2nd Conference on Life Cycle Assessment of waste – Integrated Residual Resource Management and Assessment
Context and Topic
Building on the success of the 2016 conference held at Grand Hotel San Michele Cetraro (Calabria), Italy, this second iteration of the conference will bring together a wide range of delegates from different scientific areas thereby taking a multi-disciplinary approach to assessment of waste and residual resources management and assessment.
The conference theme is “Integrated Residual Resource Management and Assessment” emphasizing that the resource aspects of waste are critical not only with respect to future management of waste but also with respect to the approaches applied for assessment purposes. Circular economy and related concepts are playing prominent roles in the public perception of waste and residual resources. While traditional waste management is often discussed as standalone technologies for specific waste flows, e.g. anaerobic digestion, incineration, recycling, etc., future solutions will be much more integrated with other sectors in society, e.g. energy, transport, materials, chemistry, medicine, etc. As researchers and professionals within the area, we need to be able to offer consistent and methodological well-founded assessment of such new solutions. This conference addresses the latest developments in the area.
The program includes keynote speakers, thematic sessions, workshops, and poster sessions. The aim is to provide a platform for presentation of state-of-the-art knowledge and methodologies for assessing and planning residual resource management in the context of circular economy. The intention is to stimulate fruitful discussions on innovative ideas and directions to be pursued in future research activities, as well as how these approaches can be transferred to practical application in society.
The conference focuses on methodological developments, concepts and tools for consistent assessment of and comparison between the environmental, economic and social performance of waste and residual resource management solutions. Important aspects include, among others: quality and quantification of secondary resources, integrated assessment methods, market dynamics and associated effects on upstream production processes, system boundaries, resource substitution, etc. At the conference, priority is placed on methodological developments rather than case-studies without reflection of methodology.
Format
The format of the conference includes a plenary lecture in the morning, followed by dedicated workshops involving short presentations that invite to proactive discussions by the conference participants. Poster sessions are scheduled daily right after lunch and facilitate more detailed one-on-one discussions. The conference is “single-track” allowing all participants to engage and discuss the presented topics. Additional time is included during the afternoons for ad hoc meetings, informal discussions, and/or recreation. The format invites to close contact and dialogue between conference participants and promote network building.
This format and the informal atmosphere is instrumental in generating new ideas and disseminating information to a greater extent than typically possible through more conventional multi-track conference formats. All participants are expected to attend the entire conference as well as to contribute actively to the discussions.
List of topics
While not exclusive, the below topics are prioritized at the conference:
- LCA and other assessment tools for Waste and Resource Management and Planning
- LCA as a decision-support tool in policymaking
- Quality and impurities of materials, modelling of market dynamics
- Economic analysis, Input/Output and market analysis, investments
- Technology forecasting, modelling of future scenarios, Uncertainty assessment
- Linking LCA and risk assessment in modelling residual resource systems
- New developments in assessment models and impact characterization methods for residual resources
- Mining the anthroposphere, reuse and prevention
- Dynamic material flow analysis and multi-objective optimization
Conference Chairs
Professor Umberto Arena (Second University of Naples, Italy)
Professor Thomas Astrup (Technical University of Denmark, Denmark)
Call for nominations for the 2018 Academy Awards of the ILCA June 11, 2018
Survey on understanding the methods for modelling multiple life cycles June 7, 2018
FSLCI Workshop on Marine Litter and LCA highlights urgency to act! May 28, 2018
Chance of Winning Up to €500,000 for Green Start-Ups May 25, 2018
