Circular Economy Through Waste Management and Resource Utilization

Dr. Rahul Baidya is a Head of the Department at the Office of The Sustainability and Professor & Assistant HoD in Mechanical Engineering Department at Institute of Engineering & Management, School of University of Engineering and Management Kolkata, India. He has completed his Masters and PhD (Engineering) from Jadavpur University. He was a Research Fellow (Visiting), Aston Business School, Aston University, Birmingham, UK during 2014 and 2015. He is an executive member of International Society of Waste Management, Air and Water, Kolkata. He is a committee member of Solid Waste Management (CHD-33) of Bureau of Indian standards. His research interest includes circular economy, co-processing, resource and energy recovery from waste, supply chain management and optimization engineering. He has published over 70 papers, in refereed journals and in international conference across the globe. He has worked as co-investigator in number of international research projects funded by UKIERI, Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), British Council and Erasmus+. He has also acted as convenor and scientific committee member of numerous international conferences. He has delivered numerous invited talks in different seminars and conferences.

Prof. Dr. Sadhan Kumar Ghosh is the Director General of the Sustainable Development & Circular Economy Research Centre at ISWMAW, India, and Founder Advisor at Jadavpur University. An expert in Waste Management, Circular Economy, Green Manufacturing, and Sustainable Development, he has collaborated with over 30 countries. His career began in multinational industries like Larsen & Toubro and The Gramophone Co. of India. Internationally, he has served as a UNCRD consultant, UN expert, and leader in research projects across Asia, Europe, and beyond, including Erasmus Plus and UKIERI initiatives. He led a global research project on Circular Economy involving 33 countries. Ghosh has served on international committees, delivered keynote speeches worldwide, and initiated global sustainable waste management efforts through CRIC. He is a founding Chairman of IconSWM, President of ISWMAW, and has received numerous awards, including a Royal Academy of Engineering fellowship. An accomplished author with over 10 books, 260 articles, and three patents, he also served as Dean at Jadavpur University and has contributed extensively to standards and policy development. Dr. Ronald L. Mersky is an accomplished civil engineer and academic leader specializing in municipal waste engineering, environmental assessment, and public communication of environmental issues. Currently serving as Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering at Widener University, Dr. Mersky has devoted over four decades to advancing sustainable waste management practices and engineering education.

Dr. Mersky holds a Ph.D., M.S.E., and B.S.E. in Civil and Urban Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and is a Registered Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania. He has served as the Editor of The Journal of Solid Waste Technology and Management since 1996 and has been instrumental in organizing international conferences on sustainable waste management. He was awarded the Board-Certified Environmental Engineer by Eminence (AAEE) in 2010. He was the recipient of the 1990 Edmund Friedman Young Engineer Award from the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Philadelphia Young Civil Engineer of the Year Award in 1988. He published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, and book chapters addressing innovative solutions in solid waste management and environmental sustainability. Led groundbreaking research on the greenhouse gas efficiency of yard waste management and the life cycle impact of anaerobic digestion in bio-waste systems. Dr. Mersky's contributions have earned him global recognition, making him a trusted advisor and speaker in advancing sustainable engineering practices worldwide.

Dr. Francesco Di Maria is professor in environmental sanitary engineering at the Department of Engineering of the University of Perugia. His research activity started in 1995 and is documented by more than 260 publications on national and international conferences and high impact factor journals. His main research and teaching activity is related to the waste management sector with particular focus on waste treatments, recycling and recovery and environmental impact assessments. He was and is principal investigator of several international and national projects, a member of EC Technical Working Group on Best Reference Document for waste collection and green procurements and consultant for local government for the drawing of the new waste management plan. He is also consultant for several waste management companies.

Dr. Agamuthu Pariatamby FASc, is a Senior Professor at the Jeffrey Sachs Center for Sustainable Development at Sunway University (SU), Malaysia. With 49 years of experience in waste management, he is a Global top 2% Scientist in Environmental Sciences according to the Stanford University listings. He was also Associate Dean (Research and Postgraduate Studies) at the School of Interdisciplinary Sciences, SU, and is a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences, Malaysia, since 2014. He has been appointed as the High-Level End Foreign Expert for the Ministry of Science and Technology, China, and is also a Visiting Professor for Zhejiang University of Technology in Hangzhou, where he is also the Chairman of the International Consultant Committee on Waste to Energy (ICCWtE). Dr. Pariatamby has published 22 books and 34 book chapters, and has authored over 480 peer-reviewed articles, proceedings and invited papers. He has completed over 75 consultancy projects and supervised over 200 Master's degree students and 45 doctoral students.