Evidence suggests that Scotland’s bottle deposit scheme would prevent huge amounts of litter from entering the environment.
Waste management workers stand outside a waste processing plant in Bengaluru, India. By formalizing the waste collection process, the ‘I Got Garbage’ digital platform transformed waste workers into micro-entrepreneurs.
(Suchit Ahuja)
To focus on sustainable development goals, platforms need to change from being exclusively focused on profits and value appropriation to perceiving themselves as public goods.
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva receives the presidential sash from Aline Sousa, a 33-year-old collector of recyclable materials.
Carl de Souza/AFP)
Collectors of recyclable materials are omnipresent in developing countries such as Brazil, and their work has long been a critical part of waste management, disposal, and recycling.
An abandoned gold mine in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Mark Lewis/Wake Up, This Is Joburg
From butchers to hawkers, and shelters to miners, this book reveals the informal economy and texture of the city.
A trash compactor rolls over an active dump site at Pioneer Crossing Landfill in Birdsboro, Pa.
Natalie Kolb/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images
The recovery rate from construction and demolition waste has been rising steadily in Australia. However, the use of recycled materials is still not the norm across the construction industry.
Apartments have lower waste recycling rates than houses, which means the growing numbers of apartment dwellers could add to Australia’s waste management crisis. But there are solutions to the problem.
The vaping craze sweeping the globe is leaving a legacy of contaiminated e-waste in landfill while waste management authorities scramble to set up recycling schemes.
International waste pickers and allies visiting a sorting plant in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Patrick O'Hare
Many countries export their plastic waste abroad – but the mismanagement of this plastic waste is one of the leading causes of plastic pollution in nature.
The decision by African ministers of environment to end open waste burning will not only save lives but also open up new income streams.
A road sign in Bursa, Turkey, warns drivers of the presence of dung beetles, stating ‘Attention! It may come out, don’t crush it please!’
Ugur Ulu/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The energy-intensive process of producing cement and concrete contributes significantly to global warming while depleting resources. Much more sustainable alternatives are being developed.
The complexity of construction projects has driven an increase in building waste, which is difficult to recycle and reuse. But there are ways to minimise the problem.
Plastic waste in Kampala, Uganda.
Omer Faruk Ozbil/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
The plastic industry uses powerful tactics to convince us it’s not that bad, but in reality many of their green solutions aren’t working.
The electric car makes it possible to partially decarbonize transportation, but the fate of the batteries after their use remains an open problem.
Michael Marais/Flickr
This Plastic Free July, we need to be teaching children to demand less plastic from the world’s worst producers instead of expecting change from individual recycling efforts.