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Waste is defined a little differently in every corner of our planet. Even though it is basically the same type of waste, the legislation always approaches it in a different way. Generally, however, it is something that no longer serves its purpose, something that we no longer want or something that we simply have to get rid of. Anyway, waste is always just a point of view – because what is waste for one person can be raw material for another.
From a historical point of view, waste did not play a major role. On the one hand, it was due to the small population and mainly the use of natural resources. The most common waste from pre-modern times was thus ash and biological waste, which itself degraded safely in the ground. If man was already making something artificially (for example, from iron or ceramics), then these things were reused and passed down from generation to generation.
In any case, waste today plagues the entire planet, even in its farthest corners. There is not a single place where no form of waste is found. Our waste is found even in sites outside planet Earth.
Waste classification A remarkable variety of definitions and classification approaches are used worldwide to categorize or name waste. And just as there is a diverse approach to the classification of waste, there are equally diverse approaches to how each country treats waste – but more on that below.
We can divide waste according to the origin of the source or how the waste must be handled. But in general, we can talk about safe waste, such as food scraps, paper, bottles, etc., which can be recycled or composted – or about hazardous waste such as batteries, household cleaners, drug residues and garden pesticides.
Safe waste The most common type of safe waste is municipal waste. Globally, 2.01 billion metric tons of it are produced, and by 2050 the total volume is expected to increase by about 70 percent to 3.4 billion metric tons. It is created in homes, stores, small businesses and office buildings. It includes, for example, biowaste, paper, plastics, glass, textiles, metal waste also in the form of beverage cans, and wood from gardens or households. It is waste that is not harmful to the environment or to human health. However, safe waste does not always mean that it cannot become dangerous, for example, due to improper storage or omission of, for example, the recycling process.
As we have already mentioned the diversity of definitions and waste management around the world, for example in the USA, municipal waste is divided into:
Did you know... the US represents only about 4 % of the world's population, yet is responsible for almost 12 % of the world's municipal solid waste production?
What is to be found in the imaginary global trash can? Let’s look at the most common types of waste:
Food It may come as a surprise, but food is one of the most common types of waste. Even at a time when more than 780 million people in the world do not know if they will have anything to eat. Despite the fact that enough food is produced in the world to feed 1.5 times the world's population, 40 % of the food produced worldwide ends up in waste. Most of it is composed of fruit and vegetables.
Paper Paper is one of the most common types of waste in households and enterprises. It is the raw material that is also the easiest to recycle and to be used again. Over 400 million metric tons of paper are produced each year. Paper is most often used as:
Worldwide, paper accounts for about 17 % of the total amount of waste.
Plastic The history of plastic production goes back only a little more than 100 years. The first fully synthetic plastic was Bakelite, produced in 1907 by the Belgian chemist, Leo Hendrik Baekeland. Since the middle of the 20th century, plastic waste has gradually become a problem, and today plastic waste is catching up with paper waste. Over 400 million metric tons of plastic are produced each year (in 2021) and some reports state that up to 50 % of this is for single use. While the lifespan of plastic products is around 10 years on average, plastics can take up to 500 years to decompose, depending on their composition and disposal. Globally, plastic accounts for more than 12 % of the total amount of waste.
Glass Glass is a material that has been known for more than 6 000 years and has actually always been found in Nature in some form. More than 20 million tons of glass are produced annually, which is most often used as packaging glass (45 %). Globally, glass accounts for almost 5 % of the total amount of waste.
Metals To give you an idea, 2.8 billion tons of metals were mined worldwide in 2021:
Global production of both iron ore and aluminum has more than tripled since the mid-1990s. Other metals (including copper and steel) also have seen a significant growth in consumption. Regarding waste, metal takes up about 4 % of the total amount of waste.
Hazardous waste If any type of waste has a negative effect on the environment and the health of people or animals, or there is some other danger when handling it, we refer to it as hazardous waste.
Hazardous waste has or may have hazardous properties such as:
Hazardous waste is usually divided into several categories, according to its origin and properties. Of course, these categories may vary by country or region. They can be:
We can also divide it, according to where hazardous waste comes from, as defined by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA):
However, there are international agreements and guidelines that set minimum standards for hazardous waste management. For example:
How is waste handled and where does it end up? Just as the distribution and specification of individual types of waste are not the same for all countries, so is its management. But if we look at the global values, it can give us an idea of how well we can (or rather can not) handle waste, and where there is room for improvement.
Landfilling Landfilling is the most common and also the oldest way of managing waste. Historically (since about 3000 BC), waste was only piled up or thrown into pits. These sites have become an interesting source of information for archaeologists. In modern history, landfilling became massively widespread, even before the middle of the 20th century. Worldwide, up to 70 % of waste ends up in landfills:
Landfilling percentages vary, of course. In the US about 50 % of all waste goes into landfills, in the EU, this is approx. 32.2 %.
Recycling Recycling is an ideal and increasingly popular way of dealing with waste. It is environmentally friendly, as it helps to conserve natural resources and reduces the amount of waste that is otherwise landfilled or incinerated. Unfortunately, the global recycling level is about 9-13 %. Compared to the amount of recycled material, developed countries are leading. In the US, 32 % of waste is recycled, while in the EU the recycling rate is over 50 %. In developing countries, recycling rates are often less than 5 %. Recycling is also not omnipotent and has its limits. In addition to the fact that not all materials can be recycled, the number of recycling cycles is also limited in some cases:
Incineration Incineration is almost exclusively the domain of high- and upper-middle-income countries. Worldwide, about 11 % of waste ends up in incinerators. Lower income countries rely more on landfilling. Incineration can reduce the volume of disposed waste by up to 95 %. This means less waste ends up in landfills, reducing the need for additional landfills. Combustion can be a sustainable way of producing energy and reduces dependence on fossil fuels. It can be used for the generation of electricity and for supplying households with heat and hot water.
Composting The ideal way of disposing of biodegradable waste (such as kitchen or garden waste) is composting. It is environmentally friendly and, in addition to helping to conserve natural resources, it also improves soil quality. Globally, however, only about 5.5 % of waste is disposed of in this way.
Other types of waste As waste we understand things that are unnecessarily lying about and no longer serve any purpose. But if we perceive waste as something that can be harmful or dangerous, we should expand the list a little more.
Wastewater Wastewater is water that has been used for some purpose and its quality has been changed by this use, usually for the worse. Wastewater can be divided into:
Air pollution Air pollution is the presence of harmful substances in the air. These substances can be in the form of gasses, particles or aerosols. Air pollution can cause a number of health problems, such as respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Air pollution can (and in most cases does) have negative effects on the environment. It can cause damage to plants and animals, degradation of the landscape and climate change. The main sources of air pollution are:
Space junk Space junk is the general name for thousands of pieces of debris of various sizes that orbit our planet. It is estimated that there are about 200 000 pieces of 1 to 10 cm (0.4 to 4 in) in diameter, and that there could be millions of pieces smaller than 1 cm. Much of the debris is in low Earth orbit within 2 000 km (1 200 miles) of the Earth's surface, although some debris can be found in geostationary orbit 35 786 km (22 236 miles) above the equator.
Whether we are aware of it or not, most of our daily activities involve the creation of waste. If we behaved responsibly as a society, waste would be minimized and we would be able to reuse most materials. But that is not happening.
Plastic waste Plastic waste has become one of the most fundamental problems for the environment. Because it is resistant to decomposition, it can last in the environment for hundreds or even thousands of years. During this time, it can break down into microplastics and chemicals that can enter the food chain. Microplastics have been detected throughout the human body, including in the blood, saliva, liver, kidney and placenta.
Global production of plastic waste more than doubled from 2000 to 2019 to 353 million tonnes. Almost two-thirds of plastic waste comes from plastics with a lifespan of less than 5 years, of which:
Of the seven billion tons of plastic waste the world has produced so far, less than 10 percent has been recycled. So when it comes to dealing with plastic waste, humanity (according to the OECD) is not doing very well:
Therefore we can encounter plastic waste practically anywhere on our planet. It manifests itself in the form of:
Did you know... it is estimated that approx. 1 000 of the world's rivers are responsible for nearly 80 % of the global annual riverine emissions of plastic into the oceans? These range between 0.8 and 2.7 million tonnes per year, with small urban rivers being among the most polluting.
Soil pollution More than 75 % of our planet's land is degraded by waste. If this trend continues, it could be 95 % by 2050. About 3.2 billion people worldwide are negatively affected by contaminated soil.
Consequences of soil pollution: Soil pollution has a number of negative effects on the environment and human health. These impacts include:
Air pollution Air pollution is characterized by the presence of harmful substances in the air, which can have a negative impact on the health of people, animals and plants and, of course, on the climate. This is due to:
Air pollutants include:
Increasing paper consumption Global paper consumption has increased by 400 % over the past 40 years, with the average American using over 700 pounds of paper per year, the most per capita in the world. Increased paper production will also put further pressure on the world's forests, which are already in a critical condition and steadily deteriorating.
40 % of the world's commercially harvested wood is used to make paper, and this is expected to be 50 % by 2050. From 2001 to 2019, a total of 386 million hectares of forest were lost globally (in all forest types combined). This loss represents a nearly 10 % decline in forest cover since 2000.
Wood pulp and paper is the third largest air, water and land polluter of all industries in Canada and the sixth largest in the US. The pulp and paper industry releases more than 100 million kilograms of toxic pollution annually.
Did you know... the fashion industry is one of the most polluting industries in the world? According to estimates, more than 100 billion clothing items are produced worldwide each year, with 65 % of them ending up in landfills within 12 months. According to the UN, the fashion industry is estimated to be responsible for 8-10 % of global carbon emissions.
It looks like we will soon be showered with waste from all sides, but fighting it doesn't have to be difficult. It is enough to follow the basic "3R" principle – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Reduce This is the most important step in the battle against waste. If you reduce the amount of waste you produce, less will be recycled and less landfilled. There are many ways to reduce the amount of waste you produce, including:
Reuse Reusing things you would otherwise throw away is the second most important step to combat waste. If you reuse things, you save resources and reduce the amount of waste you have to recycle or landfill. There are many ways to reuse things, including:
Recycle The last step of saving valuable raw materials and protecting the environment is recycling. Recycling helps to spare resources and to limit the amount of waste which must be disposed of. Here are some tips for recycling:
The 3R rule is a simple but efficient strategy in the battle against waste. Everybody can do their part in helping to save the environment and to preserve resources for future generations.
Zero waste Zero Waste is a lifestyle that tries to minimize the creation of waste so that it does not get back into the natural cycle. The goal is to produce as little waste as possible, which must be landfilled or incinerated. Zero Waste is very ambitious, because instead of the “3R” principle, two more are added to the overall “5R”:
Zero Waste is not only good for the environment, but also good for your wallet and health. If you decide to start a Zero Waste lifestyle, prepare to change your habits and customs. But with a little effort and determination, you can achieve great things.