Different environmental groups, mostly from north-east, south-east and south Asia, who are trying to find sustainable, environment-friendly solutions to the growing waste management problem met in July 2000 in Bangkok and formed the Waste Not Asia (WNA) alliance to develop, coordinate and strengthen the initiatives in different countries in Asia. Later WNA has become the Asian Platform of the Global Anti Incinerator Alliance (GAIA), which was formed in Johannesburg in last December.

From last 26th to 30th July, Waste Not Asia held its second Annual Conference in Taipei, Taiwan. Groups from Cambodia, China, Guam, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam took part in the Conference. Participants from USA and Newzeand were also present. DISHA being one of the founder members of WNA took part in the Conference along with three other Indian participants from Toxics Link, Thanal and Green Peace India. The Conference was envisaged to meet the following objectives:

• Inform and educate the participants on current and emerging waste management issues affecting the environment, peoples and nations of the region. ·
• Share experiences and build skills to help advance our common mission, specifically to promote non-burn and ecological alternatives of waste incineration.

Participants presented the respective country reports, which provided an overview of the current as well as rising problems of various countries in the sphere of waste management. It was noted that the prevailing culture of the developed countries is to 'consume more-dump more-burn then'. The authorities in these countries, having connivance with or under the pressure of corporate sectors, are opting for more and more incinerators to burn waste. Narrow interests are dominating. Threat to environment is not having due concern. Dioxin level has reached at alarming level. The authorities of underdeveloped countries are also following the track. They are planning to follow the same expensive means of anti-environment technologies to destroy waste through burning. In many of the countries incinerator has not yet been installed but the method of open land filling practiced there can never be termed as environment friendly. Dirty land filling is a common practice. Whole of the waste are mixed up and carried to the dumpsites. Then a good amount from it are picked up by the waste (rag) pickers and again come back to the cities. But the mixed wastes devalue the recyclable materials. A major portion is spoilt. The waste pickers are exposed to extreme health risk. On the other hand, the Conference noted that, although few, there are number of positive examples, where waste is managed through recycling and composting. The organizers of the WNA Conference arranged two different trips so that the participants may have direct experience of waste management procedures in Taiwan. First one was in the county of I-lan. Kitchen waste being 35% of the total waste is managed there mostly by composting at the household level. Just consider how many trucks our city authorities deploy to send our kitchen waste to the dumpsite. The second visit was an incinerator in Taipei. The huge massive structure with a long chimney (painted as a giraffe) of an incinerator reflected the determined attitude of the city authorities to burn the city waste whatever pollution causes.

Overall, the five-day Conference proved most valuable in providing activists across the region with time and space to listen and learn from each other and strengthen linkages, regionally and sub-regionally. It was a big boost as well to the local anti-incineration movement as they strive to switch off the over 35 waste burners all over Taiwan.

Waste Not Asia calls upon all the concerned groups and individuals to develop strategies for managing waste according to the local needs following the principle of three 'R's (Reduce consumption, Reuse materials, Recycle the discards).

The Conference enhanced GAIA's effort to develop sub-regional nodes towards a more decentralized implementation of efforts that will complement and bolster anti-incineration initiatives worldwide. Specific action plans were formulated which will serve as the priorities of the WNA. At the regional level, WNA will conduct research on 1) ADB promotion and funding of waste incineration projects, 2) Japanese financing of dirty technologies, and 3) e-waste dumping in developing countries. The participants resolved to urge their governments to ratify the four global toxics treaties (also known as the "Package of Four"). They likewise agreed to facilitate training activities on clean production to underpin members' advocacy for real alternatives versus the waste crisis. Organizationally, the participants agreed to work towards the extension of the WNA platform by actively seeking new members from all corners of the vast region.