Under the auspices of Professor Ahmed El-Minshawy, President of Assiut University, the Vice Deanship of the Faculty of Engineering for Community Service and Environmental Development Affairs organized a scientific symposium entitled "Waste Management and Energy Saving to Achieve Sustainable Development", under the supervision and presence of Dr. Mohamed Ahmed Adawi, Vice President for Community Service and Environmental Development, Dr. Khaled Salah, Dean of the Faculty, and Dr. Salwa Abdel Rahman Megahed, Vice Dean for Community Service and Environmental Development.
The seminar witnessed the participation of a group of faculty members, their assistants and staff at the college, during which Dr. Mohamed Abou Al-Qasem, Professor in the Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, and Eng. Osama Saeed Anis, Head of the Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development Sector at CEMEX Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, lectured.
Professor Ahmed El-Minshawy stressed that the organization of this symposium comes within the framework of the university's keenness to spread environmental awareness within the university community, introduce the latest waste management practices, and promote the culture of optimal use of natural resources, in addition to linking the academic aspect with industrial applications, in support of the state's directions towards achieving sustainable development in accordance with Egypt's Vision 2030.
The President of the University pointed out the importance of developing students' environmental awareness and refining their innovative abilities in the fields of recycling and energy saving, to qualify them to participate effectively in achieving the sustainable development goals, pointing out that the symposium came out with several recommendations that can be implemented within the college, in addition to a proposal for a waste management plan on the campus, and the presentation of ideas for graduation projects and applied research in this field.
For his part, Professor Mohamed Ahmed Adawy explained the need to expand the application of waste-to-energy technology, pointing to the importance of integrating academic and industrial efforts to achieve tangible results in the fields of waste and energy management, as well as supporting scientific research in the fields of clean energy, increasing community awareness of the importance of preserving the environment, and enhancing cooperation between universities and industrial institutions to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
In the same context, Dr. Khaled Salah explained that this symposium comes within a series of seminars organized by the Community Service and Environmental Development Sector at the College, within the framework of developing awareness of environmental and community issues, and proposing engineering solutions for them, as part of the activities of the College's strategic plan for the years 2026-2030.
The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering added that today's seminar succeeded in combining two very important issues, namely waste management on the one hand, and rationalization and energy consumption on the other hand, pointing out that a pioneering experience of the Assiut Cement Factory in producing energy from waste, which provides a practical model for a sustainable solution that combines waste treatment and energy generation at the same time.
The seminar addressed several important topics, including: the link between waste management and energy, the concept of the circular economy, the role of universities in achieving sustainability, scientific research and training opportunities, and mechanisms to transform the College of Engineering into a sustainable model, in addition to reviewing the latest scientific methods and practical applications in waste management, and ways to benefit from them in energy production to contribute to reducing the environmental impact.
The symposium came out with several important recommendations, which stressed the need to work on establishing complexes for the production of energy from waste in a way that contributes to maximizing its optimal utilization, in addition to seeking to spread community awareness and provide the necessary mechanisms and incentives to implement the waste separation system from the source, as well as studying providing incentives to industrial entities to encourage them to use waste in energy production or rely on the energy sources resulting from it, to support efforts to achieve sustainable development.
