The 7th International Conference on Waste Management and Technology was held at Xijiao Hotel on 5-7 September, 2012, in Beijing. About 450 delegates from more than 30 countries who were in research institutes, enterprises and government departments attended the conference.

This conference was hosted by Tsinghua University, National Centre of Solid Waste Management of Ministry of Environmental Protection, United Nations Environment Programme and Stockholm Convention Regional Centre for Capacity-building and the Transfer of Technology in Asia and the Pacific. And the organizers were Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Asia and the Pacific and The Society of Solid Waste of Chinese Society for Environmental Sciences.

Ms. Li Lei, Deputy Director General of Department of Pollution Prevention and Control, Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People's Republic of China, Prof. Hao Jiming, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, and Ms. Heidelore Fiedler from United Nations Environment Programme gave welcome address at the opening ceremony of the conference. Ms. Li Lei, and Ms.Qian Yi, academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, made keynote speeches on the Chinese experience on solid waste management, the development of urban mining and the development of circular economy. Mr. Donald Cooper from United Nations Environment Programme, Prof. Shin-ichi Sakai, Chairman of Japan Society of Material Cycles and Waste Management, Mr. Zhong Bin, director of division of solid waste management, department of pollution prevention and control, Ministry of Environmental Protection, and Dr. Hu Hualong, standing deputy director of National Centre of Solid Waste Management of Ministry of Environmental Protection, etc. together with 48 well-known experts and scholars gave wonderful presentations on trend and development of solid waste management, circular economy and urban mining, international E-waste collection and management experience as well as municipal waste, rural waste, hazardous waste, industrial waste, municipal solid waste, and sludge management and disposal issues.

The conference received a total of 120 papers. The Proceeding of the 7th International Conference on Solid Waste Management and Technology will be published by Elsevier and submit to EI and ISTP for indexing.

The International Conference on Waste Management and Technology has become a platform of great importance which elaborates scientific ideas, demonstrates advanced experience, discusses environmental issues, and finds solutions for solid waste management and technology. Since 2003, the conference has been successfully held for the seven times, and become one of the significant international conferences in the field of solid waste. The conference sets up the Steering Committee and The Industry Expert Committee of 48 experts who comes from home and aboard in the field of the solid waste management, technical research and industry. Prof. Hao Jiming takes the Chairman of the Steering Committee, and Prof. Li Jinhui, Executive Secretary of Basel Convention Coordinating Centre for Asia and the Pacific takes the Conference Chairman.

With the goal of promoting solid waste management technology, policy research and exchange in the Asia-Pacific region, “11th Expert Meeting on Solid Waste Management in Asia and Pacific Island”was held in conjunction with the 7th conference. “Combined Meeting of the Advisory Committee of the PCBs Elimination Network (4th Meeting) and of the Core Teams of the Thematic Groups” and “The 5th China-Japan Inter-Ministerial Working Group on Waste Import &Export” was also held back-to-back with the current conference.