About the ISWA Task Force

ISWA has instituted a Task Force to deal with greenhouse gases and sustainable waste management (TF-GHG-SWM). An action plan for 2008-2009 (www.iswa.org) is now coming into existence. Some of the important goals for the plan are:

- Getting concepts and mechanisms right.  Reviews and analyses of assessment methodologies are carried out for different stages of the cycle of products from raw materials to end of life, or for services/treatments of wastes within their life cycle. Improved definitions, resource conservation, and fossil carbon counting will be important aspects in these studies.

- Providing exemplary cases for specific issues such as institutional frameworks, carbon markets, and awareness and communication policies, as well as cross-cutting issues between the waste sector and other sectors (industry, energy, agriculture, transport, buildings, and forestry).

- Organising workshops and facilitating conferences and dissemination of results. A number of workshops are planned for 2008 and 2009 as well as seminars and conferences in 2009 to facilitate interaction between researchers, managers and administrators. A GHG Portal for dissemination of information and better coordination of and access to existing data bases are also concrete considerations. A special issue of Waste Management & Research (WM&R) will appear in October 2009 just before the COP 15. A Side-Event at COP 15 is planned to top the ISWA TF-GHG-SWM work from 2008 and 2009.

- Assessing outcomes and defining new research needs. The TF will just after COP 15 report on its first period and suggest needs and possibilities for further work.

This action plan will supplement and expand the results already reported by IPPC in 2007 and in the special WM&R issue on Greenhouse Gases from February 2008. The intensity of work by the existing ISWA Working Groups as well as the many individuals involved directly in the TF activities during 2008 and 2009 is likely to be one of the real drivers in the ISWA process towards COP15. You may wish to follow progress and inject views or information by consulting the web site www.iswa.org.