• 
• Japanese
• 
• IETC's Focal Area
• Waste Management
• Publications & Tools
• Meetings & Workshops
• Global Partnership on Waste Management
• Background
• Objectives
  & Expected Outcomes
• Framework
• Sub-focal Areas
• Information Platform
• Meetings
• Participation / Membership
• Water and Sanitation
• Publications & Tools
• Meetings & Workshops
• Resources
• Publications & Tools
• About IETC
• Background and History
• Director
• Activity Reports
• Supporting Foundations
• Internship
• Contact Us

Osaka City's Presentation at Habitat II Conference
Joint IETC and GEC Symposium on Urban Technologies

Four environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) from different parts of the world which address environmental concerns on solid waste and wastewater were presented at the Symposium on ESTs on 5 June 1996 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Symposium was organized jointly by IETC and GEC in support of Habitat II, the Second World Conference on Human Settlements.

AG Environment Group's BioTec2120 System for solid waste management developed in the U.S.A. and UHDE's Biohoch Reactor Wastewater Treatment System from Germany which are high-tech options for environmental management generated interest among the participants who were mostly from the developing countries. A common question to the presenters was on equipment acquisition and maintenance costs. Mr. Fernando Azevedo, the President of AG Environment Group, and Mr. L. Neumann from UHDE who made the presentations on their technologies, were both quick to reply that costs would depend largely on the volume and type of waste to be treated and that, using economies of scale, it would be more economical and efficient if the systems were applied to large volumes of waste which are usually generated by large cities.

The participants were quite impressed with Osaka City's solid waste management system. It was very apparent that participants had expected a presentation of a highly sophisticated system from Japan being an industrialized country, but it was enlightening for most of them to also learn that Japan had actually started with a less sophisticated, manualized system of solid waste management during the 1960s, approximating the system that many developing countries are currently applying. Osaka's example of municipal solid waste management which was presented by Mr. M. Amano, Chief of Osaka' s Environmental Management Bureau, shows an integrated system that combines the technologies of sanitary landfill, composting and incineration and encourages waste reduction, reuse and recycling of waste products, including generation of electricity as a by-product. The system which was developed through improvements over a period of more than 30 years demonstrates what a city can do by developing and applying technologies which address both time and space to respond appropriately to the increasing challenges of urban environmental management.

In contrast, Mr. Malick Gaye, President of ENDA-Tiers Monde, an NGO in Senegal, on the other hand, presented an indigenous type of integrated technology for solid waste and wastewater treatment being used in Rufisque, Senegal. The technology is a manually operated solid waste system which utilizes horse-drawn wooden dumpcarts to transport waste to landfill sites. It appealed to many participants because of its strong community participation element. The more interesting part of the integrated system is the green purification process for wastewater called TgreenU which uses water lettuce as purifiers. The integration between the solid waste and waste water treatment systems happens during the process of composting biodegradable organic matter from waste water and solid waste.

A panel of experts representing organizations dealing with the 'soft' side of ESTs, i.e., planning and management systems and procedures and other preconditions which ensure the proper operation and maintenance of the 'hardware' part of ESTs, shared information on their organizations' activities, contributed comments to the technology presentations and engaged participants in an animated discussion on ESTs. The panelists included Mr. Susumu Ohta, Project Director of GEC, Mr. Jochen Eigen, Coordinator of the Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP), UNCHS (Habitat), Nairobi, Ms. Edith Cecil, Executive Director of USETI, Washington, D.C., Mr. John Skinner, Senior Advisor of IE/PAC, Paris, Ms. Gunnel Dalhammar of SISU (Swedish Institute) and Mr. Graham Alabaster, solid waste expert with the Research and Development Division of UNCHS (Habitat), Nairobi.

The Director of IETC, Mr. Richard A. Meganck who presented the 'soft' ESTs being contributed by IETC to the SCP moderated the panel discussion on 'soft' ESTs and Mr. Anthony Edwards, Executive Coordinator of the Human Health and Well Being SubProgramme of UNEP moderated the panel discussion on the 'hard' ESTs.

Held in the Gumussuyu Campus of the Technical University of Istanbul, overlooking the intriguing Bosphorus, the Symposium successfully attracted a good number of participants from developing countries, NGOs and international organizations in spite of the fact that it had to compete with other parallel events of Habitat II as well as the main sessions of the World Conference itself.

• Brochure
• 
• 



• International Year of Forests
• 
• 



• World Environment Day
• 
• 



• UNEP Campaign
• 
•