Waste is Wealth

Ever wondered how much waste/capita human is producing these days and what happened to that waste? Why suddenly governments, charitable trusts, NGOs, Corporate and human being in general start buzzing about Sustainability, Circular Economy, Food Production & Wastage, Traceability, Pollution and Climate Change as a whole. As this not only impacting our planet but also the businesses, not only our lives but also the entire life-cycle of almost all the living species on this beautiful planet.

I still remember the point made by one of the renowned professors in Beihang University, China during my MBA Exchange Program visit to study International Business in Beijing; “If you want to do Business today, do something to reduce waste, improve air quality” and you will succeed for sure”. Even though business is not the first point I see as an individual but impacting people and bringing positive change in the environment and lives of many but let’s admit this that there’s no harm in talking about money.

This introduced me to a new world of research for days; and I concluded as many others that yes; “waste is a wealth and commodity today”. The top 5 countries around the world producing maximum waste per capita per kg will surely surprise you as it did to me.

1. Kuwait – 5.72 Kg/Capita/Day. Accounting it 5.55 Million tons of waste per year.

2. Antigua and Barbuda – 5.50 Kg/Capita/Day.

3. St. Kitts and Nevis – 5.45 Kg/Capita/Day.

4. Guyana – 5.33 Kg/Capita/Day.

5. Sri Lanka – 5.11 Kg/Capita/Day.

Even though India produce less waste at 0.34 Kg/Capita/Day but with a population of 1.33 billion people it accounts for one of the biggest dumping zones and slums in the world, for instance Mumbai and New Delhi. 65 million tonnes of waste are generated at present which accounts to almost 8% of the total waste produced by the planet. U.S.A stands at 30%.

Driven by rapid urbanization and growing populations, global annual waste generation is expected to jump to 3.4 billion tonnes over next 30 years up from 2.01 billion tones 2016, a report finds. For Instance; Presently, almost 37% of the waste is dumped in landfills whereas more than 25% waste is still dumped in open space. While 11% of all the waste generated is recycled or used for energy generation which should be much higher and here, I see is a Business opportunity which will in future have a great impact on the mother earth.

Even though there are many giant companies and small start-ups working on the similar projects, but we need more and more in order to expedite the process. According to my research what I found is that segregation of above products at the very first step is of utmost importance in order to expedite the further process of solid waste management, e-waste management etc. There are numerous businesses flourishing these days as scrap recycle – Aluminium, Iron etc., Plastics recycling, energy generation from bio-waste and organic compost, minerals extraction from gadgets and electronic devices etc.

Countries need to focus more on these problems in order to have a future free of waste. I believe that zero waste will not just be in research papers and manuals but will be in real for sure. Also, the initiatives taken by young people these days in remarkable in order to clean-up the oceans, lakes etc. and to preserve the heritage. I still remember the seminar I attended in Ghana about Re-Imagining global agriculture and one out of the box innovation was presented there which is running successfully today in India, “Ink from Pollution”.

Let’s get inspired by the work done by many, and inspire others.