Ballooning waste
Report calls for action now to avoid worsening scenario
A NEW report from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is shedding light on the scale of the world’s municipal solid waste problem, which is predicted to grow from 2.1 billion tonnes generated in 2023 to some 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050.
“Every year across the globe, more than two billion tonnes of municipal solid waste is generated. If packed into standard shipping containers and placed end-to-end, this waste would wrap around the Earth’s equator 25 times, or further than traveling to the moon and back,” reads the 2024 Global Waste Management Outlook, ‘Beyond an age of Waste: Turning rubbish into a resource’.
“Municipal waste is generated wherever there are human settlements. It is influenced by each person in the world, with every purchasing decision, through daily practices and in the choices made about managing waste in the home. The way people buy, use and discard materials determines the amount of energy and raw materials used and how much waste is generated. Municipal waste is thus intrinsically linked to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss,” it said further.
Since the first Global Waste Management Report was published in 2015, the 2024 report said, humanity had made little progress in addressing the waste problem.
“Despite some concerted efforts, little has changed. If anything, humanity has moved backwards, generating more waste, more pollution and more greenhouse gas emissions. Billions of tonnes of municipal waste is still being generated every year, and billions of people still don’t have their waste collected,” it revealed.
What is more, the report highlighted that uncontrolled waste knows no national borders, making waste generation a global problem requiring collaborative and sustained solutions.
“It is carried by waterways across and between countries, while emissions from the burning and open dumping of waste are deposited in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and in the atmosphere. Pollution from waste is associate with a range of adverse health and environmental effects, many of which will last for generations,” it said.
ZERO WASTE
Against this background, among the recommendations advanced by the report is the implementation of“zero waste and circular economy strategies” and attention to the cost of waste.
“Urgent change is needed to prevent the costs of waste spiralling out of control. All stakeholders – public, private and civil society – must work together to reduce waste, reduce its complexity, and reduce the leakage of legacy pollutants into the environment,” the UNEP report maintained.
“Materials need to be kept in use for as long as possible and at their highest possible value. Recyclability and accountability need to increase,” it added.
Importantly, the report said, there is also the need for attention to safety and the quality of the livelihoods of people who work with waste. To give priority to this issue, the report explained, is to ensure a “just transition with social and environmental justice at its core”.