On behalf of the Scientific and Organising Committee, I am pleased to welcome you in Naxos Island, Greece and to the NAXOS 2018 6th International Conference on Sustainable Solid Waste Management (http://www.naxos2018.uest.gr).

As in the cases of the previous international conferences:

ATHENS 2012 (http://athens2012.uest.gr), ATHENS 2014 (http://www.athens2014.biowaste.gr), TINOS 2015 (http://www.tinos2015.uest.gr), CYPRUS 2016(http://www.cyprus2016.uest.gr) & ATHENS 2017 (http://www.athens2017.uest.gr),

the NAXOS 2018 6th International Conference aims to make a step forward in the field of solid waste management through the promotion of innovative technologies and effective practices.

We are happy to announce that the series of our conferences keeps attracting the attention of the academics, private and public sector local authorities and businesses. This is proven by the gradual increase in the numbers of participants, the participating countries, the abstracts received and papers presented during the conference

Significant effort is made to improve the quality of the papers and keep high standards, as proven by the increase of the papers finally published in the collaborating high reputation journals that are also more this year. At the same time, efforts are continuous in order to achieve high quality services for the conference participants. It is also important to note the introduction for the first time of a summer school prior to the conference.

The NAXOS 2018 Conference aims to stimulate the interest of scientific community, competent authorities of public and private sector and inform them about the latest developments and achievements in the field of solid waste management with special emphasis on municipal solid waste. Biological Treatment (composting & anaerobic digestion), the treatment at central facilities, waste prevention, separation at source & recycling also constitute priority subjects of the conference agenda. The new concept of this conference is the emphasis given to waste management in remote and isolated areas like islands.

The Conference will provide an opportunity to bring together scientists & professionals from government departments, Municipalities, private institutions, research & education institutions, industry, being a forum for the exchange of the most recent ideas, techniques & experiences in all areas of solid waste management.

A special Session will focus on solid waste management and the role of Local Authorities & Municipalities for taking advantage of both recyclable materials and biowaste. Last but not least, the intention of the Conference is to seek and promote networking opportunities through a session devoted to Environmentrelated Competitive EU Programmes.

The Conference will provide an opportunity to bring together scientists & professionals from government departments, industries, Municipalities, private institutions, research & education institutions, being a forum for the exchange of the most recent ideas, techniques & experiences in all areas of solid waste management. A special workshop will also focus on representatives of local authorities and municipalities in order to promote integrated solid waste management schemes.

The Conference is organized within the LIFE PAVEtheWAySTE project (LIFE14 ENV/GR/000722) (www.pavethewayste.eu), aiming to facilitate the implementation of the Waste Framework Directive in remote areas and more specifically in Koufonisi, Donousa, Schoinousa, Iraklia, the four small islands of the Municipality of Naxos & Small Islands, as well as in Ancient Olympia.The scope is to enable local and regional authorities to improve their municipal waste recycling performance and thus pave the way to high resource recovery and circular economy. This will be achieved through the development and application of an economically viable solid waste management plan, based on the demonstration of an innovative system for the fine separation of municipal solid waste at source. The Conference agenda is rich and dense, offering a considerable variety of topics presented through more than 350 presentations within the twenty-six different oral sessions and an extensive poster session throughout the conference duration at the Cultural Center former Ursuline School at the beautiful island of Naxos. The island is famous for the diverse landscape of mountain and sea plus the additional access to its four surrounding smaller islands (the Small Cyclades). All five island destinations cater for all ages and tastes.

We hope you will find the NAXOS 2018 Conference useful and up to your expectations and in parallel enjoy Naxos and its people that are proud for their land, beaches and traditions.