Abstract
Growing global municipal solid waste (MSW) reflects the world’s industrial and consumer culture of the last decades. Globally, people in developed and developing countries are discarding growing quantities of domestic waste due to the unprecedented rate of urbanization and material consumption. These recent trends pose a serious environmental and health challenge to municipal authorities of cities, which are charged with managing waste in a socially and environmentally acceptable manner. The world generates now more than 2 billion tonnes of MSW annually, expected to increase by 70% to 3.4 billion metric tonnes by 2050. China, the world’s most populous nation, has the largest share of global MSW at more than 15% of total global waste, with USA second with 12%. Most countries witnessed in the last years a municipal solid waste crisis. Studies showed that municipal waste landfills in big cities are running out of space in the next decade. The most pressing environmental concern regarding landfills is their release of methane gas (a greenhouse gas). Photos and newspaper articles show haphazardly thrown MSW in central city streets of low-income countries but also in big cities of developed countries during strikes of municipal collection waste workers or disputes with saturated landfills. MSW is the most intractable problems for local authorities in urban centres. Efficient municipal solid waste management requires considerable political commitment, sufficient budgetary allocations for collection and landfills, and a dedicated work force. Deficiencies in management of solid waste are most visible in cities and towns of developing countries. The world recycled less than 20% of MSW each year, with huge quantities burned or sent haphazardly to overflowing landfill sites. This review presents many cases of uncontrolled garbage thrown in streets in many big cities, in Africa, Asia and Europe as a result of strikes by municipal waste workers or civil disputes with saturated landfills in urban areas. Globally, MSW is a worrying and serious environmental problem around the world, contributing to environmental pollution of soil, fresh water, rivers, lakes and oceans. The global solid waste crisis is considered as an international issue of environmental concern worldwide.
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