How can waste be transformed from a burden into a resource? In August 2025, Assoc. Prof. Tatiana Alexiou Ivanova from the Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences, CULS Prague, led a training at the National University of Battambang, introducing sustainable waste management technologies inspired by Czech experience.
The whole world – Cambodia in particular – faces a pressing question: what to do with waste? It is not only a matter of overflowing landfills and polluted environments, but also a mental challenge: we tend to see waste merely as something to get rid of. Yet it is a raw material of enormous potential – capable of being transformed into energy, fertiliser or valuable resources for further production. We need a shift in perspective: to stop viewing waste as a burden and start seeing it as an opportunity.
This point of view on waste was the central theme of the training held from 11 to 15 August 2025 by Assoc. Prof. Tatiana Alexiou Ivanova, Ph.D., from the Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences at the Czech University of Life Sciences Prague. The course took place at the National University of Battambang as part of the SmartAgriCambodia project, supported by CzechAid.
Over five days she trained students, university staff and members of professional organisations, presenting a comprehensive approach to waste management that combined scientific insights with hands-on demonstrations. Participants learned about the potential of biomass and the technologies that can turn waste into value-added products. Topics included the production of briquettes and pellets, composting methods, and the use of biochar, with particular attention given to identifying the most suitable types of biomass and technologies for Cambodian conditions. The programme also featured excursions – for example to COMPOSTED, a company specialising in compost production and municipal waste management, to a fish-processing facility, and to a distillery using rice husks as fuel, where the process could be made significantly easier and more efficient through briquetting or pelleting. Practical demonstrations of briquette combustion were also part of the training.
Cambodia is a country with a young population and a rapidly growing economy, yet with urban expansion and rising consumption comes a corresponding increase in waste. Clean streets, a healthier environment, and more self-sufficient rural communities can become reality if sustainable waste management takes root. Inspiration from the Czech Republic – where modern technologies are combined with a long-standing tradition of recycling and community engagement – can play an important role. The cooperation of the Faculty of Tropical AgriSciences with universities, institutions, and farmers in the tropics shows that sharing knowledge and experience is not an academic formality but a pathway to improving everyday reality. Sometimes it only takes a shift in perspective: waste is not the end, but the beginning.
