Not so long ago, a degree in waste would have sounded a bit narrow, but opportunities now abound in this expanding field. Dr Margaret Bates updates us on the waste education situation

Wastes management is a relatively new and rapidly evolving academic discipline. In the early 1990s, the University of Northampton first started teaching wastes management as a series of optional modules, quickly evolving into a single honours degree. In those early days, we were often asked: ‘How can you make a whole degree out of wastes?’ In fact, with subjects as diverse as landfill, hazardous wastes, MBT, politics of wastes, energy from waste, organic wastes, and wastes management legislation, the issue is: ‘What can we leave out?’ The variability in material that can be included also partly accounts for the differences in curricula at the various universities offering what, on the surface, sounds very similar and, in reality, is very different. And it all needs to be – seemingly continuously – revised and updated to keep pace with
the needs of industry and the whims of policy makers.