A paradigm shift

Helena Bergman of ISWA speaks with Ron Wainberg, team leader for Waste and Sustainability with Hyder Consulting in Sydney, Australia and national president of the Waste Management Association of Australia, about the future for waste.

To start off I would like to quote you: 'Waste is more than just trucks'.

Yes. I feel lucky to participate in a paradigm shift with a new approach and attitude to waste! Of course there is always the technical side to waste management – to make sure waste is collected and treated. We still need development, sharing and transfer of technology, but I feel there is an ever increasing level of questioning about what the waste sector is trying to achieve. The attitude towards waste is changing.

To me waste is not only a technical science but also a social science. Today we are on a journey to bring them together. I can see a big change by integrating the knowledge and experience from many disciplines – environmentalists, engineers, scientists, economists and social scientists. The waste industry needs to communicate with each if it is to make serious inroads in sustainable resource management.

An example to use in some countries is the approach to smoking. There have been very effective results in limiting smoking as a result of a number of factors: targeted and sustained communication of scientific information together with the right pricing signals.

What are the drivers for this change?

It takes time for change and it is very much about reaching out and talking to the right people – creating awareness. Once there is preparedness for change there must be an ability to react. The waste industry has better or for worse been very much involved in environmental issues. It is close to its consumers, more and more of whom are concerned about waste. The dialogue is shifting to a higher level with discussions about finite resources and climate change. It is a highly regulated sector with both upstream and downstream drivers. The waste industry needs to be prepared to change and to react to this changing business environment.

The paradigm shift I am talking comes from within the waste industry as well. The industry is changing how it views itself – it deals with the management of resources. How can value be obtained from waste? This value is not only in secondary raw materials, but can also be in landfills generating landfill gas, biological treatment providing compost or energy. Or of course in the prevention of waste generation, reuse and recycling. The ISWA meeting during the last Annual Congress debating the 'Zero Waste Concept' showed this change in attitude. Most people will accept that there will always be waste in society and the concept of zero waste is more about not wasting the value of the waste.

This shift also includes who we are talking to. Are we talking and engaging with the right people: not only consumers, but designers and manufacturers? When there is a social change, the systems will need to change as well. Which role can the waste industry take in the debate on consumption and production patterns? I want to see this as an opportunity for the industry to develop and find new ways forward.

Is the waste sector ready for this change?

There is a new generation of young professionals – young highly skilled professionals with varying backgrounds. Many of them are multidisciplinary and have good language skills. The world has become smaller for the younger generation as they make their impact in the professional world. There are many benefits and challenges of mixing people, cultures and skills and learning about each other. This is not specific to the waste industry alone, but a general trend for society as a whole. I don't see why the waste sector should be less able than other industries to benefit from this.

Your optimistic vision seems limited to the developed world?

Of course we don't have the same situation or possibilities across the world. But I don't want to say that less developed countries per se are in a less advantageous situation than the developed countries when they started off. Everyone has to learn from their own experience, but the developing countries have an advantage of starting off from a more elevated 'ground zero': they also have the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the developed world. People in developing countries want the material benefits of a consumer society and who are we to judge them for that? But I do want to pass on two important messages to developing countries: take note of the overarching issues regarding consumption and disposal, and find the value in the waste.

Interviewer for the International Solid Waste Association Helena Bergman, ISWA Project Manager
e-mail: hb@iswa.dk