Orbit 2016

As circular economy is moving higher and higher up the scientific, technical, political and business agenda, the organic waste sector is orientated to the management and recovery of resources. By the end of 2015, the European Commission aims to present a new circular economy strategy, which will “transform Europe into a more competitive resource-efficient economy, addressing a range of economic factors, including waste”. Additionally, implementing circular opportunities at a global scale could lead to material savings and generation of new jobs.

Fully aligned with this shift in waste management, Harokopio University together with Technological Education Institute of Crete organise the International Conference ORBIT 2016 “Circular Economy and Organic Waste Management”, under the auspices of the European Compost Network.

Following the tradition of its predecessors, the 10th ORBIT Conference will tackle all aspects of management and recovery of organic residues – from waste prevention and decoupling organic waste generation to beneficial recycling of compost and digestate into soil and energy recovery as methane and hydrogen. The “traditional” themes of composting and anaerobic digestion – processes, technologies, product quality, and the role of organic matter in combating desertification – remain the core topics. In addition to them, ORBIT 2016 will tackle issues related to sustainable resource management in context with waste, efficient separate collection of organic waste, the impact of economic crisis on waste generation and management. To go further and to realize the potential of a circular economy, we have introduce new issues, such as smart cities biowaste applications and novel products from composts, the need to develop collaborations between disciplines, which were not used to interact with one another.