President’s comment

We are now a few months into 2021 – a year expected to herald positive change and a return to normality in many aspects of our lives. But, we are still in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, which is wreaking havoc across societies, while posing new and critical challenges to the waste management industry.

he world is indeed ‘getting smaller’;

Tother continents and nations feel much nearer and we share many fairly common problems – including waste management. While great technological strides are being made to deal with these, we must remain focused on narrowing inequality gaps between nations and finding appropriate and practical local solutions.

I am currently reading Industry 4.0 and Circular Economy – Towards a wasteless future or a wasteful planet? by Mavropoulos and Nilsen, published under the auspices of ISWA. It is a fascinating examination of how the Fourth Industrial Revolution and circular economy can radically transform waste management and society – something we must strive for.

With an extremely heavy heart, the Council had to accept the reality that the 25th edition of WasteCon, which had already been postponed to February 2021, just could not take place in its familiar format under the current circumstances and restrictions. The health and safety of our delegates is paramount. As the biggest and most important event on the IWMSA calendar, it will be sorely missed by the industry, but all is not lost. A number of virtual waste management training sessions and events are planned for the year ahead, and the WasteCon focus is now firmly on a bigger and better event in 2022, followed by the ISWA World Congress and General Assembly, in Cape Town, in 2024. The last year has seen quite a shake-up in the conferencing world, and the future and format of these kinds of events promise to be exciting.

Firmly on the IWMSA horizon for 2021 is the Landfill and Waste Treatment Conference from 3 to 5 November, hosted by the IWMSA’s Landfill and Waste Treatment Interest Group in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. This is a very popular event on our calendar, with the theme of this year’s seminar and exhibition being ‘Waste Management Facilities, Have We Reached Our Destination?’

We are pleased that the attendance and participation of our regulating authorities (the departments of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, as well as Water and Sanitation) has been confirmed, and sincerely hope that this assists in garnering the much-needed attention and support of municipal officials responsible for waste management.

As an active professional in the field, I am also particularly looking forward to the upcoming planned webinar involving a panel discussion with our regulating authorities on hot-topic issues relating to the design and construction of disposal and containment facilities. Such matters include checklists and guidance for basal liners and capping closure of facilities or sources of pollution, the implications of projectspecific welding specifications for geomembranes on performance, electric leak location survey standards and their implications, and CQA plans. As a joint GIGSA and IWMSA event, it was originally planned to be held during WasteCon 2020. Following the decision not to proceed with a face-to-face conference, and with the high level of interest and participation expected for this event, it was decided to proceed in a webinar format. Arrangements are currently being finalised, and the event will be advertised to our members shortly.

As we know, all things eventually pass, and many of us cannot wait for a return to ‘normality’ with the opportunity to once again meet in person. In the meantime, I encourage you all to take the necessary precautions to safeguard yourselves and your loved ones.