Ticking time bomb of global trash

Humans generated 1.8 billion tonnes of solid waste in 2016, including 220 million tonnes of plastic, according to the World Bank


SOLID WASTE CREATION, PER PERSON, PER YEAR (2016 estimate, kg)

North America			807
Latin America and Caribbean	361
Middle East and North Africa	296
Sub-Saharan Africa		168
Europe and Central Asia		431
CHINA
South Asia			190
East Asia and Pacific		204
 
Fears Africa could become dumping ground

For decades China was world’s largest importer of waste


2050: Annual solid waste could rise to 3.1 billion tonnes


GLOBAL WASTE COMPOSITION (%)
Food and green		44
Paper/cardboard		17
Other			14
Plastic			12
Glass			5
Metal			4
Rubber & Leather	2
Wood			2

Each year, 4m-12m tonnes of plastic enters our oceans


TOXIC TIMELINE

Jan 2018: China bans plastic, paper and electronic waste imports. Until then, it had been taking in up to 56% of world’s unwanted plastic.
Trash imports in Southeast Asia rise significantly

Jul: Vietnam cracks down on illegal imports of waste paper, plastic and metal

Oct: Thailand stops issuing import licences for plastic waste

Malaysia bans plastic scrap imports

Mar 2019: India prohibits import of plastic waste

Jun: Philippines returns 69 containers of garbage to Canada

Indonesia tightens waste-import rules after finding falsely-labelled containers of toxic waste from U.S.


Sources: Bloomberg, World Bank Group, Deutsche Welle 
Picture: Getty Images
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