This is what the world’s waste does to people in poorer countries

It’s contaminating our oceans. It’s clogging our drains and causing flooding. It’s transmitting diseases, causing respiratory infections, and harming animals. Welcome to the global trash heap.

Our cities generate more than 2 billion tonnes of waste every year, but one-quarter of the world’s population doesn’t have access to a proper waste collection system. In low-income countries all but a small amount of solid waste is burned or dumped.

And it is these poorer countries that are shouldering much of the burden of our global waste habit. Between 400,000 and 1 million people die each year in developing countries because of diseases caused by mismanaged waste, estimates poverty charity Tearfund.

As countries become more prosperous, their trash cans become increasingly full. Rapid urbanisation and population growth adds to the problem, making collection increasingly problematic and sites for treatment harder to locate. For many local administrations, particularly in poorer settings, waste management can be the single biggest expenditure.

Waste is piling up fastest in the countries least able to deal with it. Sub-Saharan African countries’ overall waste generation is currently projected to triple by 2050.

Περισσότερα εδώ: www.weforum.org