Focus on waste-to-value for inaugural World Engineering Day 

Wednesday is the first UNESCO World Engineering for Sustainable Development Day, with the Australian Academy of Technology and Engineering has used the occasion to highlight the importance of engineers in Australia’s waste management challenges.

Engineers would play a key role in the country turning its waste – currently totally 67 million tonnes a year – back into resources, said ATSE CEO Kylie Walker.

“This inaugural World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development, the Academy of Technology and Engineering is leading a critical and timely major national initiative to pave the way for the digital revolution to supercharge Australia’s new circular economy,” she added.

“With technology and systems approaches that already exist, we can create nine or 10 jobs for every 10,000 tonnes of repurposed rubbish. Imagine how we could build on this growth as we start to create products designed for multiple iterations, create smart waste management systems, and invent advanced recovery technology.”

ATSE is currently conducting an investigation into the country’s technology future, with the three major focus areas of health, transport and waste.

The first World Engineering Day was initiated by Dr Marlene Kanga, the Chair and President of the peak body World Federation of Engineering Organisations and a Fellow of the ATSE.

This week has been a notable one for addressing waste challenges, with the inaugural National Plastics Summit held in Canberra on Monday, and announcements from McDonald’s, Nestle Australia, Australia Post and others.

Picture: Nestle

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