ISWA-SWIS Winter School
The objective of the ISWA-SWIS Winter School is to provide advanced knowledge in the field of waste management to an international audience of existing and emerging solid waste experts. At the joint ISWA and SWIS (Solid Waste Institute for Sustainability) Winter School at the University of Texas at Arlington, together with the cities of Irving, Garland, Lubbock and Grand Prairie Texas, USA, the participants will have the opportunity to gain knowledge on the challenges of solid waste management in developing economies. However, the unique aspect of the Winter School is the blend of in- class and hands on training. The in-class, theory based training and hands-on, operational training are perfectly balanced – with one week dedicated to each.
Participants will learn to understand:
- Landfill siting, design and construction, and operation
- Landfill leachate and gas management and utilization (LFGTE)
- Sustainable waste management (including recycling, composting and waste to energy)
- Waste Economics including waste business development
Specialty areas such as perpetual or sustainable landfill, landfill design and operation and the landfill mining including feasibility, preliminary investigation, operation and management of landfill mining, and impact of landfill mining of sustainable waste management system will be extensively covered. Selected project case studies will be presented and discussed to enhance learning experience.
Participants will receive a Certificate of Participation.
Date
22nd May – 2nd June 2023
Registration and Programme
Download Programme and Scholarship Competition Details Here
Click Here for Registration
Click Here for Brochure
Venue
The University of Texas at Arlington, Texas, USA (www.uta.edu)
City of Irving Landfill, Texas, USA
City of Garland, Texas, USA
City of Grand Prairie, Texas, USA
2019 ISWA-SWIS Winter School
The Winter School 2019 was organized by the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), the City of Irving, Texas, USA and the City of Garland, Texas, USA ,. Furthermore, the City of Grand Prairie, and Republic Services, Fort Worth, Texas provided tremendous support and helped with their landfill visit and Material Recovery Facility (MRF) visit, respectively. Some of the specific features of the Winter School 2019 are presented below.
Scholarship Opportunities: SWIS offered scholarships to 25 participants, based on an essay competition on sustainable solid waste management.
Training Sessions: The curriculum of the Winter School was divided into many different topics and spanned over a two-week time period. It is notable that the training sessions were delivered by more than forty speakers, who were experienced professionals and academicians, and conducted training sessions on their respective areas of expertise.
Landfill Site Visit: Along with the lectures and training sessions, landfill site visits were arranged to provide hands-on experience. The participants were trained on a specific topic in class and then were taken to the City of Irving landfill and City of Grand Prairie landfill, and city of Garland landfill. The students conducted field exercises, such as waste characterization, to demonstrate the field realities and applications of the issues discussed in the training sessions. This approach was very effective and a great complement to the classroom instruction, as was evidenced by the participants’ enthusiasm for the newly learned concepts and their engagement in interesting and informative discussions with the landfill personnel.
Hands-on Equipment Operation: All the participants were divided into six work groups and were given the opportunity to operate the equipment in the City of Irving landfill and City of Garland landfill under the supervision of an equipment operator to ensure their safety. This was another unique opportunity for the participants, as they operated heavy machinery, which enhanced their interest and engagement in waste management practices.
Recycling and Material Recovery Facility (MRF) Visit: All the participants visited the Republic Services operated clean MRF in Fort Worth, Texas and got exposure to the advanced recycling operation in Texas. It was an eye opener for many participants as the site visit generated tremendous enthusiasm among the participants and asked lot of questions to the operators.
Group Project and Presentation: The participants were divided into six groups and assigned to work on project: “Use of Recycled Materials”. One group leader from SWIS met and worked with team members to help them with their project. These meetings were conducted outside of the regular training hours. The main goal was to foster and promote interaction among participants and encourage future collaborations among participants. During the second week of the Winter School, the groups were given the opportunity to present their findings. This exercise served a dual purpose: i) it prepared the participants to present their ideas convincingly, and ii) it provided each group the opportunity to share their gathered knowledge with the others.
ISWA-SWIS Winter School 2019 Speakers: Click here
ISWA-SWIS Winter School 2019 Scholarship Winners: Click here
ISWA-SWIS Winter School 2019 Photo Gallery: Click here
ISWA-SWIS Winter School 2019 Testimonials: