Global Waste Management Outlook 2024

Context (DTE): Global Waste Management Report presented during the Sixth United Nations Environmental Assembly (UNEA-6) in Nairobi.
Report Title: Turning rubbish into a resource: Global Waste Management Outlook.
Published by: United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in collaboration with the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA).

Report Highlights

More than a third of the world’s population, particularly in developing regions, faces challenges with waste management.

Over 2.7 billion people, primarily in the Global South and developing regions, lack access to waste collection services.
Of these, 2 billion reside in rural areas, while 700,000 are in urban settings.
An estimated 540 million tonnes of municipal solid waste (equivalent to 27% of the global total waste) needs to be collected.

Developed and upper-middle-income regions exhibit higher waste collection rates compared to Sub-Saharan Africa and Central and South Asia.
The global average waste collection rate stands at 75%.

Predictions suggest a rise in global waste generation from 2.3 billion tonnes in 2023 to 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050.
The associated costs of waste management are also expected to escalate.

The direct cost of waste management in 2020 was approximately $252 billion, which rises to $361 billion when hidden costs like pollution and health impacts are considered.
Without immediate action, annual costs could soar to $640.3 billion by 2050.
In 2020, the global direct cost of waste management was estimated at $252 billion.

A circular economy is an economic model designed to minimize resource input, as well as waste and emission production.
It aims to reach maximum efficiency in the use of finite resources, the gradual transition to renewable resources, and the recovery of materials and products at the end of their useful life.

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It is a non-governmental, independent and non-profit association.
It aims to promote and develop professional waste management worldwide as a contribution to sustainable development.
Objective: To exchange information and experience worldwide on all aspects of waste management.
The association has a total of more than 1,200 members in 93 countries.
Its network expands to countries with more than 80% of the world’s population.
It represents all aspects of the waste management field: from practitioners and industry to communities, from associations, research institutes and academics to regulatory authorities.