From international connections to working groups, collaboration and more, this year’s ISWA World Congress/WASTECON® was an event to remember.
From September 25 – 27, 2017, waste and recycling industry professionals from around the world gathered at the Baltimore Convention Center to collaborate, celebrate and network. This was the first time in decades that the ISWA World Congress was hosted in the U.S. and offered attendees a unique opportunity to learn how others addressed their challenges, share success stories, as well as see new and exciting solutions available.
First Day Kickoff
The conference and trade show kicked off on Monday, August 25 with the opening ceremonies and an introduction by the ISWA President, Antonis Mavropoulos, who discussed the different programs ISWA was working on and how they were excited to partner with SWANA with regards to their technical expertise and connections on big issues, such as marine litter and closing dumpsites. He also called for more industry action, raising the bar, delivering solutions and being open to new suggestions in waste management. He emphasized it was the beginning of a bright future to working together with SWANA.
Jane Nishida, EPA Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of International and Tribal Affairs, also spoke about marine litter and its alarming statistics (more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2050!) as well as its growing problem. She also touched on the international forums and discussions among different regions and their initiativWes and pledges, including the EPA’s Trash Free Waters program and solutions in Baltimore, from the Trash Wheel to doing the largest bay study in microplastics.
Ben Grumbles, Maryland Secretary of the Environment, next took the stage, welcomed attendees and highlighted some of the things to see around Baltimore. He also emphasized the next steps the city and state was planning, including embracing global trends, the governor issuing an executive order in June covering waste reduction and resource recovery, mining data to shape priorities and the future, as well as the success of the 2016 Food Waste Recovery Summit, which continues to be a major focus for Baltimore.
After David Biderman, SWANA’s Executive Director and CEO, made closing remarks, pledging to collaborate with those organizations to help meet industry goals and his excitement for the next few days to come, the conference sessions opened and covered topics focusing on behavior change, anaerobic digestion, sustainable waste and biomass to energy, landfill mining, marine litter, extended producer responsibility, dumpsite fires and more. Monday also featured great Mega Session keynotes that featured Climate Change, CEO Roundtable, Smart Technologies, the Circular Economy and Smart Cities.
The day culminated in the opening of the exhibit hall in the evening where attendees and exhibitors alike were invited to mingle, relax, dine on food from different regions displayed, view technologies and solutions being showcased and have a good time. It was a terrific ending to the first full day of a great show!
A Full Schedule
The second day of ISWA World Congress/WASTECON® was ISWA and SWANA’s award program and SWANA’s annual business meeting. Attendees came to the ballroom early in the morning eager to hear about SWANA’s past year and who was elected to the 2018 board. Biderman made remarks about how the organization’s membership was at an all-time high with more than 9,000 members, almost 1,000 Young Professionals and more than 300 student members. He stated that it was time to move forward as a stronger, smarter and more relevant organization in every chapter division and through leadership and technical divisions in order to ensure that SWANA was successful. Afterwards, the SWANA Excellence Awards were given out and all the organizations throughout the industry who had developed innovative ideas and solutions in the fields of education and communication, collection, waste to energy, transfer stations and others were recognized in this special ceremony. In addition, ISWA took the stage and gave out their own awards in the categories of Video, Communication and Publication.
The special event led right into the Megacities Solid Waste Leaders Panel, with speakers like Kathryn Garcia, New York City’s Commissioner in the Department of Sanitation; Jim McKay, General Manager for Solid Waste Management Services in the City of Toronto; and Carlos Silva Filho, the Vice President of ISWA who spoke on Brazil. Each experts talked about their challenges and successes within their own regions and gave advice on what the attendees could do if faced with similar situations.
Other Keynote presentations included talks on The New Plastics Economy and a Marine Litter Showcase, while smaller sessions focused on waste management challenges, automation, smart cities and the technologies that help make them successful, resource recovery strategies, working groups and more. The exhibit hall was also open from mid-morning to the afternoon to allow attendees to take advantage of seeing the solutions and products that the companies had to offer for their particular needs. The exhibit hall was packed with those eager to chat and networking with companies and other professionals who had the same challenges.
Tuesday night, the Networking Gala at Camden Yards offered attendees food, drink and entertainment and everyone took full advantage of the time to relax and have a good time. A great band was playing and attendees and SWANA members alike got their groove on and partied until they dropped.
Ending on a High Note
Wednesday morning held not only a Safety Super Session but also a keynote talk on Global Biogas Opportunity, Closing Dumpsites as well as a variety of other topics. In fact, once the final keynote was finished on Closing Dumpsites, David Biderman presented one of the speakers, Timothy Bouldry, Program Director of the ISWA Scholarship Programme, with a check for $45,000 to add to the scholarship fund. Bouldry was surprised and grateful for such a generous donation and SWANA was proud to be a supporter of the program. Afterwards, final talks were made, including the presentation of the final results of the working groups collaborating together to create solutions for timely problems—closing dumpsites, increasing recycling participation and product package design/circular economy. Biderman made enthusiastic remarks on what an incredible week it had been and how the event had reinforced a great partnership with ISWA as well as moving forward together. The ISWA World Congress baton was passed onto the World Management Association of Malaysia who has the honor of hosting the ISWA World Congress next year in Kuala Lampur in October 2018.
In the end, Baltimore’s Mayor Catherine Pugh made the final remarks on the show, commenting on what everyone learned and experience and thanked all for the opportunity to host this important event.
The exhibit hall opened for last time in the afternoon to offer attendees one last chance to see the latest technologies and solutions, and then the 2017 ISWA World Congress/WASTECON® ended on a high note Wednesday afternoon.
SWANA staff did a fantastic job putting together this unprecedented event and our hats go off to them for coordinating and organizing everything in the months prior and throughout the show! WASTECON® will return in 2018 to Nashville, TN at the Gaylord Opryland from August 20 – 23. We will see you there!
For more information, visit swana.org or wastecon.org.
