operations within the specific political and economic context of the UK.
We employed a qualitative research approach, conducting semi-structured interviews with 15 procurement professionals from various public sector organisations in the UK to understand: 1) the procurement strategies and practices currently adopted by different public bodies, assessing their circular economy potential; 2) attitudes towards circular economy practices in public procurement; 3) barriers and challenges for further integration of circular economy within the UK public sector? Which factors limit and hinder the development of the circular economy in public procurement? The research findings were analysed using thematic analysis. Preliminary results indicate that circular procurement is primarily achieved through reducing demand and extending the lifespan of assets. To a certain extent, the implementation of circular procurement is mainly constrained by systemic factors such as organisational governance structures and compliance requirements. Key barriers include limited financial and human resources, complex and time-sensitive public procurement processes, and a lack of clear government guidance and support. Furthermore, factors such as limitations in market engagement and transparency, supply chain uncertainties, and unstable policy signals further exacerbate these challenges. At the same time, we find that clear leadership commitment, effective internal collaboration and communication, and a growing awareness of sustainability are conducive to advancing this objective. We conclude that progress in circular public procurement in the UK is currently fragmented and requires resource coordination and allocation by the central government to address the resource and information gaps.
Co-billing as a pathway to financial sustainability in municipal solid waste services: Evidence from Brazil
By Luciana Costa, Center for Regulatory and Infrastructure Studies – Fundacao Getulio Vargas (FGV CERI)
Learning objective/s: Assess whether co-billing is associated with higher solid waste revenue collection. Identify how billing design and institutional arrangements shape cash flow predictability, risk allocation, and financial sustainability in solid waste services.
Overview: The financial sustainability of urban solid waste services remains a persistent challenge in infrastructure sectors marked by fragmented local governance, weak cost recovery, and limited fiscal space. In these settings, revenue collection design affects cash flow stability, risk allocation, contract bankability, and the feasibility of service expansion and modernization. Co-billing schemes, through which solid waste charges are collected via the bill of another utility service, especially water and sanitation, have emerged as an important device to improve collection performance. Yet empirical evidence on their effects remains limited.
This paper examines whether co-billing is associated with higher revenue collection rates in urban solid waste services. The analysis focuses on Brazil, where the sector has historically combined low-cost recovery, strong dependence on municipal budgets, uneven regulatory development, and persistent difficulty in consolidating stable user-charge systems. This fragility is reflected in poor management outcomes, including the fact that around 40% of the country’s solid waste is still improperly disposed of. The Brazilian case illustrates a broader problem in infrastructure sectors where service obligations are not matched by reliable revenue structures.
The analysis uses municipal-level data reported to Brazil’s National Sanitation Information System, SINISA, for 2023 and 2024. To capture collection performance, the study uses as its main outcome the share of billed or assessed solid waste revenue that is effectively collected by the service provider. This measure reflects the extent to which expected revenue is converted into actual cash inflow and therefore serves as a proxy for the financial effectiveness of the charging arrangement. The key explanatory variable identifies whether the municipality adopts a co-billing arrangement. Four linear regression models are estimated with progressive inclusion of time, territorial, institutional, and charge-design controls. Standard errors are clustered at the municipal level.
Results show a positive and statistically significant association between co-billing and higher collection rates across specifications. The estimated coefficients remain stable in sign after the sequential inclusion of controls, suggesting that municipalities using co-billing tend, on average, to display stronger revenue performance than those relying on stand-alone billing arrangements. From an infrastructure economics perspective, this pattern is consistent with the view that established utility billing systems can reduce transaction costs, improve payment discipline, and generate more predictable revenue inflows.
These findings should be interpreted with caution. Potential endogeneity cannot be ruled out, as municipalities adopting co-billing may differ systematically from others in terms of institutional capacity, fiscal pressure, or governance quality. Also, the empirical model exhibits low explanatory power, indicating substantial unexplained variation across municipalities. Collection outcomes are shaped by multiple context-specific factors and only partially observed factors, including user payment behavior, local enforcement capacity, payment culture, tariff design, political dynamics, and the quality of municipal cadastral systems.
A broader benchmarking conducted in the study helps clarify why this association may emerge. In Brazilian cases such as Sanepar and Sanesul, co-billing has been associated with recurring billing routines, existing customer databases, prior communication with users, and contractual arrangements defining transfer rules and operational responsibilities. These features affect whether billed amounts are effectively converted into cash flow. Similar governance issues appear in non-implemented proposals, such as the Embasa model, which explicitly addressed arrears risk, limits on the amount charged through the water bill, and the allocation of responsibilities between the waste-service holder and the billing utility. International evidence points in the same direction: arrangements linked to water billing systems tend to operate under clearer regulatory frameworks, while more fragile designs are more vulnerable to contestation and interruption.
Taken together, these results suggest that revenue collection mechanism is a meaningful regulatory variable in sectors where financial stability depends not only on the existence of a fee or tariff, but also on the capacity to bill, collect, allocate risk, and maintain predictable cash flow. The paper contributes in two ways: empirically, it documents a consistent association between co-billing and collection performance using the most recent nationally reported municipal data available in Brazil; conceptually, it shows that co-billing is better understood as part of the economic regulation and institutional design of infrastructure services than as a mere billing convenience.
Core services & pollution prevention
Day 3 | Poster session from 13:45
Beyond Debris: Do Disasters Systematically Shape National Waste Generation?
By Gemechu Beyene Mekonnen, University of Kitakyushu
Learning objective/s: Highlights that disaster waste is systematically underrepresented in national and global statistics. Describes how rising disaster risks influence national waste generation and how an empirical understanding of disaster–waste system interactions can inform proactive planning and preparedness.
Overview:
Disaster events are increasing in frequency and intensity worldwide. These events generate large volumes of waste within very short periods, often overwhelming existing waste management systems. Empirical evidence suggests that disasters can produce debris volumes equivalent to several times normal waste generation. In some cases, a single event can generate waste comparable to a large share of a city’s or country’s annual municipal solid waste (MSW) output. Despite this, disaster waste is rarely captured in official waste statistics or global estimation frameworks. Beyond emergency measures, disaster waste is better managed as an integral component of routine waste systems. Capacities at normal times determine efficiency during disasters. As a result, there is growing concern that national waste generation figures may systematically underestimate disaster waste. Estimating disaster waste remains a complex task, but it is gaining attention in pre disaster planning and preparedness. Understanding relationships between disaster occurrence and waste generation is, therefore, critical for improving estimation methods and strengthening system resilience. While case-based and post-disaster studies consistently document sharp increases in waste generation, there is limited cross-country quantitative evidence assessing whether disaster occurrence translates into higher national waste generation levels. This study addresses that gap by examining the association between disaster frequency and waste generation per capita across countries, testing the robustness of this relationship using alternative waste indicators, and evaluating the role of structural factors. The study intends to test the hypothesis that “disaster occurrence is positively associated with national waste generation, but that this relationship may not be fully captured in conventional datasets”. To do so, a regression analysis was conducted using data from 169 countries. Two models were estimated. In the primary model, the waste generation performance score provided by the 2024 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) was used. The score measures countries’ performance in per capita waste generation on the basis that lower per capita waste generation represents a higher performance score. Disaster frequency was calculated as the average annual number of events over 2023–2024. Control variables, such as GDP per capita, percent urban population, and government effectiveness, were included to account for cross-country differences and isolate the independent effect of disasters. To assess robustness, a second model used waste generation per capita estimated for 2022 by the World Bank’s “What a Waste 3.0,” with corresponding independent variables. All models were estimated using linear regression with robust standard errors. The primary analysis indicates that disaster frequency is positively associated with waste generation performance score (β = 0.36, SE = 0.18, p = 0.045). A high performance score represents low waste generation, suggesting that higher disaster occurrence is linked to lower waste generation. Control variables also showed significant associations. However, in the robustness analysis using the alternative waste indicator, disaster frequency was not statistically significant, although the overall model and control variables remained significant. The findings reveal that the relationship between disaster occurrence and national waste generation is highly sensitive to the choice of measurement. The significant association observed with performance-based score is not replicated when using physical waste generation data. This discrepancy points to a potential under-accounting of disaster waste in global datasets. The observed negative relationship between waste generation and disaster frequency strengthens this claim, particularly in low-income areas, where the waste generation performance score is high. In these countries, not disaster waste but even waste at normal times is not accounted for in the system. The observed relationships may reflect broader environmental and institutional conditions rather than direct waste outputs. This suggests that disaster impacts may be reflected more in governance or system performance. Due to data limitations, this study relies on a single time point, which may not capture lagged effects or temporal dynamics. Longitudinal studies are therefore recommended to better understand the delayed and cumulative impacts of disasters on waste systems. Incorporating vulnerability and resilience metrics, along with the application of causal inference methods, would strengthen the ability to disentangle the effects of disasters from underlying structural conditions. Studies focused on disaster-prone low- and middle-income countries are particularly prioritised. Lastly, improved integration of disaster waste into national and global reporting systems is essential for more accurate estimation and more effective planning.
Environmental Education and Socio-Environmental Perception on Sanitation and SWM in Urban and Rural Communities: Evidence from Espírito Santo, Brazil
By Renato Ribeiro Siman, Federal University of Espírito Santo
Learning objective/s: Identify how territorial, sociodemographic and educational factors shape environmental perception on sanitation and waste in urban and rural communities. 2. Compare formal vs. non-formal environmental education effectiveness. 3. Apply mixed-methods evidence to inform integrated waste policy design.
Overview: Effective waste management and sanitation services depend not only on infrastructure but on how communities perceive and engage with them. This study investigates the influence of sociodemographic factors and environmental education (EE) on the environmental perceptions and practices of residents and students from urban and rural communities in three municipalities of Espírito Santo state, Brazil: Guarapari, Anchieta, and Muniz Freire. These municipalities present contrasting profiles — coastal urban centres, an industrial hub, and a rural agricultural community — offering a rich comparative framework for understanding how territorial inequalities shape environmental behaviour.
The research combined a structured questionnaire (n=189, Likert-scale items, chi-square analysis) with gravimetric waste composition analysis (39 campaigns, 1,171 kg of waste processed) to assess both self-reported perceptions and actual recycling behaviour. Four dimensions were examined: access to water supply and sanitation services, efficiency of sewage collection, discharge of effluents into water bodies, and safety of drinking water. A fifth dimension analysed adherence to selective waste collection and quality of source separation.
Results reveal that environmental perception is heterogeneous and strongly conditioned by area of residence, age, educational level, and EE participation. Urban residents demonstrated greater critical awareness of sanitation deficiencies and informal waste disposal, while rural residents showed higher practical engagement in source separation — a pattern confirmed by gravimetric data, with rural communities delivering the largest absolute volume of recyclable materials (491.7 kg). Critically, non-formal EE initiatives proved significantly more effective than formal (school-based) programmes in changing actual waste separation behaviour (52% vs. 19% adherence rate), even though formal programmes reached larger audiences.
The study highlights that EE disconnected from structural improvements and local realities produces limited behavioural change. Participation in EE over five years was associated with greater recognition of illegal dumping and more positive perceptions of drinking water safety — but not with improved knowledge of waste destinations when actions were infrequent. The valorisation of waste pickers and a sense of territorial belonging emerged as central motivators for community engagement, particularly among younger participants. These findings offer actionable evidence for policymakers and waste managers worldwide: non-formal, community-embedded EE should be prioritised by private sector operators for its mobilisation potential, while formal EE scales more effectively through public school networks. Both require integration with infrastructure investment to produce lasting impact. The results align with SDGs 3, 6, 11, and 12, and offer a replicable mixed-methods model applicable to medium and small municipalities in the Global South.
A Scoping Review for Evidence Mapping of Air Pollution Pathways from Municipal Solid Waste Management in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
By Yuchen Wu, RMI
Learning objective/s: Understanding how different MSW management activities in LMICs contribute to air pollution exposure, identifying the populations most affected, and where current evidence is concentrated, limited, or missing across the waste management value chain.
Overview:
Municipal solid waste (MSW) management systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) often remain incomplete. Gaps in collection, controlled disposal, and treatment capacity can lead to heavy reliance on open dumping, open burning, and waste picking. Recent World Health Organization reports have highlighted the significant public health and community consequences of these practices and called for stronger evidence on exposure pathways, affected populations, and associated health risks. This scoping review responds to that need by leveraging existing literature to develop a focused evidence map of air pollution pathways across MSW activities in LMICs.
The review organizes the literature by waste management activity, pollutant class, exposed population, region, and health outcome evidence. It focuses on major air pollutants and inhalation related exposures, including particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins and furans, bioaerosols, and odors. Rather than treating “poor waste management” as a single exposure category, the review distinguishes among incomplete collection, transfer stations, recycling sites, organic waste treatment facilities, open dumping, and open burning.
Preliminary findings suggest that evidence on air pollution exposure from MSW management is highly uneven across the value chain. Open burning and open dumping are the most consistently documented pathways. Open burning is associated with a broad pollutant profile, including particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, black and brown carbon, dioxins, and furans. Open dumping is more commonly associated with particulate matter, bioaerosols, volatile organic compounds, and odors. Together, these two activities represent the strongest current evidence base for MSW related air pollution pathways in LMICs.
The evidence is thinner for other parts of the value chain. Transfer stations and recycling sites are represented mainly in occupational studies, with evidence of exposure to particulate matter, volatile organic compounds, bacteria, fungi, and other bioaerosols among workers and informal waste handlers. However, fewer studies examine exposure among facility hosting communities. Evidence on air pollution exposure and health impacts from organic waste treatment facilities is also limited, particularly in LMIC settings. Incomplete collection is an important upstream driver of open dumping and open burning, but it is rarely measured as a direct air pollution exposure pathway in its own right.
There is a growing need for MSW related air pollution research to distinguish among specific waste management activities rather than treating poor solid waste management as a single exposure. A more activity specific evidence base would better support policy and technology improvements, community engagement, and ultimately stronger waste management practices in LMICs, where investment and public health protections are most urgently needed. By translating broad and heterogeneous literature into an activity by pollutant evidence matrix, this review identifies where research has been concentrated, where exposure and health evidence remain limited, and where additional monitoring and epidemiological studies are most needed. Key priorities include pollutant specific monitoring near waste facilities, longitudinal studies linking measured exposure to respiratory outcomes, and stronger evidence from LMICs on informal waste activities.
Decision-Support Tools for Smarter Waste Planning in Data-Scarce Environments
By Tosin Olumayowa Somorin, ernational Water Management Institute
Learning objective/s: 1) Show how DSTs turn fragmented, data-scarce waste information into actionable planning insights;
2) Reveal how DST analysis identifies waste hotspots and priority interventions for targeted action.
Overview: Effective waste management planning depends on the availability of reliable data and the ability to translate that data into actionable decisions. However, in many low- and middle-income countries, planning processes are constrained by insufficient, fragmented, or outdated data on waste generation, composition, flows, and service performance. This limits the capacity of municipalities and stakeholders to design targeted interventions, prioritize investments, and transition towards a circular economy. Decision-support tools (DSTs) are increasingly recognized as critical enablers for addressing these gaps by improving data visibility, integration, and use in planning processes.
This presentation presents the application of WasteWise, a web-based DST designed to support waste data generation and analysis across regional, city, and sub-city levels. The tool integrates spatial and non-spatial data inputs to generate structured outputs, including waste flow profiles, spatial distribution patterns, and indicative recovery potentials, providing an analytical basis for waste planning.
Two use cases are presented in Ghana and Kenya. In Ghana, WasteWise was applied in data-constrained urban settings to support preliminary assessments of decentralized resource recovery options and highlighted areas of high waste concentration requiring targeted interventions. In Kenya, the application focused on urban centres within the Lake Victoria Basin, where mismanaged waste contributes to environmental degradation and transboundary pollution. WasteWise was used to quantify waste burdens, including estimates of waste generation, leakage pathways, and spatial distribution of high-risk zones. The analysis supported the identification of hotspots contributing to lake pollution and provided an evidence base for planning interventions related to waste collection, segregation, and recovery in the basin.
Across both contexts, WasteWise improves the structuring and accessibility of waste data, enables comparative analysis across locations, and supports stakeholder engagement through shared, evidence-based insights. The cases highlight challenges related to data quality and sustained use of digital tools within planning processes. The findings illustrate how DSTs such as WasteWise can strengthen the evidence base for waste planning and support more informed, context-specific decision-making. The presentation provides practical insights into the role of digital tools in quantifying waste burdens and enabling more structured planning responses in diverse, data-constrained environments.
The Rational Geography of Waste: Spatial Modelling of Informal Disposal Incentives in Accra, Ghana
By Gideon Sagoe, Waste Landfills Company Limited
Learning objective/s: Recognise illegal dumping as an infrastructure-driven governance challenge; use the Informal Incentive Ratio (IIR) to identify service gaps and target investment; distinguish infrastructure vs operational fixes; prioritise underserved communities; assess transferability across Global South cities.
Overview: Illegal dumping by informal waste collectors undermines public health, environmental quality, and urban liveability in rapidly urbanising African cities. In underserved communities, where informal collectors bridge critical service gaps in underserved communities, their disposal destination choices reflect the spatial-economic logic of the road network: when authorised facilities are substantially costlier to reach than illegal dumpsites, strong structural incentives for non-compliant disposal emerge. Existing studies explain the economic rationality of informal disposal behaviour but lack a spatially explicit framework for quantifying how infrastructure inequality shapes these incentives. Addressing this challenge requires smarter infrastructure planning rather than stronger enforcement.
This study introduces the Informal Incentive Ratio (IIR), a transferable spatial planning index developed for the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), Ghana, to quantify infrastructure-induced disposal incentives among motorised tricycle (Aboboyaa) operators. Using network-based Closest Facility analysis calibrated to tricycle operating conditions, the IIR measures the relative accessibility of authorised facilities and informal dumpsites through travel distance and travel time across GAMA’s 25 districts. The index is integrated with a probabilistic disposal choice model and gridded waste generation data to estimate the annual volume of informally collected waste structurally incentivised toward illegal disposal.
Results reveal a pronounced infrastructure inequality gradient across GAMA. In the most underserved districts, authorised facilities are more than twice as distant, by both time and distance, as the nearest illegal dumpsite, creating near-deterministic conditions for illegal diversion. Metropolitan-wide, an estimated 493,465 tonnes of waste per year (37.3% of total generation) is at risk of informal diversion. The framework also distinguishes districts requiring new infrastructure investment from those where operational measures, including revised tipping fees and route optimisation, offer greater governance leverage.
By reframing illegal dumping as an infrastructure-governance challenge, the IIR provides a practical evidence base for infrastructure justice, targeted investment, and protecting vulnerable communities from the harmful effects of waste.
Site Visits
Step inside the facilities keeping the UK’s resources and waste moving.
Join us for a day beyond the Congress venue, exploring the infrastructure that serves one of the world’s largest cities.
As host of the first ISWA World Congress in the UK for 30 years, we have worked with local authorities and operators across London and beyond to open their sites to delegates, so you can see their operations in action and put your questions to the people who run them.
Choose from one of five exclusive site visits below, available as an add-on to your Congress ticket. Spaces are limited, and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.
Thank you
The 2026 ISWA World Congress programme has been shaped with the invaluable support of our technical abstract reviewers, who generously volunteered their time and expertise to review more than 400 submissions.
We are incredibly grateful for their contribution and commitment, which has helped us develop a programme that reflects the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing our sector.
Our thanks go to: Priscilla Pareuil, Marco Ricci, Rene Rosendal, Valeria Branca, Jane Gilbert, Essam Al Sharji, Haniyeh Jalalipour, Joachim Quoden, Kartik Kapoor, Anja Schwetje, Peter Simoes, Georgina Nitzsche, Edward Krisiunas, Emma Beal, Anne Woolridge, Chris Jonas, Susan Evans, Wayne Hubbard, Chris Sherrington, Debbie Nesbitt, Jeff Cooper, Jacob Hayler, Richard Hudson, Marcus Gover, Trang Dang, John Twitchen, Deji Fawole, Zoë Lenkiewicz, Tim Walker, Amani Maalouf, Basem Abusneineh, Noel Howell, Ian Dudding, Tina Benfield, Judith Harper, Claudia Manca, Sarahjane Widdowson, Karl Williams, Enda Kiernan, Adam Read, Claire Shrewsbury, Margaret Bates, Dan Cooke, Purva Tavri, David Daw, Zoe Goodman.
We are incredibly grateful for their contribution and commitment, which has helped us develop a programme that reflects the most pressing challenges and opportunities facing our sector.
Our thanks go to: Priscilla Pareuil, Marco Ricci, Rene Rosendal, Valeria Branca, Jane Gilbert, Essam Al Sharji, Haniyeh Jalalipour, Joachim Quoden, Kartik Kapoor, Anja Schwetje, Peter Simoes, Georgina Nitzsche, Edward Krisiunas, Emma Beal, Anne Woolridge, Chris Jonas, Susan Evans, Wayne Hubbard, Chris Sherrington, Debbie Nesbitt, Jeff Cooper, Jacob Hayler, Richard Hudson, Marcus Gover, Trang Dang, John Twitchen, Deji Fawole, Zoë Lenkiewicz, Tim Walker, Amani Maalouf, Basem Abusneineh, Noel Howell, Ian Dudding, Tina Benfield, Judith Harper, Claudia Manca, Sarahjane Widdowson, Karl Williams, Enda Kiernan, Adam Read, Claire Shrewsbury, Margaret Bates, Dan Cooke, Purva Tavri, David Daw, Zoe Goodman.