Global Waste Management Trends · •Waste generation is anticipated to increase by 70% by 2050 with Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia growing the fastest (35% of global waste by

Catalina Marulanda Silpa Kaza

Practice Manager Urban Development Specialist

June 17, 2019

Global Waste Management Trends

Main Messages

• Waste generation is anticipated to increase by 70% by 2050 with Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia growing the fastest (35% of global waste by 2050)

• One-quarter of global plastic waste is coming from East Asia and the Pacific with ocean waste primarily coming from 5 countries in the region

• Nearly 50% of solid waste operations involve the private sector, nonprofits or civil society and there is further opportunity to engage

2

Waste is expected to increase by 70%

by 2050

2016: 2.01 billion tonnes

2050: 3.40 billion tonnes

3

Waste generation is positively correlated with urbanization

4

0

1

2

3

4

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%Was

te G

ener

atio

n (

Kg

/Per

son

/Day

)

Urbanization Rate (%)

Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are the fastest growing regions

Projected Waste GenerationMillions of tonnes/year

5

129174

231289

334392

468

177

269 290342

466 440

602

255

516

369 396

661

490

714

Middle East& North

Africa

Sub-SaharanAfrica

Latin America& Caribbean

NorthAmerica

South Asia Europe &Central Asia

East Asia &Pacific

2016 2030 2050

Per capita waste generation increases with income

6

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000 140000

Was

te p

er c

apit

a (k

g/p

erso

n/y

ear)

GDP per capita (2011 PPP International $/year)

High income countries generate 34% of the world’s waste with 16% of the global population

7Average global waste generation is 0.74 kg/capita/day

7

Projected Waste Generation (kg/capita/day)

0.46 0.52 0.560.81

0.991.18

2.21

Sub-SaharanAfrica

South Asia East Asia &Pacific

Middle East &North Africa

Latin America& Caribbean

Europe &Central Asia

North America

8

0.77 0.81

1.83 1.77 1.721.60 1.58

1.401.29

1.191.02 0.98

0.89 0.84 0.81 0.780.67 0.66 0.62 0.61 0.55 0.53 0.48

Middle East & North Africa Region

0.770.99

3.76

3.27 3.24

2.75

2.31

1.861.71 1.67

1.48 1.401.20 1.16 1.14 1.11 1.07 1.05 1.02 1.01 1.00 0.89 0.89 0.85 0.82 0.82 0.81 0.79 0.77 0.76 0.76 0.75 0.74 0.71 0.70 0.65 0.58 0.57 0.50 0.47 0.46 0.40

Latin America & Caribbean Region

9

0.77

0.63

1.42

0.71

0.540.44 0.43

0.34 0.30

0.17

GLOBAL

AVERAGE

REGIONAL

AVERAGE

MALDIVES INDIA BHUTAN AFGHANISTAN PAKISTAN SRI LANKA BANGLADESH NEPAL

South Asia Region

0.77

0.48

1.56

1.04 1.01 0.98 0.95

0.800.74 0.71 0.68

0.58 0.58 0.57 0.56 0.56 0.56 0.52 0.52 0.52 0.50 0.50 0.48 0.46 0.46 0.46 0.45 0.45 0.45 0.44 0.44 0.43 0.43 0.43 0.41 0.41 0.40 0.37 0.37 0.35 0.32 0.31 0.30 0.29 0.27 0.26 0.22 0.20 0.190.12

Sub-Saharan Africa Region

Kg / capita / day, data adjusted to 2016

10

Composition of waste varies by income

Food loss and waste amounts to 30% globally

11Source: FAO

Plastic waste generation is growing rapidly

242 million tonnes

=

12

4.8 million Olympic-sized swimming pools24 trillion plastic bottles

Three regions account for 60% of plastic waste generation

105 million tonnes

Remaining Regions

57 million tonnes

East Asia & Pacific

45 million tonnes

Europe & Central Asia

35 million tonnes

North America

13

Low-income countries collect only 39% of waste

14

33% of global waste is openly dumpedwith over 90% in low-income countries

15

Compost, 5.5%

Incineration, 11%

Controlled Landfill,

4%

Landfill (Unspecified),

25%Sanitary Landfill, 7.7%

Open Dump, 33%

Other, 0.3%

Recycling, 13.5%

16

18%

27%

69%

26%

53%

75%

46%

69%

24%

26%

34%

4%

54%

2%

0%

11%

4%

16%

9%

4%

7%

20%

9%

5%

33%

24%

18%

12%

East Asia & Pacific

Latin America &Caribbean

Sub-Saharan Africa

Europe & Central Asia

Middle East & NorthAfrica

South Asia

North America

Open Dump

Landfill

Compost

Recycling

Anaerobic Digestion

Incineration

22%

100%

77%

67%

60%

78%

33%

37%

18%

3%

5%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

El Salvador

Tanzania

India

Palestine

NepalTreatment & Disposal

Solid waste management contributes to 5% of global emissions (excluding transportation)

2016: 1.6 billion tonnes CO2-equivalent GHG emissions

2050: 2.6 billion tonnes CO2-equivalent GHG emissions

17

The poor are most affected by inadequate waste management

18

30% of countries do not have any institutions or policies to

address waste

19

Waste is overwhelming a predominantly local government

responsibility

20

Local governments often lack funds, only covering ~50% of

investment costs for waste systems

Remainder comes mainly from the national government

and the private sector 21

>50% of services are operated by public entities & ~1/3 involve a public-

private partnership

22

In low-income countries waste

management consumes ~20%

of municipal budgets

High income countries: >$100/tonne

Lower-income countries: ~$35/tonne

23

Time for actionis now.

24© Divya Singh / IFC

Major investment is needed

25

1) Focus on Sub-Saharan

Africa and South Asia

which account for nearly

half of the growth in waste

by 2050

2) Prioritize 5 countries in Asia

to address bulk of marine

litter problem

Engage the private sector

26

3) Adopt regulations and

incentives to attract

financing and the right

partners—private sector,

nonprofits, or civil society

Thank you

worldbank.org/what-a-waste

27