Editorial: supporting young waste management professionals

Abstract

Society faces numerous pressing problems, one of which is the development of a sustainable approach to waste (resource) management. Modern society involves consumption on a massive scale, and this leads to massive resource use and massive waste generation. Enabling effective resource management requires advanced higher education (Williams, 2014) alongside appropriate infrastructure, service provision and active public engagement, and this is hugely challenging (Timlett and Williams, 2011). Many political, environmental, social, technological, legal, and economic approaches have been trialed, but only slow progress has been achieved.

Everyone was young once. Everyone will remember the frustrations of having ideas, often promising ideas, that simply did not get heard, for complex (and sometimes valid) reasons. Sometimes - because no-one was listening – clever ideas were not acted upon. What a waste!

Academic members of the waste management community are often older than those in other academic fields. Waste management has been a critical area of study for a long time, driven by the need to address public health and environmental issues (Williams, 2014). This long-standing focus means that pioneers and early researchers in the field are now very senior academics. The interdisciplinary nature of waste management, which combines elements of engineering, environmental science, public health, and policy, often attracts professionals who have long careers in both academia and industry. This can lead to a higher average age within the community, with its leading experts having decades of experience. Senior academics and companies that have contributed over time to the development of now well-established and reliable technologies are generally reluctant to consider entirely new and innovative ideas. However, the field of environmental engineering is still a relatively young sector compared to others, with significant potential for further innovation. It is thus crucial that we should do more with and for our younger colleagues, as their contributions could play a pivotal role in driving innovation within this sector. We should listen actively to their viewpoints and perspectives and provide more assistance with their careers. We should learn from them and support their progressive ideas with energy and vigor.

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Identifiers

ORCID for Ian D. Williams: orcid.org/0000-0002-0121-1219

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