Members of the IGS's Technical Committee on Soil Reinforcement (TC-R) and Sustainability Committee spread the word on greener solutions at the recent EGRWSE 2025.

This time held in Vigo, Northern Spain, the 6th International Conference on Environmental Geotechnology, Recycled Waste Materials and Sustainable Engineering (EGRWSE) focuses on topics including the circular economy, renewables and resilient practices.

TC-R chair Ivan Puig Damians spoke on 'Exploring sustainability assessment of geosynthetic-based solutions in civil engineering' as well as chairing a session on 'Sustainable geo-infrastructure'.

Additionally, representing the IGS Sustainability Committee, PhD candidate Anibal Moncada, of Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya Barcelona Tech, and the International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering, gave a presentation on 'Impact of stakeholders' interest on sustainability assessment of geosynthetic reinforced soil structures'.

Mr Moncada gave a critical take on how social, environmental, and economic perspectives converged in infrastructure decision-making by demonstrating the IGS Environmental Sustainability Calculator and MIVES, a sustainability assessment tool created by the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya Barcelona Tech.

Dr. Damians said: "It was an excellent experience assisting at EGRWSE 2025 and sharing the latest developments in sustainable solutions in soil reinforcement and stabilization technology.

"The conference covered a fascinating spread of topics including cutting edge research on sustainable geotechnics, global collaboration on resilient infrastructure, innovative uses of recycled and waste materials, and real-world solutions for circular economy challenges.

"There is a real movement in our industries towards a more sustainable future and the IGS is a key player in supporting this drive through education and cooperation."

EGRWSE 2025 took place on June 11-14 and was organized by the School of Industrial Engineering BiotecnIA Research Group at the University of Vigo, the Department of Civil, Materials and Environmental Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago, and the Department of Civil Engineering National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar, India.

Find out more about the IGS Technical Committees by visiting the dedicated page here, and IGS Sustainability Committee and related resources here.