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Hazardous waste generation set to leap, U.N. warns

Waste produced by the public will rise by 2050, causing hundreds of billions of dollars of damage through biodiversity loss, environment change and lethal pollution, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) stated in a report on Wednesday.

The report said unless immediate steps were taken worldwide waste generation would skyrocket, driven largely by fast-growing economies, including in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa where lots of nations are already struggling to manage current production levels.

UNEP projected the cost at $640 billion yearly by the middle of the century, representing a more than 75% increase compared to 2020, when the world produced an approximated 2.1 billion tonnes of local solid waste, which leaves out hazardous waste.

Of the overall, $443 billion would be externalities, consisting of biodiversity loss, climate-altering gases produced by the breakdown of organic waste and pollution that adds to between 400,000 and 1 million deaths per year, the report stated.

The report, released during today's U.N. Environment Assembly in Kenya, warned mankind has moved backwards over the previous decade, producing more waste, more pollution and more greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Waste prevention steps and enhanced waste management might decrease those costs, however there are considerable barriers to change, such as weak enforcement systems, the report stated.

A treaty to attend to plastics pollution, which does not biodegrade and can cause severe health impacts, is being worked out, with a 4th round of talks scheduled for April.

UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said she was enthusiastic the treaty might be concluded by the end of this year in spite of differences in between ecologists and nonrenewable fuel source producers over how much the offer needs to focus on suppressing plastics production versus promoting recycling and re-use.

There is an interest, and especially among the countries that are producing raw polymer, however as I keep informing them, this is not an anti-plastic treaty, Andersen informed , keeping in mind there would still be a need for plastics in cars and medical equipment.

I hope that there will not be delegations that would devote to blockage but rather that we can discover a method forward that really takes into consideration the fact that we are drowning in plastic.

(source: Reuters)