Fabio Fava
Professor of Industrial & Environmental Biotechnology at the Alma Mater Studiorum-University of Bologna.
Niels Jørn Hahn
President of the International Solid Waste Association.
Cees Buisman
Professor in biologically sustainable technology and scientific director of Wetsus.
Michel Dutang
Michel Dutang is head of research at Veolia Environnement, a global company offering environmental solutions.
Michel Dutang
Head of research at Veolia Environnement
Michel Dutang claims that we must start to valorise materials and energy from waste, because the prices of materials and energy will become even higher in the future.
We can make high quality compost from organic waste and new products from paper and plastics. Governments must support these developments by giving fiscal advantages to the waste management companies.
In the future, the treatment of waste will be a mix of biotechnological, physical and chemical solutions. Biotechnology will probably be very expensive, but can for example be used to obtain high value materials from waste and to convert organic matter more efficiently.
I am not convinced of the added value of genetic modification in the field of waste. We first have to prove that GM is safe and that we can control the consequences. Furthermore, there is a lot of debate in society on this subject. If people refuse the technique, it will become very hard to convince them of the safety.