Dear Participants,

welcome to the internet discussion of the paper "Technical and financial
evaluation of composting programmes in the Phillipines, India and Nepal".
First of all I welcome and thank the authors Inge Lardinois and Rogier
Marchand for their informative paper.

Inge Lardinois is working at WASTE  a non-profit organization for development
projects in countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. WASTE works for
organizations that aim at a sustainable improvement of the living conditions
of the urban low-income population and of the urban environment in general.

Rogier Marchand holds a Master of Arts in Economics with a special focus on
International Economic Relations, Development Economics and Finance. His
experiences have been gained in Honduras, the Philippines and recently in
Bulgaria. In Honduras he focussed his thesis’ research on the accessibility
to agricultural credits for small farmers, whereas in the Philippines he
conducted marketing research analysis on an integrated solid waste management
system and on credit strategies for a multi-sectoral cooperative.   Rogier
worked as a research assistant in a World Bank project on multi criteria
decision-making in water supply, solid waste, sanitation and waste water, and
as an interim project manager in the Urban Waste Expertise Programme Pilot
Project for Bauan and Tingloy, the Philippines. In south west of Bulgaria he
coordinated a study into the waste paper stream, identifying feasible
alternatives for  a papermill in Blagoevgrad. Currently he is detached as an
agricultural economist in Loja, Ecuador, working for a strong national
grassroot organisation "Fondo Ecuatoriano Populorum Progressio" with the aim
of strengthening the rural areas.

In the Central European countries the composting of source seperated biowaste
is one of the most important parts in modern waste management. The technology
is sophisticated, the biological processes are stable and the investement as
well as the operation costs are well known. The treatment plants generate
high qualitiy compost which is controlled by quality assurance authorities.
The adaptation of these technologies in developing countries still makes
problems due to differences in many economic and cultural fields. Necessary
is an active interchange of information and know how not only between
industrial and developing countries but also inbetween developing countries.
It´s my pleasure to chair this paper which shows that it is possible to
compare very different composting plants and waste management systems to
forward the know how and technology transfer.

As my self introduction I like to say that since 1998, after my studies in
Environmental Technologies and Hygiene, I am working at the University of
Applied Sciences as Scientific Assistant in the field of waste management. My
activities are to process international projects on EU-level, to elaborate
Waste Management Plans for local authorities and to deveolop analysing
methods for biowaste. In addition I have founded an consultancy which advices
small and medium sized enterprises in the field of waste management and
logistics. At the moment I am writing my second diplom thesis to conclude my
postgraduate studies in Industrial Engineering. Within my first studies I
enjoyed a ten month stay in Ecuador to work in the field of drinking water
treatement and a three month stay in Sri Lanka to work within a GTZ-Project
in the field of waste water treatment.

It is a special pleasure to introduce Manfred Fehr as the co-chairperson. He
is a Chemical engineer with accumulated professional experience in 19
countries. Engages in environmental and energy management, project
engineering and formation of talents. Founder of two local chapters of the
Brazilian Chemical Engineering Society. President of the Total Environment
Foundation. Registered professional engineer in Brazil and Canada. Speaks 5
languages, has to his credit more than 170 papers and appears in 15
international biographical dictionaries.

With this introduction I want to welcome all participants to the discussion
of a very interesting paper which hopefully will support an active
interchange of information and experiences.

Andreas Behnsen

++
   Andreas Behnsen   (Dipl.-Ing.)

     Fachhochschule Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel
     Institut für Abfalltechnik und Umweltüberwachung (IfAU)

     University of Applied Sciences Braunschweig/Wolfenbüttel
     Institute for Waste Management and Environmental Monitoring (IfAU)
     Salzdahlumer Str. 46/48
     38302 Wolfenbüttel, Germany

  e-mail: a.behnsen@fh-wolfenbuettel.de
  Tel.:   ++49-(0)5331-939 733
  Mobil:  ++49-(0)170-83 64 272
  Fax :   ++49-(0)5331-939 744