Costas is Lecturer in Resource Efficiency Systems at the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds. He serves as Vice Chair for the Waste to Energy Resource and Technology Council - UK. Costas is also Honorary Research Associate in the Centre for Environmental Control and Waste Management, Imperial College London.

He is published in leading journals, serves as Associate Editor of Waste Management & Research, and regularly peer-reviews for other journals (e.g. Waste Management, Science of the Total Environment, Habitat International). Costas is a Chartered Waste Manager, registered with relevant professional bodies (CIWM, Institute of Physics).

Costas's expertise in waste and resources management resulted in chairing conference session and participating in scientific committees (e.g., ORBIT 2010). He often travels around the world to deliver invited lectures (e.g., New York, Singapore, Buenos Aires, Vienna, Athens). He is coordinating member of the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) Globalisation and Waste Management Task Force, steering committee member of the CIWM Thermal Treatment Special Interest Group, and member of the ISWA Working Group on Energy Recovery. He also sits in the Environment Technical Group of the Society of Chemical Industry, which brings together academia and industry. 

Prior to joining University of Leeds, Costas worked at Imperial College London as Research Associate in Resource Recovery. He has obtained a PhD in Environmental Engineering from the Centre for Energy and Resource Technology, Cranfield University. In this applied research, he contributed to the understanding of material flows through mechanical-biological treatment plants (MBT) for the production of quality assured solid recovered fuel (SRF). He holds an MSc from Imperial College London in Environmental Engineering and Sustainable Development, where he investigated the informal recycling systems in developing countries and the birth of modern solid waste management in Victorian Britain, and he received the award for Best Sustainable Project Design Guide: 'Sustainable Landfill.' Costas initially graduated in physics from the University of Athens, with a major in Environmental Physics, researching the evolution of urban air pollution and the effectiveness of control measures in Athens from 1980 to 2000.

Latest news

10 October 2012

Costas’s active research portfolio spans many aspects of energy and materials recovery, specialising in production and quality assurance of secondary fuels and materials from wastes. With a diverse scientific background, his research vision is to advance the agenda for the sustainable recovery of resources which are currently wasted. To this, he attempts to introduce inter-disciplinary scientific approaches to the handling of waste, and to disseminate results into the ‘real world’ through industrial collaboration. Key areas of expertise are:

• Production of solid recovered fuels (SRF), by mechanical-biological treatment plants (MBT)
• Waste/materials characterisation, including measurement of biomass enegry content
• Quality management of secondary materials, including sampling and statistical aspects
• Informal sector recycling in environmentally developing countries
• Historic perspectives on urban metabolism and materials recovery.

Research Institute Membership

• Pathogen Control Engineering Institute