The purpose of the conference was to learn more about the important topic of bio waste management and to bring in an international dimension by sharing experience and practices in other countries. Also, the primary goal was to raise awareness on this topic as it is an important one nowadays and concerns everyone and our planet. For the organisation of the event, we collaborated with a start-up from Strasbourg specialised in bio waste recycling, Green Phoenix. The event was part of the EWWR (European Week for Waste Reduction) and has been labellised by the Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME). We also had support from ESN France who kindly shared our event, the Eurometropole of Strasbourg, the international department of INSA and EM Strasbourg Business School, The MESA (Maison de l’Europe Strasbourg Alsace) and from the UNISTRA (Strasbourg’s University)
The conference has been organised during the EWWR and its topic was bio waste management in France and around the world. First, a general presentation about bio waste has been made. This presentation summarized the context, what bio waste is, what it can become, and the upcoming European issues regarding source sorting. This has made possible to learn essential information about bio waste. During the second part it was possible for the participants to exchange about this topic and to share their experience. Everyone could take part in the event and this made it more dynamic. We wanted to bring together as many associations, structures, international students and interested people as possible to have as much diversity as possible in the exchanges. For example, the Strasbourg Eurometropole, the international relations department of INSA Strasbourg and Toulouse were able to participate in the event. Our goal was that everyone could learn from each other, and that information did not just go one way. Everyone was able to gather information about the countries of the other participants while keeping bio waste management as a guideline. Experiences and practices regarding bio waste management were given about many countries: India, Colombia, Madagascar, Romania, Italy, Germany, the Balkans, Slovenia, Ireland and France! This videoconference has therefore achieved its goal of raising awareness about the bio waste sorting process, as well as bringing a European and international vision to the event by giving a voice to each person!
We think and hope that the event has made possible to share knowledge and experiences about this topic and helped to raise awareness. We hope this has encouraged people to manage their bio waste.
You can find the video of the conference here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yT3kMaSR86Q&t=2287s&ab_channel=GreenPhoenixGreenPhoenix
