Over 500 Waste Management Professionals Gathered in Colorado for the First Global Waste Management Symposium

The Global Waste Management Symposium included both oral and poster presentations as well as social events that provided opportunities for technical interaction and discussion. The GWMS officially kicked off on Monday, September 8 with two keynote presenters: Dr. Michael J. Walsh, Executive Vice President, Chicago Climate Exchange and Mr. Hakan Rylander, CEO, SYSAV Company Group, South Scania Waste Company, Sweden.

Dr. Walsh's presentation was on The Potential for National Carbon Emissions Trading to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Mr. Rylander spoke on Maximum Recycling of Material and Energy-Minimum of Landfilling: Perspectives from Europe.

Three tracks of oral presentations included the following topics: Producer Responsibility, Waste Diversion, or Zero Waste?; Solid Waste Management Planning and Policy; Biological Treatment of Solid Waste; Carbon Finance; Models of Landfill Processes; Sustainable Waste Management and Climate Change; In addition to the oral presentations, 50 poster presentations were featured at the Global Waste Management Symposium.

At the GWMS, awards were presented for the following presentations:

-- Best Manuscript --Fugitive Methane Emissions from Landfills: A Field Comparison of Five Methods of a French Landfill - Antoine Babilotte, Veolia Environment R&D

-- Second Place Manuscript -- Considering Carbon Capture and Storage for Energy Generation from Municipal Solid Waste - Frank Zeman, WTERT / Columbia University

-- Third Place Manuscript -- Potential and Limitations of Passively Vented Biofilters for the Microbial Oxidation of Landfill Methane - Julia Gebert, University of Hamburg

-- Best Student Manuscript - Electricity Production from the Management of Leachate with Microbial Fuel Cells - Lisa Damiano, University of New Hampshire

-- Second Place Student Manuscript -- Estimating Sorption Equilibrium and Kinetic Parameters for Organic Containments in Landfills - Jovita Saquing, NC State University

-- Third Place Student Manuscript -- Relative Contributions of Moisture and Biological Activity on Compression of Municipal Solid Waste in Bioreactor Landfills - Christopher Bareither, University of Wisconsin at Madison

Through receptions, networking functions, breaks, and the GWMS golf outing, participants had the opportunity to share ideas and problem solve with their colleagues and the 50 GWMS sponsors including Waste Management, Republic Services, Golder Associates, Waste Connections, Brown and Caldwell, Civil and Environmental Consultants, Inc., GeoSyntec Consultants, Geotech Environmental Equipment, Inc, SCS Engineers, Shaw Environmental, Inc and Weaver Boos Consultants, LLC.

The Global Waste Management Symposium also had unprecedented industry support from the following Strategic and Media Partners: Chicago Climate Exchange, Construction and Demolition Recycling, Environmental Research and Education Foundation (EREF), geosynthetica.net, Interstate Technology Regulatory Council, Landfill Methane Outreach Program (LMOP), Methane to Markets (M2M), MSW Management, National Solid Wastes Management Association (NSWMA), Ontario Waste Management Association, Pollution Equipment News, US Environmental Protection Agency, Waste Age, Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council (WTERT), Wildlife Habitat Council and The World Bank.

The GWMS would not have been possible without the dedication of the Business Committee, lead by Greg Cekander , VP of Environmental Management Group, Waste Management and the Technical Committee, lead by Morton Barlaz of NC State University and Craig Benson of University of Washington. "This event created an outstanding forum where the participation of government agencies, waste services companies and their consultants and vendors/suppliers, researchers, leading trade organizations and scientific foundations came together and to share ideas and discuss solutions. I believe that scientific knowledge and real world experiences shared at this symposium will further motivate all who were in attendance to advance environmental stewardship by tackling tough issues with sound science and proven practices, " commented Cekander.

For more information about the Global Waste Management Symposium, please visit www.wastesymposium.com.

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Penton Media Bethany Weaver, 216-931-9551 Corporate Communications Manager bethany.weaver@penton.com