What an incredible two weeks we had at the SWIS-ISWA Winter School (summer edition)! What made those two weeks such a fantastic experience was not only the vital knowledge we gained but the people with whom we interacted. People who run the course, like Dr Sahadat Hossain, Brenda Haney and James Law, and many more. People (the SWIS PhD candidates) who took care that all went smoothly for participants, even picking people up late at night from the airport or picking middle of the night medicine if needed. Wow, genuine Southern hospitality, if I may say! But what makes it even more remarkable is the people who come from around the world for those two weeks. Passionate, intelligent and brilliant people around whom you feel again energized to go back to your country and start doing your work differently.
The more I interact with people from around the world, the more I learn that we face similar issues regarding waste management. Of course, different financial resources and technologies bring completely different nuances to waste management, but still, similar problems remain at the core; how can people participate in waste management, what does waste management mean to people and what should be done to waste that it does not disturb people or living beings. To quote Dr Hossain, “waste management is people management”
Keeping people in mind when we do our work is an important reminder because so often, we can be distracted by technologies, innovations, fame and money that we forget that end of the day it is all about people.
Writer: Maria Jäppinen, Waste Management Developer in the city of Lahti in Finland.
