On November 22, the Zero-waste City Construction, Management and Practices Forum was successfully held online by Tsinghua University and Basel Convention Regional Centre for Asia and the Pacific (BCRC China), back-to-back with the 17th International Conference on Waste Management and Technology. The theme of the forum isSustainable Municipal Solid Waste Management.It invited 22 representatives from 9 cities at home and abroad to share their experiences. Craig Boljkovac, Senior Advisor of the School of Environment and BCRC China, hosted the forum, in which more than 200 government officials, experts, scholars and business representatives participated online.
Li Jinhui, Executive Director of the BCRC China and Professor of School of Environment, said that municipal solid waste management is closely related to human health and environment, and countries are facing many challenges in his opening speech. The International City Network of Zero-waste Initiatives organized by BCRC China has already received support from 11+5 pilot cities in China, and from BCRC Salto, Cerro Largo and Rivera in Uruguay, Kuvsgul Province, Orkhon Province and Zavkhan Pronvince in Mongolia, and BCRC and SCRC Iran. It is expected that, through this forum, more cities can realize the necessity of building zero-waste city and join hands to promote the international process of zero-waste citiesconstruction.
Li Jinhui Delivered a Speech
The conference presentation session was divided into three parts, with each three cities or regions as a group, in which experts were gathered to discuss the issues and experiences of municipal solid waste management. Shan Guijuan, Deputy Director of the Environmental Technology Office of the BCRC China, introduced the progress of the International City Network of Zero-waste Initiative. Environmental management officials from BCRC and SCRCIran, Wellington, New Zealand, Minamata, Japan, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Suzhou, China, Sanya, China, Rivera, Uruguay, Cerro Largo, Uruguay and Montreal, Canada shared their experiences in building zero-waste cities at each session.
During the closing ceremony, Li Jinhui expressed his gratitude to the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China for its support to this forum. He expressed that cities need to strengthen cooperation in high value-added solid waste utilization technologies, integrated solid waste management models and business models. He hoped that more cities would join the International City Network of Zero-waste Initiative and cooperate with relevant national, regional and international organizations to support innovative waste management initiatives so as to minimize the environmental impact of solid waste.
