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October 6th, 2013:

Enhanced Landfill Mining (ELFM) Symposium registration closing on Tues (8 Oct)

Oct 6th, 2013
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From Dr. Peter Tom Jones and Yves Tielemans, on behalf of the organisers:

The Second International Enhanced Landfill Mining Symposium will take place in less than a weeks from now.

We’re delighted to welcome in Greenville in Houthalen-Helchteren, Belgium, well over 150 participants. This well balanced audience represents the different actors from the quadruple helix model being the industry, academia and knowledge centres, civil society and government administrations.

A limited number of seats are still available; please contact Hilde Thevis to reserve your seat for the academic programme, the symposium dinner or both as we are finalizing the  logistics.

The deadline for registration is Tuesday, October 8th 2013.

Academic and evening programmes

Both the scientific and the evening programmes can be found here.

The closing panel debate on the future of Landfill Mining in Europe (Wed 16/10 pm) will feature Michel Sponar (EC DG Environment), Willem Kattenberg (Nederlandse Rijksoverheid), Robert Johnson (Advanced Plasma Power), Lieze Cloots (Bond Beter Leefmilieu), Joakim Krook (Linköping University) and Jef Roos (ELFM Consortium).

Furthermore, the evening programme of the official symposium dinner (Tue 15/10 evening @ De Barrier in Houthalen- Helchteren) is complete and will include speeches from Alain Yzermans (Mayor, Houthalen-Helchteren), Henny De Baets (Administrator-General, OVAM), Ingrid Lieten (Vice-Minister-President of the Flemish Government and Flemish Minister of Innovation) and Kurt Vandenberghe (Director Environment, EC DG Research & Innovation).

We look forward welcoming you at the Symposium in October 2013.

Los Angeles’ Zero Waste Plan

Oct 6th, 2013
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In 1989, California passed a waste management act (AB939) that “mandated local jurisdictions to meet solid waste diversion goals of 25 percent by 1995 and 50 percent by 2000.” And while Los Angeles lagged behind other cities in its waste reduction efforts, it also announced an ambitious plan to make Los Angeles a zero-waste city by 2030. The plan includes projects in increased recycling, elimination of landfill use, and the development of technologies to convert waste into renewable fuels and products. As of this July, the city is enforcing a blanket ban on the use of single-use plastic bags in supermarkets and retail stores.

The city addressed an open letter in 2008 about its Solid Waste Integrated Resourse Management Plan (SWIRP). You can read about it here.

Proposed incinerator on Shek Kwu Chau to take backwards step in waste disposal

Oct 6th, 2013
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The proposed incinerator on Shek Kwu Chau would need a guaranteed consistent supply of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) feedstocks. This would not only defeat the purpose of recycling; the incinerator would also produce hazards that cause cancer, birth defects and deaths with proximity to burner.

Here is a collection of reports on the inefficiencies, health and environmental hazards of incinerators around the world.