Written by Antonis Mavropoulos, CEO of D-waste

21^st century is already characterized by unprecedented global threats and challenges. The current world’s wealth in terms of GDP is unimaginable comparing to the one existing 50 years ago. Still billions of people are trapped in extreme poverty.

Waste management worldwide is part of this global picture. While waste prevention, recycling efforts and waste management technologies are improving and expanding globally, the overall picture is still an ocean of dumpsites and some islands of advanced waste management. Population growth and waste generation are much faster than the expansion of recycling rates and waste management infrastructure.   

There are some decades of countries with developed waste management systems. There are probably some thousands of modern waste management facilities and sanitary landfills. There are hundreds of thousands of dumpsites and their number is growing worldwide, day by day. There are millions of people working in waste management and most of them are scavengers. There are billions of people that do not have even an elementary waste collection service.

If the growth of population and the waste generation rates will continue to overcome the global capacity to deliver appropriate waste management solutions, the planet will be overcrowded by dumpsites. If global cooperation on waste management will remain as weak as it is now, the Ocean Garbage Patches and the criminal waste trafficking activities might be the rule and not the exception.

If poor countries will be left to the Poverty Trap, then the health and environmental impacts of poor waste management will be sooner or later globalized. If marginalized neighborhoods, even in developed countries, are left out of minimum waste management services, then no one will be safe.

Is it worthy to do something about it? For those of us who are waste management professionals, academics, researchers, decision – makers and workers, there is no doubt about it, because we have seen the problems, we have felt the impacts.

Can we do something about it? Yes we can. First we need to make everyone to understand the problem; we have to use all means available to communicate the health and environmental problems involved; we have to upgrade the importance of waste management in global and local political agendas. But this is just the starting point of any serious effort.

Sound waste management, that creates no environmental and health harms, is a human right. It is not a privilege. It must not be depended on personal income, race, gender or national discriminations. It must be easily accessible, affordable and suitable to local conditions.

We need Waste Management for Everyone

Saying that there is a need for a radical change in waste management approaches is one thing. Making the change is what we really need.

Let’s start now.