June 5th: Every year, the citizens of the world observe this day as a reminder of our responsibility to our planet and protecting our environment.
This year’s theme, “Only One World”, rings all too familiar for ISWA. As an association driven by the mission to create change through professional and sustainable waste management, ISWA and it’s members strive to have a solid contribution in the transition towards a circular economy.
The international movement towards circular products and systems is vital in preserving and improving the environment. ISWA looks to make use of opportunities to highlight the importance of waste management in this movement, and so we work to be present at high-level international events to better position ourselves and the industry in making the changes that are needed.
This week, ISWA was present at IFAT Munich. IFAT is the leading international trade fair for water, sewage, waste and raw materials management – it was a no-brainer for ISWA to host members and visitors there with a booth and an extensive agenda.
Perhaps the most important contribution ISWA made while at this event was through a keynote session held by our President, Mr. Carlos Silva Filho. With a copy of The Future of The Waste Management Sector in his hands, Carlos spoke to a full audience on the stark realities that poor waste management has brought onto our world today.
Though professional and sustainable waste management is indeed a complex and extensive issue, the facts that point out the urgent need for it are not. Open burning of waste alone is responsible for more climate emissions than the entire airline industry. That means that above all the flights taken across the world on an hourly basis, open burning is more harmful to our environment and health.
This is only one of many findings that lead to one, conclusive message: sustainable waste management is an urgent need in the fight against climate change. The waste sector is the only sector that can play a role in achieving each one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It’s time to get to work.
Carlos Silve Filho shares research and key findings from an ISWA Publication with an engaged audience at IFAT Munich, May 2022.
After three days at IFAT, ISWA President Carlos Silva Filho made his way to Sweden, with our national member Avfall Sverige. Here, the United Nations General Assembly hosted Stockholm+50, an international meeting bringing together the global environmental community.
Stockholm+50 was held five decades after the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment, with the aim of reviewing our collective progress in the past 50 years and set in motion the urgent action required for a better future.
ISWA joined an Official Side-Event to Stockholm+50, where Carlos was on a panel alongside other high-level stakeholders discussing how to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in our fight against climate change.
“We need to be aware that we are not talking about waste, we are not talking about materials – we are talking about people”
– Carlos Silva Filho at Stockholm+50, June 2022.
ISWA President Carlos Silva Filho invites you to celebrate World Environment Day by joining us in our mission to make a clean, healthy enviroment a reality for all.
ISWA intends to continue pushing the agenda on local and international stages, to encourage citizens, businesspeople and policy makers alike to be the change we all want to see in the world.
Join us in taking actionable steps towards making proper waste management accessible to every community across the world. ISWA firmly believes that access to a clean, healthy environment is a basic human right, and we encourage those who have this access to help make it a reality for those who do not.
ISWA will bring this message to the world stage at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP27) in Egypt, this November.
