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The generation of municipal solid waste (MSW) has dramatically expanded over the last few decades as a result of population growth, economic growth, and associated changes in production and consumption patterns.
FREMONT, CA: Municipal solid waste (MSW) generation has increased significantly over the past few decades as a result of population and economic expansion as well as corresponding changes in production and consumption patterns. According to projections, the global population produced 1.9 Gt/yr of MSW in 2015 and is anticipated to produce roughly 3.5 Gt/yr in 2050. High-income nations produce more trash annually per person than low-income nations: They are in charge of 34 per cent of the MSW produced annually, despite making up just 16 per cent of the world's population. Multiple environmental and health effects will emerge from the lack of facilities that can handle the massive amounts of MSW5.
High-income nations can implement measures and tools to deal with the increasing MSW flows, potentially leading to cleaner and more well-organised waste management systems. Examples include the EU Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC6 and its amendment EU Directive 2018/8517, the EU Landfill Directive 1999/31/EC8 and its amendment EU Directive 2018/8509, and the EU Directive on Packaging and Packaging Waste 94/62/EC10 and its amendment EU Directive 2018/85211. However, initiatives that only seek to boost recycling and reuse have a negligible effect on lowering waste production. Although some countries, such as the Netherlands, have succeeded in reducing MSW generation, the majority of them are still unable to reduce per capita MSW generation.
Contrarily, low-income nations frequently lack adequate management systems as a result of a lack of funding, inadequate planning, poor legal execution, and a lack of technology and expertise. Additionally, the environmental issues brought on by insufficient waste management systems are made worse by the outsourcing of resource-intensive industries and trash exports from high-income to low-income countries. In low-income nations, open burning, littering, and poorly run landfills are frequently the primary methods of garbage disposal. The burning of open garbage releases harmful chemicals and greenhouse gases (GHGs).
Wildlife and ecosystems are harmed by litter, particularly marine life. One of the main contributors to ocean pollution today is global marine litter. Methane (CH4), a GHG that is 28 times more potent per Kg emitted than carbon dioxide (CO2) over 100 years, can be released through organic waste decomposition in landfills. These unsustainable practices have been shown to have negative effects on human health as well as the environment and climate. Recent waste research has focused on evaluating the connections between waste and resource usage, climate change, air pollution, and water pollution.
Previous studies found that just 13 per cent of the world's generated MSW is recycled, and only 5.5 per cent is composted. Furthermore, it is predicted that, with the implementation of circular management systems, the relative contribution of energy from waste and wastewater to the world's primary energy could rise from two per cent to nine per cent by 2040 and provide 64 EJ of energy annually (1 EJ = 1Kilo Joules) at the end of this period. Research on GHG and air pollution shows that the open burning of MSW is a significant source of particulate matter and air pollutant emissions, and landfills generate roughly 15 per cent of the world's anthropogenic CH4 emissions.
They provide a way for evaluating the generation and composition of MSW in urban and rural areas, as well as the accompanying emissions of GHG and air pollutants, and their effects on ambient PM2.5, on a worldwide scale. The five Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) and a scenario corresponding with the population and macroeconomic pathways of the IEA's World Economic Outlook 201834 serve as the activity drivers for the global model. For each of the six future socio-economic trajectories, two alternative scenarios—a Baseline - CLE and a Maximum Technically Feasible Reduction (MFR)—are devised. In these scenarios, circular municipal waste management systems are adopted internationally. A thorough depiction of the MSW sector, along with its associated emissions and mitigation potentials, can be incorporated as input into Integrated Assessments Models (IAMs), which are used to create emission scenarios for the IPCC, support studies on regional and local air pollution, and inform local and national governments about the likely course of events, environmental effects, and mitigation opportunities in the MSW sector.
