The Center for Sustainable Use of Resources will build on the strengths of past research at Columbia and North Carolina State on recycling, composting, waste-to-energy, and landfill engineering.  Also, the Center will clearly define the impacts of all solid waste technologies and practices with regard to greenhouse gas emissions and, on a case-by-case basis, establish and validate protocols that account for greenhouse gas emissions and savings that may be easily replicated and readily accepted.  SUR will also identify technologies that can replace some virgin feedstock with appropriate, local waste streams. , Through its publications, meetings and web page, SUR will disseminate information on the best waste management technologies and methods 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 SUR Center is to provide graduate level training, at the participating universities, in the ways and means of sustainable resource utilization to engineers and scientists from the U.S. and around the world, in particular from the developing world where the need for modern management of wastes is most acute. The Earth Engineering Center, in collaboration 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. There have been more than twenty theses written on various aspects of waste management, including in depth studies of implementing advanced processes and methodologies in Chile, China, Greece, and India.