IWWG Task Group on

INDUSTRIAL WASTE MANAGEMENT

TG Leader: Evangelos Gidarakos

TG Co-Leader: Maria Aivalioti

Backround

Industry, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is ‘‘intelligent or clever working”, as well as the ‘‘particular branches of production labour”. Although industry has developed modern societies beyond imagination, it is accompanied by a rather problematic phenomenon, which is waste production, much of which features hazardous properties.

Aims and objectives

The objective of the IWWG Task Group on Industrial Waste Management is to bring together professionals interested in the advancement and application of technologies and methods for managing industrial and hazardous waste. The Task Group aims to coordinate studies, research and experience on the most recent international trends and work in industrial waste regulation and policies.

Some indicative topics, on which the Task Group focuses, are the following:

• Controversial issues in industrial waste management
• Modern trends and challenges in industrial waste management
• In-plant waste management and disposal
• On-site waste monitoring
• Pollutant analyses and pollution prevention
• Special waste management
• Industrial site remediation

The main scope is to provide in-depth presentation of environmental pollution sources, waste characterization, control technologies, management strategies, facility innovation, process alternatives, costs, case studies, effluent standards, and future trends for the major hazardous and non-hazardous operations.
The Task Group will also encourage in-depth presentation of methodologies, technologies, alternatives, regional effects and global effects of important pollution control practice that may be applied to the industrial operation.
Hopefully, in the immediate future practitioners, professors, students and researchers in environmental, civil, chemical, sanitary, mechanical and public health engineering and science will find valuable material and important information on industrial waste management, through this Task Group.

Members (2019)

The first announcement encouraging participation in this Task Group was made during the Twelfth International Waste Management and Landfill Symposium Sardinia 2009 that took place in S. Margherita di Pula, Sardinia, Italy, between October 5th–9th 2009. Today, this TGs counts 19 members, from different countries and backgrounds.

The Task Group is always pleased to welcome new members provided that candidates have proven expertise in relevant fields.

Contact person:

Evangelos Gidarakos

Technical University of Crete, Greece

E-mail: gidarako(AT)mred.tuc.gr

Next Task Group meeting:

The next IWWG Task Group meeting will take place during CRETE 2020 International Conference, which will be held at Chania (GR) during 15th-18th September, 2020.

NEWS

During SARDINIA 2019 International Symposium, a workshop was organized and held by members of our TG, entitled “INDUSTRIAL WASTE MANAGEMENT AND CIRCULAR ECONOMY”. It included the following three lectures:

• Industrial waste management: current situation and problems
• Adoption of circular economy in industrial waste management
• A circular economy of critical raw materials

The lectures were given by Prof. Evangelos Gidarakos, Dr. Frantseska-Maria Pellera and Dr. Vasiliki Savvilotidou, respectively, all from the Technical University of Crete, Greece.

Prof. Gidarakos presented the current situation on industrial waste management worldwide, highlighting the existing problems, as well as limitations, that need to be overcome in order to achieve both environmental protection and economic profit. Modern tools towards this direction were presented, focusing on circular economy, as one of the most promising ones. Dr. Pellera further focused on the adoption of circular economy by industries and how it is promoted by the European Union. Through a case study from the petroleum industry, the benefits of circular economy were highlighted and translated into numbers. Finally, Dr. Savvilotidou presented an example of clean recycling processing for waste photovoltaic panels, focusing on the recovery of critical raw materials (CRMs) contained in them.

The lectures inspired an interesting discussion between the participants (around 40), focusing on issues like:

• What are the possibilities to recycle CRMs industrially / is the market “ready” to accept such recycled materials / what is the purity that designers desire in order to put such recycled products on market?
• There is indeed need for collaboration between the production and recycling industry, as the eco-design of products can contribute to their easier recycling.  
• Are innovative recycling processes more efficient and profitable than traditional recycling options?

In response to these criticisms on the recycling of valuable materials from waste resources, it was underlined that a sound recycling system should acknowledge recycling efficiency (purity of the recycled products), environmental impact and economic aspects, as well as the supply and demand for virgin materials. The recycling of CRMs from waste panels will be worthy despite their low mass share in panels in industrial scale, considering the large waste volumes expected in the near future. Also, CRMs are materials that present a supply risk, as well as high demand and low recycling rates yet, therefore, their secondary production through recycling activities will boost the global economy. Finally, due to the continuous development of panel technologies, the recycling sector must be guided accordingly which means that innovations and progressive improvements are necessary. To this purpose, efforts to improve and complement the technical aspects of recycling, as well as to identify appropriate indicators that quantify environmental and economic impacts of CRM secondary production are required.