Reduce, Re-Use, Recycle. We know the 3Rs by heart, yet only a few of us follow this golden rule. We throw a lot of things away, without even thinking about the impact it has on our planet and on our health. But if we think hard enough, we can reduce waste by a great extent – for example, we can reduce food waste by cooking only the amounts that we can eat.
If you have a reusable bag, take it to the supermarket instead of asking the cashier to put your items in sili-sili bags. Walk to the junction to buy this newspaper next Sunday instead of taking the car. There are countless ways to prevent waste of resources, energy and of course, time itself.
The existential crisis faced by Planet Earth as a result of Climate Change has compelled the world to act on the problem of waste. Hence the movement towards the concept of Zero Waste, whereby, everyone tries to eliminate waste in whatever form.
The International Day of Zero Waste observed every year on March 30 (yesterday) aims to promote sustainable consumption and production patterns, support the societal shift towards circularity and raise awareness on how zero-waste initiatives contribute to the advancement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The waste sector contributes significantly to the triple planetary crisis of Climate Change, Biodiversity and nature loss, and pollution. Humanity generates an estimated 2.24 billion tons of municipal solid waste annually, of which only 55 percent is managed in controlled facilities.
Every year, around 931 million tons of food is lost or wasted and up to 14 million tons of plastic waste enters aquatic and other ecosystems. Some 2.7 billion people around the world lack access to waste collection, two billion of whom live in rural areas. Waste pollution significantly threatens human well-being and economic prosperity. Without urgent action, annual Municipal solid waste generation will hit 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050. Zero Waste Day reminds us of our individual and collective responsibility to reduce waste.
Indeed, waste generation and associated pollution threaten the global environment and human health. Boosting waste management at all levels remains an urgent priority. To solve the waste pollution crisis, humanity must fully embrace a Zero Waste approach. This entails responsible production and consumption patterns through promoting a life cycle approach.
In 2020, just before Covid hit, the global direct cost of waste management was estimated to be at US$ 252 billion. When factoring in the hidden costs of pollution, poor health and climate change from poor waste disposal practices, the cost rises to US$ 361 billion.
Without urgent action on waste management, by 2050 this global annual cost could almost double to a staggering US$ 640.3 billion. However, computer modelling shows that getting waste under control by taking waste prevention and management measures could limit net annual costs by 2050 to US$ 270.2 billion. These are not small sums by any means and each of us has to contribute to realise the goal of Zero Waste.
One of the biggest problems faced by all countries is the phenomenon of e-waste – basically, electronic and electric goods such as phones, laptops, washing machines being discarded after just a few years. Some of them are not even broken per se – we just throw them away when upgrading to a newer model.
e-waste is the umbrella term for any discarded product that has a plug or a battery and often contains toxic and dangerous substances, such as mercury and lead. In 2022, the world generated 62 million metric tons of electronic waste, also known as “e-waste,” according to the United Nations Global E-waste Monitor released last Wednesday. To put that in perspective, this waste could fill more than 1.5 million 40-metric-ton trucks which, if placed bumper-to-bumper, could form a line long enough to wrap around the equator.
Global e-waste in 2022 was up 82 percent compared to 2010, according to the report, and is on track to rise a further 32 percent to reach 82 million metric tons in 2030. Less than a quarter of e-waste (22.3 percent) produced in 2022 was documented as collected and recycled, according to the report. Since 2010, the growth of e-waste has outpaced the growth of formal collection and recycling by a factor of almost five, the report calculated.
Electronics makers are now being forced to make their devices easier to repair, with removable batteries. But that is not enough – they should build more devices from recycled materials and also detail exactly how their end-of-life products should be discarded or recycled.
One other problem faced by agricultural countries such as Sri Lanka is Post Harvest Losses (PHL) of agricultural produce, which is responsible for discarding around 40 percent of the harvest of all crops grown locally. We are still way behind when it comes to modern transport and preservation techniques. We also do not have a methodology to face a glut of any given crop. This is an issue that our agricultural authorities should address urgently.
Tackling waste should be ingrained in our schoolchildren from Grade One itself. Then they will turn into adults who will always be conscious of their “waste footprint”. Every little bit helps to keep our homes and cities clean. It starts with properly disposing of our garbage and recycling whatever we can. A world without waste may not be possible or even practical right now, but we should aim to get there one day.
