A World of Waste: Risks and opportunities in household waste management

World Risk Poll: “As the global population continues to expand and development accelerates, the volume of waste generated worldwide is increasing at an unprecedented rate. Safely managing this growing waste burden is an escalating challenge with significant implications not only for the environment but also for human health, safety, and wellbeing. Download the report here

• At a global level, plastic and food waste are what people throw away most. Four in five people (80% – 42% plastic, 38% food) say one of these two is the most common material in their household waste. There is a clear relationship with country income, with higher income countries primarily throwing away plastic and lower income countries primarily disposing of food waste.
• Perhaps surprisingly, globally older people are more likely than younger generations to live in households that separate their waste, with those aged 15 to 29 equally as likely to separate their waste as not (47% each), compared with 60% separation among over-65s. This age differential is especially pronounced in Latin America.
• When it comes to the disposal of waste, there are controlled methods (such as collection by local authorities), and uncontrolled methods (such as open burning by members of the household) which come with safety risks. Globally, more than two fifths (41%) of households dispose of their waste in an uncontrolled fashion, including 14% who use open burning (rising to 37% in low income countries).
• Globally, smaller towns and rural areas are being left behind by government waste collection, especially in low income countries, where only 2% of people in rural areas and 5% in towns have their waste collected, compared with 39% in cities. In Southern and Eastern Africa, the gap between cities and rural areas is more than 50 percentage points.