The Council for Sustainable Use of Resources (SUR) intends to build on the strengths of past research at Columbia and North Carolina State Universities on recycling, composting, waste-to-energy, and landfill engineering. SUR aims to define the impacts of all solid waste technologies and practices on greenhouse gas emissions and, on a case-by-case basis, establish and validate protocols quantifying greenhouse gas emissions and savings. Through its publications, meetings and web page, SUR will disseminate information on the best waste management technologies that, on a life-cycle basis, will result in reducing the impacts of waste management on Global Climate Change.

An equally important objective of the Earth Engineering Center (EEC) and its components SUR and WTERT is to provide graduate level training in the ways and means of sustainable resource utilization to engineers and scientists, in particular those from rapidly developing nations where the need for managing the ever increasing volume of wastes is most acute. EEC, in close association with the Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, has already been engaged in this role and some of our alumni are working in various parts of the waste management industry in the U.S. and abroad.