In early December, a large-scale event took place at the Perm National Research Polytechnic University — the IV International Scientific Conference "FROM WASTE MANAGEMENT TO RESOURCE RECOVERY". The conference was traditionally organized by the Department of Environmental Protection, PNRPU, together with the Regional Branch in Russia and Newly Independent States of the International Waste Working Group (IWWG-RUNISRB).
The conference was attended by over 200 people, including foreign and Russian scientists, students and schoolchildren, representatives of government and business community. Guests came to Perm from Germany, Austria, Greece and Lithuania, Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities of Russia and the Perm Territory. 75 oral presentations were made, a poster section, contests of students’ and schoolchildren’s reports, an extended campaign for the collection of recyclable waste “Recycle It” were held. For the first time, a plastic bottle collecting machine called “Sortomat” developed by Perm scientists was presented to the public. The conference program included a plenary session and seven thematic sections.
The conference was opened with welcoming speeches by Lyudmila Harun, head of the environmental protection department of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Forestry and Ecology of the Perm Territory, and Vladimir Korotaev, vice-rector of PNRPU for science and innovations, professor of the Department of Environmental Protection.
The report of prof. Korotaev on the main directions of development in the waste management industry in the Russian Federation was the first at the Plenary Session. The leaders of the International Waste Working Group (IWWG), foreign and Russian scientists made reports within this session. The reports were about significant changes in the waste management industry and trends in the development of waste processing technologies.
The first session on ensuring safety during waste disposal and remediation of disturbed areas has already become the "classics" of our conference; the session program even had several regular speakers. These include Yuri Schlee, a long-time partner and friend of the Department of Environmental Protection, CIS sales director of the German company NAUE GmbH & Co. The reports of foreign participants were devoted to the impact of various approaches to waste disposal on climate change (M. Ritzkowski), as well as the role of landfills in circular economy (M. Huber-Humer). The report of Y. Mozzhegorova on assessing the status of municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills at the stages of the life cycle aroused great interest of the audience.
Within the framework of the session “Environmental Initiatives”, a variety of social-environmental ideas, projects and initiatives were discussed. Representatives of industrial enterprises, public organizations, universities and student associations from Perm, St. Petersburg, Irkutsk, and Yekaterinburg spoke about the projects of their organizations. The leitmotif of the session was the issue of interaction at different levels (education, business, government, public organizations, people) with the aim of creating an environmentally-friendly behavior and lifestyle, increasing the level of environmental culture and upbringing.
The conference was timed to coincide with the thematic round table “The Role of Russian Ecotechnoparks in the Waste Management Industry”, organized by PNRPU together with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Perm Territory. At the round table the situation in the field of waste management and current issues of the implementation of the “garbage reform” in Russia were discussed. The event was attended by about 50 specialists in this field, including representatives of state bodies, scientific and educational organizations, regional waste management operators, carriers and waste processing companies. In the first part of the round table the reports of the representative of the Ministry of Housing and Communal Services and Improvement of the Perm Territory D. Nekrasova and acting director of PKGUP Teploenergo A. Bashayev were about the progress of waste management reform in the Perm Territory and its immediate prospects. Speeches by S. Tchudinov, director of Bumatika LLC, D. Doinikova, a representative of JSC Central Research Institute "Burevestnik" on the role of eco-technology parks in creating circular economy, and A. Oshchepkova, deputy director for innovations, Ural Research Institute “Ecology” on the delimitation of MSW and waste from the use of goods and packaging also took place. During the discussion, various points of view were expressed, which allowed to formulate general proposals for the development of waste management system and the necessary steps for this on the part of authorities, science and market participants.
At the conference, Sortomat — a device for the collection of secondary raw materials, which is being developed as part of an international scientific project, was first demonstrated. The Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Automation and Telemechanics participate in the project from the PNRPU side. Sortomat is designed to collect clean high-quality secondary raw materials based on the use of computer vision technologies and the identification method using neural networks. The device accepts all PET bottles; the exceptions are plastic bottles for milk, kefir, yogurt, vegetable oil and household chemicals, due to the complexity of preparing such raw materials for processing. Sortomat developers say that it’s easy to retrain its intelligent system to meet customer requirements, so the collection of secondary raw materials can be varied. Everyone could test the device and deliver PET bottles.
The second day of the conference began with three parallel sections.
At the session "Advanced waste treatment technologies" reports were made both by scientists and representatives of industrial enterprises. The issues of recycling municipal solid waste, construction waste, drill cuttings, the use of thermal methods of waste processing were discussed.
The session on waste management and circular economy, along with reports by Russian participants, included several reports by German and Austrian scientists on plastic recycling — it is obvious that the topic is relevant for Western European countries that have advanced far in the development of their waste management systems.
Traditionally, students and graduate students presented their studies at a specialized session of the conference. The reports of young researchers raised a wide range of issues — from improving the efficiency of existing waste management technologies to environmentally sound changes in production processes aimed at reducing waste generation and managing waste-generating processes at enterprises. As a result of the session, students whose reports were recognized as the best received diplomas.
At the end of the session, an interactive quiz was conducted for young researchers, created on the Kahoot! application platform. 25 people took part in the quiz. The winner and prize-winners were awarded memorable prizes from the sponsors of the conference. The quiz participants learned interesting facts about waste and received a boost of positive emotions!
For the first time in the framework of the Perm “waste” conference, a session was held on the use of digital technologies in the field of waste management. Digitalization is a global trend that has received great support in Russia, one of the countries with strong experts in the field of IT technologies. This trend is also observed in waste management, and scientists at the Perm Polytechnic University are at the forefront of development. The projects presented at the session on the use of unmanned aerial vehicles in the waste management sector and intelligent systems for collection of recyclable waste are undoubtedly innovative.
A good tradition of the conference is to hold a session for schoolchildren of Perm and the Perm Territory, conducting research in the field of ecology. Pupils of grades 5-11 made speeches and presentations, competently and enthusiastically answered questions from the presidium and the audience, skillfully defended the results of their work, sometimes entering into discussions and debates with each other. A wide range of topics presented at the section could not leave anyone indifferent. Pupils talked about the water quality of the springs and rivers of their small homeland, developed and equipped ecological paths, evaluated the quality of different varieties of tea, showed their models of “smart containers” for collecting waste, tested detergents on ponds and pond-scaters ... Young researchers and their supervisors are sure that good environmental habits, nature conservation, prosperity of the city begin with small steps, and at the conference this step was taken. The next step for many of these guys is to study at the Polytechnic University and work as professional ecologists, which means that there is a long way ahead for the benefit and prosperity of the Prikamye region.
For several years now, the Polytechnic Environmental Program has been operating and developing at PNRPU, so for university employees and students participation in “green” events has become a familiar and favorite thing. During the conference, the “Recycle It” campaign was held in an interactive form. The emphasis was placed not only on the collection of recyclables, but also on expanding the knowledge of waste recycling among participants. The organizers conducted an ecological crossword, talked about labeling on packages and clearly demonstrated how to sort garbage. As a result of the campaign, more than one hundred kilograms of waste paper, several hundred batteries, kilograms of plastic waste, glass and scrap metal were collected. Many participants of the action positively evaluated the new format of the event, considering it interesting and unusual.
A highlight for foreign conference participants who first visited Perm was an excursion to the Khokhlovka architectural and ethnographic museum. Walking along the peninsula on which the museum is located, guests fully felt the severity of the Ural weather, and learned a lot about the traditional way of life and natural resources of our region.
The conference organizers sincerely thank all the participants. We hope that at the next, anniversary 5th conference there will be even more heated discussions, exciting conversations on coffee breaks, ideas about new joint projects, fruitful discussions and public attention. LOOKING FORWARD TO SEE YOU IN PERM!
Authors of the text:
A. Tsybina, G. Arzamasova, G. Ilyinykh, S. Polygalov, Yu. Mozzhegorova, M. Kombarova, E. Pankova
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