Speakers from ten countries will debate on waste management during the second edition of RECUWATT

The international congress will be held on 4-5 October, at the TecnoCampus in Mataró

For the first time, it will include a meeting of Spanish cities with Waste-To- Energy plants 

The chairman of the Consorci per al Tractament de Residus Sòlids Urbans del Maresme, and mayor of Mataró, Joan Mora, and the manager of the Agència de Residus de Catalunya, Josep M. Tost, presented today in a press conference the II RECUWATT (Recycling and Energy) Congress on waste energy recovery. The international congress will be held on 4-5 October at the Auditori of the TecnoCampus Mataró-Maresme.

RECUWATT is organized by the Consorci per al Tractament de Residus Sòlids Urbans del Maresme and the Agència de Residus de Catalunya, and nearly forty partners, both public and private, bring their cooperation and participation.

RECUWATT took place for the first time last year and obtained excellent results, both regarding the number of delegates (more than 400) and the number of partners from the public and private sectors. The objective for the congress is to become a professional meeting point of reference in the south of Europe on waste energy recovery. Expert speakers from ten different countries –United States, Colombia, France, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Portugal, Greece, Germany, Spain– will take part in it and deal with the most interesting and up-to-date aspects in the sector, both at a national and international level.

Among the talks in the programme, the two American stand out: Alfredo Guillermo Molina, representative of the Republic of Colombia, whose talk belongs to Block I of general aspects of waste management (4 October, at 10.30 h); and James D. Warner, chairman of the Solid Waste Association of North America, who will speak about fuels derived from waste (5 October, at 9 h).

Meeting point of Spanish cities with Waste-to-Energy plants

A main new feature of the second edition of RECUWATT will be the meeting of mayors and councilors of Spanish cities which have Waste-to-Energy plants, to which also some European cities have been invited. The meeting will take place on the previous day to the start of the congress, 3 October, with the presence of the Catalan government minister for Territory and Sustainability (conseller de Territori i Sostenibilitat), Lluís Recoder. The conclusions of the meeting will be explained once the conference has begun, on 4 October, at 12.30 h.

New also is the round table programmed on 5 October, at 11 h, where several general managers of different Spanish Autonomous Communities –Catalunya, Valencia, Andalusia, Balearic Islands and Basque Country– will debate issues about waste management in their regions.

Prize to the best scientific project

The cooperation and implication with the congress of several universities and technological research centres (Academic Partners) will materialize this year in the creation of an award for the best scientific poster about energy recovery by students or researchers from these partners. The projects will be exhibited during the congress and the participants will vote to choose the best. The winner will be revealed on the closing day and will receive a prize of 500 €.

Decide the future waste policies

During today’s press conference, the chairman of the Consorci per al Tractament de Residus Sòlids Urbans del Maresme, and mayor of Mataró, Joan Mora, said that the Congress brings Mataró and the Maresme disctrict “to the international front line”, which gives it a chance to locate and show its waste management model.  

Also, the manager of the Agència de Residus de Catalunya, Josep M. Tost, noted that “This is a time for reflection on the issue of waste”, and that “Mataró and the Maresme district need to be at the centre of this reflection”. For Josep M. Tost, “Recuwatt is a meeting point that the experts cannot miss”, and which “Is to decide with no doubt the future policies on waste in Catalunya, Spain and Europe.”

More than 400 facilities in the European Union

Energy recovery from waste is a complementary line to the previous of recycling of materials, and it needs to be given priority before disposal in a landfill, as the Spanish and European regulations establish. Nowadays, more than 400 energy recovery facilities are in operation in the European Union.

Chairman of the Consorci per al Tractament de RSU del Maresme, Joan Mora, and manager of the Agència de Residus de Catalunya, Josep M. Tost, during the presentation of the II RECUWATT Congress. (Photograph: M. Cruz)