Aim of the Course
This course aims to build the capacities in the field of solid waste management, through providing a holistic course with information and knowledge that enable the participants to contribute positively in their careers, institutions, and countries via improving their skills, which therefore contribute towards the realization of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) of 2030.
Why should one take this certification?
This course is intended for professionals, employees, and graduates who want to excel in their careers, maximize, and diversify their capabilities in their disciplines. It is also well suited for those who are already working and would like to take certification for further career progression, which supports and improve their scope of skills and knowledge.
Earning a “Professional Diploma in Waste Management” can help candidate differentiate in today's competitive job market, especially with the new global approach towards the Circular Economy and transfer into renewable energy resources, which increase the opportunities for employment by gaining more advanced skills and knowledge, and result in higher quality of work and earning potential.
Who will benefit from taking this certification?
Professionals at the industries who work in the industrial waste management departments, and deal with industrial waste. Academics and researchers need to enrich their knowledge in waste management. Municipalities and municipality councils’ members who are in the decision-making positions, and their employees. Job seekers who are looking to find employment in waste management or sustainability departments of various companies, students generally wanting to improve their skill set and make their CV stronger, and existing employees looking for a better role can prove their employers the value of their skills through this certification. Suitability - Who should attend list is summarized as follows:
- Industries SHE and waste management departments managers and staff
- Municipalities’ councils’ members and staff
- Ministry of Municipalities, works and urban planning affairs managers and staff
- Facilities and maintenance managers, practitioners and officers. Operations managers, executives and staff.
- Cleaning companies managers and staff
- NGOs, and environmental protection associations’ members
- Anybody who has a desire to learn more about this subject is encouraged to do this course.
Course Description
Waste management is considered one of the most important challenges in urban cities worldwide. Thus, understanding environmental pollution and waste management became essential.
This course provides information and principles of waste management technologies and practices and pollution control. It emphasizes the sustainable and integrated solid waste management (ISWM) approach. This course provides all the required information and management practices and technologies of all solid waste categories including Municipal Solid Waste (MSW): (domestic, commercial, construction and demolition (C&D)), Industrial Waste (IW), Hazardous Waste (HW): (including Medical Waste (MW)). It provides state-of-the-art- technologies that support the sustainable management of solid waste, which contribute to the realization of the SDGs 2030. Moreover, this course will provide substantial information about the Circular Economy as the economy of the future, and discuss the opportunities of investments as a holistic approach of waste management. This course enables the participants to integrate the gained knowledge into their areas of expertise.
Course Objectives and Learning Outcomes
The primary objective of this course is to provide the participants with general knowledge about waste management and environmental pollution and related aspects. It is designed to cover the fundamental knowledge and principles to manage waste sustainably to conserve natural resources. Management practices include planning and decisions making to prevent and/or minimize pollution and therefore reduce the negative impacts on the environment, health, economy, and society. Moreover, this course will emphasize the role of the regulations, legislation and international agreements in pollution abatement.
After completion of this course, the participants are expected to:
- Understand the principles of environmental pollution.
- Define and characterize solid, liquid, and gas pollutants from technical and regulatory perspectives.
- Identify the waste management practices and technologies based on Waste Management Hierarchy and 4Rs principle, including waste prevention and reduction, reuse, recycle, recovery, and disposal, besides the waste stream processes including waste collection, processing technologies, separation, transport, and storage.
- Develop working knowledge of technologies and international best practices in areas of solid waste management.
- Identify the major health, social and ecological impacts of environmental pollution in the absence of -or inappropriate- waste management.
- Gain the skills and abilities to select the optimum and best solution for any environmental pollution and waste management issue.
- Understand the integrated solid waste management to sustainability.
- Gain the ability to evaluate and determine the waste-related environmental problems and contribute to choosing the most suitable solution to any waste problem.
- Improve the abilities to determine the real-world environmental situations and distribute awareness from a new perspective.
- Gain the ability to think critically and evaluate practical environmental pollution cases.
- Recognize the role and importance of strategies, policies, regulations, and legislations in waste management.
- Consider Waste as a treasure, resource, and raw material for many manufacturing activities, and accordingly explore the opportunities for Circular Economy investments in our country.
Entry Requirements
- Applicant must hold a minimum secondary school certificate or its equivalent
- Applicant must have the Knowledge of English language
- Applicant must have the experience in the environmental and waste management fields
Outcome / Qualification
A “Professional Diploma in Waste Management Certificate” from AGU is issued and be provided to the participant on course completion.
Course Duration
Course Content: Modules Topics
This course consists of 12 modules; each of three credit hours, which classified as follows:
• General Modules: 9 modules which are mandatory to all participants,
• Elective Modules: 3 modules as per the participants interest.
Each participant should fulfil 10 modules in total (30 credit hours) => (120 working hours)
Each Module duration is 2 weeks (6 working hours/week) => (12 working hours/module)
The participants are required to submit an assignment in the last month of study, in one of the above module’s topics as per their interests.
The Certificate will be awarded after completion of all the 10 modules AND submitting the Assignment which can be of any topic of the modules listed above upon the participant’s selection.
The participant has the option to register partially in any SELECTED modules of his interest to attend in case of time limitations, and therefore earn a “Participation Certificate” of that module accordingly.
Important Note
This program is a professional program that is not equivalent to an academic diploma and does not lead to a master's degree.
Total Modules List:
- Environmental Pollution and Waste Management
- Integrated Solid Waste Management
- Municipal Solid Waste Management
- Plastic Waste Management
- Hazardous and Industrial Waste Management
- Medical (Health Care) Waste Management
- Biodegradable and Food Waste Management
- Waste Management and Critical Raw Materials
- Waste Management Technologies and Selection Criteria
- Water Energy Food Waste (WEFW) Nexus
- Innovation in Waste Management
- Circular Economy: Case Studies from the Developed Countries
General Mandatory Modules:
- Environmental Pollution and Waste Management
- Integrated Solid Waste Management
- Plastic Waste Management
- Biodegradable and Food Waste Management
- Waste Management and Critical Raw Materials
- Waste Management Technologies and Selection Criteria
- Water Energy Food Waste (WEFW) Nexus
- Innovation in Waste Management
- Circular Economy: Case Studies from the Developed Countries
Elective Modules:
- Municipal:
Municipal Solid Waste Management
- Industrial:
Hazardous and Industrial Waste Management - Medical:
Medical (Health Care) Waste Management
Fees
The fee for each module is BD 85 for individual registration.
The total fees of the “Professional Diploma on Waste Management” course is BD 850
Course Description
- Environmental Pollution and Waste Management
This module is an introductory module, which deals with the problem of environmental pollution and environmental degradation as an example of interactions between natural and human systems. It also discusses the main problems of pollution of the air, water, land surface, and the food chain. It covers the processes responsible for the occurrence and release of pollutants into the environment, dispersion mechanisms, risks associated with different types of pollutants, problems of toxic accumulation, emission reduction measures and the treatment of polluted environments, in addition, gain an introductory knowledge to waste management.
- Integrated Solid Waste Management
This module aims to understand the holistic and sustainable strategic approach, which is the “Integrated solid waste management (ISWM)”, as a sustainable management strategy of solid wastes that covers waste stream starting from waste generation, segregation, transfer, sorting, treatment, recovery, and disposal in an integrated way, taking into consideration to maximize the efficiency of the resource use. The integrated approach represents an important sustainable solution to waste management, which would include the prevention of waste generation from the source, collective management of all types of wastes, and implementation of the 4Rs (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Recovery) policies and strategies. This module will cover this approach holistically.
- Municipal Solid Waste Management
This module is designed to provide an understanding of technical issues and the management of municipal solid waste particularly since it represents the majority of waste nationally and internationally. The participants will gain the knowledge about municipal solid waste classification and categories, factors affecting the MSW generation rate, policy of management, and the sustainable methods for storage, collection, transfer, treatment and disposal. Besides, this module discusses the opportunities provided by MSW management using ISWM approach, and it provides the opportunity to visit recycling facilities and disposal sites to better understand links between theory and practice.
- Plastic Waste Management
This module provides a holistic overview of plastic waste management. Plastic products have become an integral part of our daily life because of the increase in polymer production worldwide. Plastic waste has negative impacts on oceans, wildlife, and human health since it can enter the food chain easily. Approximately a 70percent of plastic packaging products are converted into plastic waste in a short span, which make it critical to improve a sustainable plastic waste management system to reduce the plastic pollution which leads to serious harmful impacts on human health and wildlife. Thus, Plastic waste needs to be emphasized and prioritized to be managed sustainably, which will be covered through this module.
- Hazardous and Industrial Waste Management
This module determines which wastes are classified as hazardous waste, and how to properly manage hazardous waste per national and international regulations. By the completion of this module, the participants will be able to appreciate the nature and definition of hazardous wastes.
This module provides knowledge about the industrial hazardous wastes, from the point of production to the point of disposal, with appreciation of the main hazards and risks associated with the management of industrial hazardous waste. The participants will understand the range of technical options that are available for the effective management of industrial hazardous wastes. Appreciate the legal, financial, and environmental liabilities associated with poor control over hazardous wastes, and develop emergency response plans to hazardous substance release. Furthermore, it provides knowledge about how to minimize the toxicity of hazardous wastes and to reduce or eliminate exposures to these wastes using engineering controls. - Medical (Health Care) Waste Management
This module will cover the following topics: Definition, Sources, and Characteristics of Healthcare Waste, Health, and Environmental Impacts with characterizing main types of hazards associated with healthcare wastes and their health effects. It discusses the national Healthcare Waste Management planning and practices, Incineration of Healthcare Waste, and the Management of healthcare waste as Specific Infectious and non-infectious Wastes. This module includes the Management of Chemical, Cytotoxic, Pharmaceutical and Radioactive Wastes generated from the medical sector, according to the WHO Healthcare Project guidelines.
- Biodegradable and Food Waste Management
Biodegradable waste including food waste represents the majority of domestic waste in the developing countries including the GCC countries. This module focuses on the importance of managing biodegradable waste in a sustainable way to avoid its harmful impacts on the environment and human health if dumped in landfills. It will identify the composition of the biodegradable waste, and provide knowledge about the valorization of biodegradable waste, the environmental impacts, the sustainable technologies for its management, and the benefits earned from the sustainable biodegradable waste management.
- Waste Management and Critical Raw Materials
This module will be of value to a wide range of professionals working in or interested in many manufactures and industries. Emphasizes the potential benefits of circular procurement and how recycling technologies, efficient ways of collecting and recycling critical raw materials (CRMs), can make business and production more resource resilient. Innovative product design and reusing, recycling and remanufacturing products can help to deal with a raw materials shortage. However, this can only provide an integrated solution if CRMs kept in the loop through smarter CRM management. These include professionals involved in producing products containing CRMs (such as electronics) as well as local or national government officials tasked with organizing waste management and recycling for these products. Students interested in the field of waste management will also find this course helpful for their studies in electronics, industrial design, and industrial ecology.
At the end of this module, participants will be able to: Describe some of the current challenges and opportunities in resource resilience, Identify environmental problems caused by waste mismanagement of products that contain CRMs, and waste collection methods, Appreciate remanufacturing, refurbishment, re-use and recycling processes of products which contain CRMs. Besides, provide knowledge to identify benefits of circular procurement to keep critical raw materials in the loop through smart waste management, and know the effect of product design on recycling and remanufacturing efficiency. Participants also will learn the impact of innovative business models on waste reduction and resource resilient. - Waste Management Technologies and Selection Criteria
Improper solid waste management method may cause negative environmental impacts on water, air, and soil, and might affect human well-being, and cause waste of natural resource. This module aims to learn the criteria for selecting the appropriate technologies for sustainable solid waste management based on local context. To select the most preferred technology, a set of criteria is required. This module provides the major criteria and logical steps on which the decision can be made for selecting the technologies. Proper waste management will ensure the appropriate utilization of the resources, a drastic reduction in the waste going to the landfill, and minimize environmental pollution.
- Water Energy Food Waste (WEFW) Nexus
This module aims to introduce the concept of the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Security Nexus, concerning the waste that forms a so-called WEFW nexus. It allows participants to gain a deeper understanding of the WEF Nexus as an integrated and holistic management approach in decision-making processes within the water, energy, food, and environmental sectors, and to relate it to the waste that represents the loss of the WEF.
- Innovation in Waste Management
Waste management has become resource management as per the current trends. The developed waste management systems integrate Information Technologies (IT) into the solid waste management chain that contributes to waste prevention and reduction, reuse, recycle and recovery, as well as the disposal ideas. Thus, technological advancements in waste management require innovation. New business models, technological innovations, and social enterprise have the potential to reduce waste. This module provides an introduction towards the innovative solutions in waste management and the role of innovation in the improvement of this sector in order to create sustainable societies and therefore contribute realizing the SDGs of 2030.
- Circular Economy: Case Studies from the Developed Countries
This module presents the role of waste management in the context of a circular economy transition. Key challenges relate to moving beyond the perception of ‘waste as a problem’ to ‘waste as a resource’. Collecting high-quality waste streams for re-use, remanufacturing and recycling requires citizen engagement and integrated infrastructure development from the municipal to country level. From this perspective, this module is designed to emphasize the success stories of some of the developed countries and their experience in waste management and investment in a circular economy that creates a new market to learn from, through round table open discussion.