The growing problem of waste

Each year the European Union generates:

• 1.3 B Tons of waste
• equal to 3.5 tonnes of solid waste for every man, woman and child.

The figures for the U.S.are even more dramatic.

• 8 billion tons of waste is generated every year
• equal to 4.54 lbs/person/day for MSW generation (17 times that of Mexico, and over 50% more than Sweden)
• Waste is also changing in terms of its composition, with the proportion of product waste continually increasing.

What happens to all this waste? Most waste is burnt in incinerators or dumped into landfill sites (67%). Both these cause environmental damage.

Landfilling:

• takes up more and more valuable land space
• causes air, water and soil pollution
• discharging carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) into the atmosphere and chemicals and pesticides into the earth and groundwater.

Incineration:

• uses up energy (though this may partially offset by energy recapture)
• generates greenhouse gases

The absolute and proportional increase in product waste creates enormous waste management problems. But it is also a major opportunity for large-scale recycling of waste materials for future industrial applications .