The global volume of municipal solid waste is expected to rise to around 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050 – an increase of more than 80 per cent over the 2.1 billion tonnes registered in 2020, according to new figures from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA).
The amount of "uncontrolled waste", that is waste which is dumped or burned openly, is projected to undergo a dramatic increase from 810 million tonnes in 2020 to 1.6 billion tonnes in 2050 if current waste management practices do not change, the organisations wrote in the 2024 edition of their Global Waste Management Outlook (GWMO) which was published last week. A circular economy is the only way forward, according to the report....
