ISWA president's message : Partnerships and capacity building to start 2026

As we begin 2026, one priority stands out for our sector: stronger collaboration that delivers tangible results. The challenges we face, from preventing plastic leakage into rivers to reducing methane emissions and building reliable services in fast-growing cities, require action along the entire value chain. Progress depends on partnerships that connect municipalities, operators, technology providers, researchers, and policymakers.

For ISWA, collaboration is more than just a theme. It is how we work and why we exist, now for more than 50 years, helping to connect the industry to create and disseminate knowledge.

A critical part of the ISWA mission is capacity building, because it remains one of the most persistent bottlenecks in improving waste management worldwide. In many municipalities, the limiting factor is certainly not ambition. But it often is the shortage of trained staff, decision-ready data, operational know-how, and access to peers who have solved similar problems. ISWA is addressing this gap through its campaigns and through practical learning opportunities that help local leaders and practitioners strengthen collection, treatment, recycling, governance, and financing.

This focus is already visible in our early 2026 activities. The yearly ISWA-SWIS Winter School in Texas equips participants and professionals with applied skills and field-based insight into landfill and broader waste management systems. This year’s event includes a tour of the world’s third-largest airport, Dallas-Fort Worth (DWF), to learn more about its green solutions and its waste management program. Hands-on and peer-connected learning continues with two study tours designed to translate proven practice into actionable lessons: Collection, Sorting and Recycling in Italy (May 11 to 15, 2026, Milan area) and Energy from Waste in Austria (June 15 to 19, 2026, Vienna). These shorter one-week programs combine theoretical background knowledge on systems with practical exposure to working facilities and experts to equip attendees with the capacities they need to apply similar but contextualized solutions at home. 
 

Industry events are another key channel through which ISWA engages with the sector. Our partnerships with the IFAT exhibition network are another way we connect knowledge, innovation, and implementation across regions. Following our engagement at the inaugural IFAT Saudi Arabia in January, we are now looking ahead to IFAT Munich in May, where ISWA will convene discussions and strengthen connections between industry operational needs and solutions that can address them. Earlier this year, ISWA was invited to the Global Waste Management Symposium organized by the Environmental Research and Education Foundation (EREF) for a special session to talk about ISWA’s mission and vision for visitors from around the world. 

The message for 2026 is simple: if we want durable systems, we must invest in people and partnerships as deliberately as we invest in infrastructure.