Existing laws and regulations failed to prevent asbestos contamination of mulch. What’s missing is mandatory certification of recycled products so users can be sure they’ve been tested and are safe.
A super-emitter methane leak in Iran captured by satellite.
NASA JPL-Caltech
Methane is a potent greenhouse gas that can leak from oil and gas wells, pipelines and landfills. Satellites can spot the releases fast enough to get them fixed and help protect the climate.
An essential part of managing a growing global waste problem is sorting, recovering and recycling it. But you won’t see this on children’s shows that feature waste collection.
Volunteers have been collecting and sorting washed-up rubbish on the beach for years. Thanks to their efforts, we have data on whether container deposit schemes help the issue.
A worker sorts cardboard at a recycling center in Newark, N.J.
Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
Lagos has a waste problem that can be tackled by adopting a sustainable waste management policy that considers income brackets.
Improper municipal solid waste management is one of the biggest environmental issues First Nations communities in Canada face.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito
The overarching goal of Indigenous cultural practices is to prevent the overconsumption of resources that underpins society’s throwaway culture.
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.
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.
Most food waste still goes into red bins of mixed waste bound for landfill. It’s using up precious landfill space and harming the environment when it could produce valuable compost and biogas instead.
The mismanagement of plastic waste is one of the main causes of plastic pollution in nature.
Larina Marina/Shutterstock
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.
Proper waste management can save lives and create wealth. Photo by James Wakibia/SOPA Images/LightRocket.
from www,gettyimages.com
Could we divert incontinence products from landfill? Yes – if we tackle social stigma and access to affordable health services, encourage biodegradable products and introduce supportive waste policies
Here’s some good environmental news – local governments and local actions have slashed the plastic on our beaches. Incentives, awareness and access are the key.
An Indian woman sorts reusable items from a landfill on the outskirts of New Delhi in March 2021. Trash pickers sometimes toil alongside paid municipal sanitation workers and provide a vital service to cities. Their subsistence work is put at risk by smart city technologies.
(AP Photo/Altaf Qadri)
Representatives of 175 countries voted to start developing a global treaty to reduce plastic waste. Treaties addressing mercury, long-range air pollution and ozone depletion offer some lessons.