Despite
its importance in terms of preserving a clean and healthy environment for
citizens, waste management has historically suffered from a poor image.
Globally it has typically been viewed as dirty work in dirty and dangerous
places carried out by people with little or no qualifications for little or no
wages, sometimes just for subsistence on discarded materials.
This
is still a widely-held view and sadly, a
daily reality for poverty-stricken families in many under-developed parts of
the world. In more developed countries, people didn’t think about the processes
involved in managing wastes until it became a huge, disease-spreading problem.
In
these countries, waste management gradually morphed into a more publically
visible industry that focused on efficient collection and disposal.
However,
times have changed. In many parts of the world, the modern waste industry can
lay claim to being one of the most dynamic and fast-changing business sectors.
The
21st Century has seen a substantial number of initiatives that focus on
improvements to the environment, with changes in how we manage our wastes forming
a part of firm foundations that are being built to facilitate the sustainable
development of society.
Europe,
for instance, has led these changes, with its emphasis on increased producer
responsibility, waste minimization, recycling, high technology incineration and
landfill management, and its long-held desire to implement the waste hierarchy.
There
is now a greater requirement on the waste sector to operate to higher standards
of professionalism and to incorporate best practice and new technologies in all
its activities.
These
changes reflect society’s desire to manage our resources better and to protect
the environment, locally as well as globally. We should recognize that this
does not mean demonizing the use of suitable landfills and thermal treatments
for materials that may be hazardous or for which we do not have a sensible,
cost-effective use other than final, safe disposal. Waste (now resource)
management is a multi-disciplinary subject, incorporating: civil, electrical
and mechanical engineering; physical, chemical, biological and materials
sciences; environmental science and engineering; politics; economics; urban and
rural planning; law; industrial ecology; social sciences; media &
communications; IT; advertising; marketing; design; technology; transportation;
logistics and operational management; business studies; management; and even
the creative arts.
Resource
management has never had a higher public profile, but its complexity is not
properly recognized by a society that continues to under-value its importance
to its quality of life. There has never been a better time to consider the
importance of education to waste (resource) management.
A
Guest Editorial
