We are living in a world of waste – and to change our waste handling behaviour will help to improve our global situation

A global study published by the World Bank in 2018 projected waste generation to grow from 2.24 billion tonnes in 2020 to 3.88 billion tonnes by 2050. This study revealed that the only solution to avoid this exponential increase is to implement waste reduction policies all over the world.

Who is generating the biggest part of global waste?

In the updated study from 2020 there were several findings:

• Waste generation patterns differ across income levels. Residents of countries with higher levels of prosperity generally produce more waste: high-income countries are estimated to generate 1.60 kg/person/day of waste on average, compared to low-income countries with only 0.41 kg/person/day.
• Different regions of the world produce varying levels of waste, due to income disparities. On an aggregated level, the East Asia and the Pacific region is estimated to produce the most waste, followed by Europe and Central Asia.

How can we reduce our global waste?

Case studies in different cities (Cambridge, US; Yokohama, JN; Tacloban, Philippines) showed a significant reduction of waste per capita of 30% in average by 3 different means:

1.??????educating and empowering residents (e.g., “How to recycle right”-campaigns)

2.??????improving existing waste systems

3.??????offer new services to reduce residual waste

One example for improving the existing waste system is the municipal achievements of Yokohama between 2000 and 2010. The number of household waste categories were increased from five to ten, adding separated collection for streams such as used clothes and plastic containers. The city began collecting bulky items on demand and set up an online tool for citizens to pay special fees for large items.

In Tacloban interventions undertaken by the city included a “no segregation, no collection” approach to households, launching locally relevant awareness campaigns and implementing a decentralized collection system with community-scale sorting centres to minimize transport costs

What can REMONDIS do for you by reducing your regional waste/capita output?

At REMONDIS – a family-run business – we have become one of the world’s leading recycling, service and water companies. We have established high recycling and environmental standards around the globe. We operate more than 800 plants and facilities worldwide and our business units are ranging from industrial businesses to the public sector and private-public partnerships. This enables us to find the perfect solution for you and your business needs.

REMONDIS – we are working for the future.

#wastemanagment #sustainability #zerowaste #globalwaste

Source: World Bank Group: More growth less garbage, 2021