International Waste Working Group (IWWG)
International Waste Working Group (IWWG) was established in 2002 to serve as a forum for meeting a world-wide demand for a platform for the scientific and professional community, not in contrast or in competition with existing professional organisations.
The IWWG is a non-profit organisation, founded by the following group of waste professionals from the academic and private sectors: Professor Thomas Christensen (Technical University of Denmark), Professor Raffaello Cossu (University of Padua, Italy), Dr.Luis F. Diaz (CalRecovery Inc.,USA), Professor Peter Lechner (Universitaet fuer Bodenkultur, Wien, Austria), Professor Anders Lagerkvist (Lulea University of Technology, Sweden), Professor Yasushi Matsufuji (Fukuoka University, Japan), Dr. Howard Robinson (Enviros, UK), Professor Rainer Stegmann (Technical University of Harburg-Hamburg, Germany).
The aim of the IWWG is to set an intellectual forum to encourage and support economical and ecological (integrated and sustainable) waste management world-wide and to promote scientific advancement in the field. This aim will be accomplished by learning from the past, analysing the present for developing new ideas and visions for the future.
This will provide the possibility to fully exploit the tremendous amount of knowledge and experience that has been accumulated so far, but that, because the knowledge and experience have been dispersed and not focused, are not influencing legislation, practical application, education, rational development of appropriate technologies, and others on a world-wide basis.
In order to pursue this aim, the IWWG was conceived as a think tank, based on scientific principles but application oriented. In addition, the IWWG has a light, non-bureaucratic organisation that allows it to focus on a variety of subjects, react promptly to relevant problems in the field of solid waste management and communicate efficiently within the professional community.
The IWWG is a registered non-profit organisation, managed by a Board assisted by an International Scientific Advisory Committee. Subscribers to "Waste Management" the official journal of IWWG become automatically Associated Members and have access to the services and communication routes provided by IWWG.
The Scientific Advisory Committee is a pool of a limited number of highly-ranked and distinguished scientists and professionals which offers significant contributions in the field and plays a relevant role in their own countries as well as in other countries in the science, 0technology and policy of waste management. They are appointed by nomination of the Board on the basis of their high reputation. The Committee has been established in order to assure a high quality profile and value to IWWG activities and so result in a high reputation world-wide.
The objectives of IWWG are pursued mainly by means of: collecting, developing and disseminating innovative information on a world-wide basis on all aspects of solid waste management with particular emphasis on the results of Research and Development; promoting discussion on Strategic Matters; providing and organising Education in Waste Management; assuming and proposing Common Position Statements. These objectives are accomplished by the following activities: information transfer (Waste Management Journal, Internet web site, Position papers, Monographs), Discussion forum (Symposia and Conferences, such as the Sardinia Waste Management Symposia, the Asian Pacific Landfill Symposium, the Intercontinental Landfill Research Symposium; Specialised Seminars and Workshops, Links with existing associations); Education (Training courses, Assistance in developing Universities courses and programmes, Textbooks for students).
We look forward to a fruitful and effective co-operation with the "waste community" in order to improve Waste Management world-wide by means of reducing emissions and saving our resources.
Raffaello Cossu
Chairman of the IWWG
Dipartimento IMAGE
Università di Padova
via Loredan, 20
35131 - Padova ITALY
email: cossu@idra.unipd.it