Waste Generation

Question 1

1

Answer 1

Globally, waste increases by about 7 per cent, year
on year. Population growth accounts for much of this
increase but economic development also plays a role,
since greater personal wealth increases consumption
of goods and services and this leads to more waste. In
urban areas, where there are large concentrations of
people, the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) is
particularly high and is set to increase significantly over
the next decade as a result of urbanisation and rising
living standards (see Figure 9.50). In 2002, there were
2.9 billion urban residents who generated about 0.64 kg
of MW per person per day. In 2012, this had increased
to about 3 billion residents generating 1.2 kg /capita/
day. By 2025 this is predicted to increase to 4.3 billion
urban residents generating about 1.42 kg/capita/day of
municipal solid waste. Solid waste is very much seen as
an ‘urban issue’ because urban residents produce about
twice as much waste as their rural counterparts.