The international Solid Waste Association (ISWA) is delighted to announce that on Monday 7/10, during the ISWA World Congress in Bilbao, an agreement between ISWA and UN-Habitat was signed. The agreement concerns the implementation of the Waste Wise Cities Initiative (WWCI) which was launched by UN-Habitat. ISWA will play a leading role in this significant new campaign which aims to promote the concepts and best practices of sustainable waste management, sustainable production and consumption, and circular economy in relation to the SDGs in the world‘s cities. The agreement was signed by ISWA President Antonis Mavropoulos and Andre Dzikus, Coordinator of Urban Basic Services Branch of UN-Habitat.
Honorary vice mayor of Antwerp, Belgium and ISWA’s Ambassador for Mayors & Municipalities Philip Heylen, also member of the advisory group of WWCI, stressed that this initiative brings many different organizations, private companies, knowledge and expertise together, and opens a window to successful tailor-made approaches for sustainable waste management.
Philip Heylen, is very pleased with the MOU that was signed: “Cities will only gain in importance in the coming years. It is therefore crucial that we convince mayors and municipal policy makers of the importance of sustainable waste management. Over the years ISWA has built a network of national members that together represent thousands of small, medium and large cities, while at the same time experts from the public and private sectors provide constant input of valuable know-how and best practices. By including all of this in UN-Habitat’s Waste Wise Cities program, we will be able to reinforce each other in an unprecedented way.”
ISWA President Antonis Mavropoulos commented that “The future of waste management is urban, and this project aims to create the basis for better and well- informed decision making procedures for urban areas. We believe that our cooperation with UN-Habitat will streamline solutions and inspire innovative efforts for a wasteless future.”