Date: 26 November (9:00 AM – 5:30 PM)
Location: Pruszcz Gdański
Format: In-person
Language: Polish and English (with simultaneous interpretation)
📝 Register here to join the conference
Polish Zero Waste Association, with the support of the LIFE BIOBEST consortium partners—Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management (ACR+), Consorzio Italiano Compostatori (CIC), Zero Waste Europe (ZWE), European Compost Network ECN e.V. (ECN), and ENT foundation (ENT)— invites you to attend its conference on bio-waste collection and treatment on 26 November in Pruszcz Gdański.
Source separation of bio-waste is essential for sustainable waste management at the municipal level. It allows for higher recycling rates and lowers waste management costs by producing cleaner recyclable streams and reducing the need for disposal. When treated at the source, through community or household composting, it also decreases the waste burden on municipal services. However, for these strategies to be effective, they require coordinated action across different levels of governance and thoughtful efforts to engage and motivate citizens.
What are the goals of this conference?
The conference aims to provide concrete insights into the current state of bio-waste management in Poland and promote improved municipal performance by showcasing best practices from across Europe at both national and regional levels. Invited presenters and panellists will share their challenges and successes in communicating new requirements to citizens, effectively encouraging long-term behavioural changes and engagement. The event will also feature the recently launched LIFE BIOBEST guidelines based on the experiences of Europe’s top performers in bio-waste management.
Participants will include waste installation operators, municipal waste experts, national and local authorities and civil society representatives, all discussing jointly the gaps in biowaste management, needed investments and recommendations for local authorities.
Experts from the LIFE BIOBEST project will present guidelines on selective bio-waste collection, governance, economic incentives, compost and digestate production, as well as communication and engagement practices, highlighting EU best practices.
Who is this event for?
- Elected officials and technicians from Polish municipalities launching or looking to improve their bio-waste collection systems and overcome barriers and local challenges;
- Waste management companies, civil society organisations, and academia working in bio-waste management.
The conference programme is available HERE.
Important Details:
- The sessions will be in Polish, with a few presentations done in English (translated into Polish).
- Catering will be provided during the conference.
- Participation is free of charge; travel and accommodation costs must be covered by participants.
- The event will offer a few networking opportunities among bio-waste stakeholders.
For more information, write to [email protected] or [email protected].
📝 Register here for the conference in Pruszcz Gdański
This event is part of the EU-funded LIFE BIOBEST project. The conference, organised by Polish Zero Waste Association along with a Consortium of partners involving ENT Foundation, Consorzio Italiano Compostatori (CIC), European Compost Network ECN e.V. (ECN), the Association of Cities and Regions for sustainable Resource management (ACR+), and Zero Waste Europe (ZWE), aim to promote concrete actions among EU officials for the development and implementation of efficient local bio-waste collection systems. Its objective is to highlight best practices in bio-waste management and address challenges faced by local authorities.

National experts and frontrunners
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Anita Sowińska
Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Climate and Environment
Anita Sowińska
Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Climate and Environment
Expert in the field of change management in the field of ecology, politician. A graduate of the Lodz University of Technology in the field of marketing and management (with a specialization in food chemistry). She graduated with honours from Executive MBA studies at Kozminski University in Warsaw. In the Sejm of the ninth term, she was a member of the Public Finance Committee, the Environmental Protection, Natural Resources and Forestry Committee, and the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, as well as the Chair of the Parliamentary Team for the Green Deal for Poland. Since December 2023, she has been Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Climate and Environment, coordinating the implementation of the tasks of the Minister of Climate and Environment related to waste management and the implementation of the deposit system. The President of the 17. Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention as a representative of the Central and Eastern European region.
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Katarzyna Kwiatek
Head of the Municipal Management Department at the Pruszcz Gdański Municipal Office
Katarzyna Kwiatek
Head of the Municipal Management Department at the Pruszcz Gdański Municipal Office
Head of the Municipal Management Department at the Pruszcz Gdański Municipal Office, with 27 years of work experience in local government administration, including 11 years in the field of environmental protection and waste management. Co-creates, coordinates, and supervises the waste management system in the Municipality of Pruszcz Gdański since the beginning of the introduction of the “garbage reform”.
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Wojciech Ogłuszka
Chairman of the Board of the Masurian Intercommunal Union - Waste Management
Wojciech Ogłuszka
Chairman of the Board of the Masurian Intercommunal Union - Waste Management
Chairman of the Board of the Masurian Intercommunal Union – Waste Management. Manages the work of the association of municipalities, acting on behalf of twelve Masurian local governments in the organization of the municipal waste collection and management system. Expert in the field of municipal waste management.
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Krzysztof Cichón
Head of Biological Processing Department, Waste Management Plant Gdańsk
Krzysztof Cichón
Head of Biological Processing Department, Waste Management Plant Gdańsk
Head of Biological Processing Department, Waste Management Plant Gdańsk. Graduate of Biotechnology in Environmental Protection at the University of Warmia and Mazury, and postgraduate studies in Project Management at the University of Szczecin. Currently pursuing a doctoral degree at Gdansk University of Technology, Faculty of Chemistry. He has over 10 years of experience in the waste management industry, specializing in the operation of facilities and installations, including sorting lines and project management. For the past 5 years, he has been working at the Recycling Plant, where he currently serves as Manager of the Biological Processing Department. His responsibilities include the management of two composting plants with a total capacity of 120,000 tons per year, a bioenergy plant (1.9 MW) along with a gas field (more than 300 wells on a storage area of more than 50 hectares), and water and wastewater management, including a sub-treatment plant (reverse osmosis). In his professional work, he focuses on process optimization, using the Theory of Constraints and Lean Manufacturing.
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Beata Waszczyłko-Miłkowska
Doctor in Engineering Sciences
Beata Waszczyłko-Miłkowska
Doctor in Engineering Sciences
D. in Engineering Sciences in the discipline of environmental engineering, mining and energy. Professionally involved in waste management for 20 years. Scientific interests are in the field of product and waste management issues. Lead author and co-author of publications in journals in the JCR database and other University publications. She has authored many conference reports, panel speeches and discussion forums. Author of methodologies and manager of many projects related to product and waste management, GOZ or legal legislation. Professionally affiliated with IOŚ-PIB, she serves as manager of the Sustainability Center.
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Tomasz Wojciechowski
PhD in Engineering
Tomasz Wojciechowski
PhD in Engineering
President of the board of GWDA sp. z o.o, a state-owned company providing sewage treatment services to the city of Piła (including composting plant, forward-thinking thermal modernization of buildings, modern heat pumps recovering energy from sewage, or getting electricity from an in-house solar park; coordinator of the Circular Economy Institute, vice-chairman of the Biorecycling Association, member of the European Composting Network.
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Joanna Kądziołka
President of The Polish Zero Waste Association
Joanna Kądziołka
President of The Polish Zero Waste Association
President of the Polish Zero Waste Association (Polskie Stowarzyszenie Zero Waste). Communication expert, environmental educator. Coordinator of social projects, consultant of circular economy strategies developed by public institutions. Conducts zero waste workshops for companies, institutions, and has been cooperating with residents and non-governmental organizations.
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Agata Zgliczyńska
Vice President of The Polish Zero Waste Association
Agata Zgliczyńska
Vice President of The Polish Zero Waste Association
Vice President of The Polish Zero Waste Association (Polskie Stowarzyszenie Zero Waste). Expert in finance, coordinates zero waste lifestyle workshops for communities and corporates, educates on vast influence of consumerism on the environment. Specialist in textile’s influence on the environment and social set ups, especially on the economies of the Global South.
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Piotr Barczak
Co-founder and Board member of The Polish Zero Waste Association
Piotr Barczak
Co-founder and Board member of The Polish Zero Waste Association
Co-founder and Board member of The Polish Zero Waste Association (Polskie Stowarzyszenie Zero Waste), member of the Council of the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and long-term waste policy specialist at the EEB.
LIFE BIOBEST experts
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Jack McQuibban
Head of Local Zero Waste Implementation at Zero Waste Europe
Jack McQuibban
Head of Local Zero Waste Implementation at Zero Waste Europe
Jack leads the work ZWE does to accelerate the adoption of zero waste solutions and strategies implemented at the local level by cities and businesses. This includes coordinating the support ZWE and its network of members offer to local communities across Europe, as we seek a faster, stronger transition towards zero waste. The network of cities that ZWE supports is now just under 500 and covers over 16 million Europeans. Jack was also behind the creation of the world’s first ever Zero Waste Cities Certification, and on a day-to-day basis provides technical support to cities on the design and implementation of key circular economy policies. Besides expertise in waste and the circular economy, he also has a vast array of participatory facilitation tools to build capacity.
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Mike Stivanage
Environmental Consultant for ENT Foundation and researcher in biowaste management
Mike Stivanage
Environmental Consultant for ENT Foundation and researcher in biowaste management
Mike Stinavage is a researcher specialised in organic waste management, circular economy, and federalism – with experience in US and EU environmental public programs and outreach. His main interests include waste prevention and revaluation, public communications, and municipal governance. He is currently involved in the LIFE BIOBEST project on bio-waste.
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Gemma Nohales
Consultant for ENT Foundation and bio-waste management expert
Gemma Nohales
Consultant for ENT Foundation and bio-waste management expert
Gemma Nohales Duarte is a European expert in waste management, prevention and circular economy with more than 20 years of experience. She has experience in communication, fair fees and personal data protection applied to waste management, and in the field of public administration. She has worked for the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona-BCNecología for 16 years and for the Waste Agency of Catalonia for 4 years. Since 2023, she has been working as a consultant for ENT Foundation, where she has been involved in the coordination of the LIFE BIOBEST project on bio-waste policies and management within the EU framework. She has participated in seminars and conferences as a speaker and has coordinated training activities in collaboration with the Environmentalist College of Catalonia.
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Marco Ricci Jürgensen
Senior Expert at CIC - Italian Composting and Biogas Association
Marco Ricci Jürgensen
Senior Expert at CIC - Italian Composting and Biogas Association
Marco has 27 years of experience in planning consistent MSW management, designing and upgrading collection and transport schemes, assessing recycling facilities (focus on composting), and working in working groups or projects in countries in Europe, Latin America and Asia. He supported the City of Milan (Italy) in setting up the recycling scheme for food waste in 2012 and defined the strategy for organic waste diversion and recycling for the Mega-City of Sao Paulo in Brazil. In the last years, he supported other cities such as Paris, Madrid and, more recently, Bratislava and Prague in setting up their strategies and schemes to divert organics from disposal to recycling. Currently, he works as a senior expert at the Italian Composting and Biogas Association (C.I.C.), which unites public and private companies, local authorities and others involved in the production of compost. Since 2017 he took over the responsibility for the association’s certification scheme for compostable plastics.