SWANA Announces Winners of The International Solid Waste Design Competition

Project focused on solutions to close the Bakoteh Dumpsite and supporting solid waste management in Kanifing, The Gambia

SWANA is excited to announce the winners of the International Solid Waste Design Competition (SWDC). The University of Vermont was selected as the first-place winner as well as given the Best Presentation Award. Second place went to the University of Texas at Arlington and third place was given to Wayne State University. Lizzie Torres from the University of British Columbia received the Emerging Leader/Rising Star award.

“We tried to approach the case with an awareness that solutions popular in some parts of the world may not be practical in The Gambia," Robbie Mingay from the University of Vermont wrote. "Most of all we treated this case as a learning opportunity and a chance to apply the concepts we've covered in our SI-MBA coursework”

"Our team of judges were so impressed with how this group of student design teams engaged to best understand this solid waste challenge plaguing The Gambia,” Competition judge and Project Manager at SCS Engineers, Chris Jimieson, said. “The students came up with a diverse range of designs that we truly believe will be part of the eventual solution to closing the Bakoteh Dumpsite and constructing The Gambia’s first engineered, sanitary landfill.”

The judging panel also included John Welch, Director of the Dane County Department of Waste & Renewables; Kaba Bah, Principal Manager at the Midwest GOOH Group in Madison, WI; and Lamin Sanyang, Director of Services at Kanifing Municipal Council in The Gambia.

Seven universities participated in the competition: Arizona State University, Wayne State University, University of Southern California, University of Vermont, University of Texas at Arlington, University of British Columbia, and National University of Engineering in Peru.

The Awards Ceremony featured two guest speakers including David Biderman, CEO and Executive Director of SWANA, and Mayor Talib Ahmed Bensouda, Lord Mayor of the Kanifing Municipality, The Gambia. Mayor Bensouda explained how the Bakoteh Dumpsite has become a significant problem for the growing community and solutions they are using to fix it.

“The SWANA student design competition offers an excellent opportunity for the Council to gather innovative ideas towards achieving our long-term goals of closing the Bakoteh Dumpsite and opening a sanitary landfill to serve our residents,” Mayor Bensouda commented. “The posters and reports presented by several student groups are impressive, creative, and insightful. My team and I will study the ideas presented by each group and integrate feasible ideas into our plans.”

“With the event going virtual this year, the planning committee was a bit nervous on how well the competition was going to go, but ultimately the competition turned out to be a huge success and we were blown away by the talented students!” YP Planning Committee Lead, Bridget Wlosek, PE shared. “Seven schools participated, and each did a fantastic job on their reports, posters, and presentations. With a virtual event, I believe we were able to reach a broader audience and have more international schools participate."

SWANA’s YP Planning Committee is also made up of Mateja Vidovic Klanac, Staff Professional at SCS Engineers, and Hailey Tatum, Waste Resource EIT at Waste Management, Inc. along with advisors and competition co-founders Nathan Mayer, Director of Land Management at Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach Co and Karam Singh, Project Manager at HDR.

SWANA would like to thank all of the student participants, the judges, SWANA’s YP Planning Committee, and all of those that attended. A special thank you goes to Lanny and Kay Hickman, stewards of the Hickman Endowment Fund and the exclusive sponsors of the awards this year.

For more information on SWANA’s Student Resources, including FREE Student Membership, YP Program, MentorMatch, and Student Scholarships, visit www.SWANA.org/students.

Employers can also access student resumes from the competition at www.swana.org/swdc.

Watch the recordings from the International Solid Waste Design competition here or watch the awards ceremony below.