Waste and biomass management and valorization

Abstract

A large number of waste experts and researchers develop globally waste-related research initiatives, and the present waste management situation can improve substantially so as to make a step towards better life quality, as well as the protection of the environment. This ESPR Special Issue includes 47 environmental papers with emphasis on waste and biomass management and valorization, which have been selected on the basis of novelty and quality standards by the Scientific Committee of the HERAKLION 2019 7 International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management (http:// www.heraklion2019.uest.gr). The Conference was organized in Crete Island, Greece, starting onWednesday 26 June 2019 with a duration of 4 days. The participation was high, since 750 participants attended from all over the world. After the successful organization of six international conference events of this series, three in Athens, the first two in 2012 and 2014 and one more in 2017; one in Tinos Island, Greece, in 2015; one in Limassol, Cyprus, in 2016; and one in Naxos Island, Greece, in 2018, the ambition of the HERAKLION 2019 7 International Conference was to present the recent developments and advanced knowledge in the area of solid waste management and circular economy by sharing and introducing further case studies, technological achievements, as well as aspects and experiences at different levels. This Special Issue constitutes the 3 Special Issue of ESPR published from this conference series of sustainable solid waste management. The 1 ESPR special issue was published including 25 papers presented in the ATHENS 2017 Conference, while the 2 ESPR special issue was published with 28 waste related papers from the NAXOS 2018 Conference. We are glad that the 3 Special Issue includes 47 papers, a much higher number comparing with the previous two special issues, which is another proof of the increasing quality and quantity of the presented papers in the HERAKLION 2019 Conference. Without doubt, we are pleased that the series of our conferences on sustainable solid waste management goes on attracting the interest of the international scientific and academic society and private and public sector. This is evident by the substantial increase in certain numerical indicators, such as the numbers of the conference attendees, the number of origin countries of the participants flying to Crete, as well as the numerical data of contributions submitted and the number of full papers included in the electronic proceedings of the HERAKLION 2019 conference. Significant work is undertaken in order to keep high quality standards in the scientific work presented during the conference sessions and improve the visibility of the work presented at the conference. This is demonstrated by the significant increase of the number of collaborating journals (10 for the case of our last conference event) and the relevant high impact factors, as well as the number of research papers published at the end in the collaborating journals. About 250 papers presented during the HERAKLION 2019 Conference have already been published in the collaborating journals or have been accepted for publication. It is also our willingness to offer high quality services and make the participants get familiar with the traditions, hospitality, culture, landscape, cuisine, and hospitality of Greece. The HERAKLION 2019 agenda was indeed rich, including splendid social events and addressing a wide variety of waste-related topics presented in about 500 oral presentations within 26 oral presentation sessions and the extensive poster session with more than 150 posters. The special issue (HERAKLION 2019) was prepared based on 45 articles of this conference and, of course, has international character involving authors coming from a large number of different countries. A new approach of the HERAKLION 2019 conference was the willingness to provide solutions for the promotion of the application of circular economy in agriculture and livestock production Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues