Every year across the globe more than two billion tonnes of municipal solid waste is generated. If packed into standard shipping containers and placed end-to-end, this waste would wrap around the Earth’s equator 25 times, or further than traveling to the moon and back.
The first Global Waste Management Outlook (GWMO), published in 2015, provided a pioneering scientific global assessment of the state of waste management. Since then, despite some concerted efforts, little has changed. If anything, humanity has moved backwards -generating more waste, more pollution and more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
In response to Resolution 2/7, adopted by the second session of the United Nations Environment Assembly and reiterated in Resolution 4/7, adopted by its fourth session (United Nations 2019a), the amount of energy and raw materials used update of the global waste management picture and an analysis of data related to MSW management globally. It also provides possible pathways to reducing waste and improving its management—following the waste hierarchy—with the goal that all waste materials are managed as a resource.
