Waste Management – Global South Policy Review

Waste management startups want to turn trash into cash, but garbage mafia stymie growth

Aparajita Saxena

In India, waste is more than a problem—it’s a billion-dollar opportunity. But behind the scenes, startups face a different challenge.
India currently generates around 62 million tonnes of waste overall, out of which only 20% is recycled—the rest ends up in landfills and oceans, affecting human and marine life, as well as destroying the environment, according to the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change. Only 30% of the recyclable waste is currently recycled, according to the Mordor Intelligence report, and a majority of it is done by unorganised factions that almost operate as monopolies with little tolerance for intrusion from others.

Net zero or real zero? Assessing the carbon dioxide removal in net zero pledges

Climate Action Tracker

As of May 2024, around 145 governments have announced – or are considering – net zero and carbon neutrality targets, covering close to 90% of global emissions. Among these are China’s 2060 carbon neutrality target, the EU’s 2050 net zero target, the US’s 2050 net zero target, and India’s 2070 net zero target.

During the early wave of net zero commitments, most were simply political declarations of intent, with details on what the net zero targets meant in practice largely missing. For instance, governments did not specify to what extent they planned to reduce emissions by the target year compared to “neutralising” them through carbon dioxide removals.

This blog outlines our recent findings on how governments have improved their current planning on carbon dioxide removal — sometimes known as ‘negative emissions’ — to meet their net zero targets, and why this matters.

Two years, no agreement on plastics: Where to from here? The Local and Subnational Government Coalition asks after INC-5

Dr Magash Naidoo

Held from 25 November to 1 December 2024, in Busan, Republic of Korea, the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-5) to develop a Global Plastic Treaty concluded without an agreement, pushing further negotiations into 2025. The draft text made some references to local and subnational governments, prompting the Local and Subnational Governments Coalition to End Plastic Pollution to advocate for stronger inclusion and appealing to all local and subnational governments to join the Coalition.

Millions of jobs in circular economy for Global South

Sustmeme

The transition to a circular economy could lead to the creation of millions of green and valuable jobs worldwide. However, a new report reveals a lack of research happening in developing countries, in the Global South, where the vast majority of these employment prospects in waste management and recycling are actually going to be located.
The use, re-use and recycling of products helps combat climate change, which is especially important to the many vulnerable nations and island states in the Global South. To be truly sustainable, though, this development shift must be founded on informed policies that promote both social and environmental benefits, fairly and affordably.

Recycling Reinvented: Shaping Tomorrow’s Waste Solutions

DW Waste Management

Global waste increasing year by year, and the question of effective and environmentally friendly recycling is more dire than ever. The future of waste management is more innovation, technology and solving new ways, and systems that can deal with tons of waste produced globally. In this blog, we will look at the next and upcoming categories of technologies and trends.

Circular Economy: Use of Fruit Waste to Obtain Bioplastics

Victoria N. Jara Ramirez

The inappropriate and limited management of organic waste causes it to be disposed of in streets or landfills, negatively impacting the various ecosystems due to leachate, the appearance of vectors, and the emission of greenhouse gases. Taking advantage of this waste under the concept of circular economy is a viable alternative, one way to do it is by transforming it into compost for agricultural activity. This research seeks to propose a new use of organic waste with favorable characteristics to obtain biomaterials.

African digital innovators are turning plastic waste into value – but there are gaps

Prof Seun Kolade

Plastic pollution is a growing global menace. Between 2010 and 2020, the global production of plastics increased from 270 million tonnes to 367 million tonnes. Every year, more than 12 million tonnes of plastics end up in the world’s oceans, with severe consequences for marine life. When macro plastics degrade into micro-plastics, they easily contaminate the food chain and pose significant threats to human health via inhalation and ingestion.
By 2030, plastic waste is expected to double to 165 million tonnes in African countries. Most of this will be in Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia.

Burning trash a major source of plastic pollution: Study

Channel News Asia

Burning plastic in dumps and open fires is as big a problem for the planet as littering, scientists said on Wednesday (Sep 4) in a detailed new assessment of how plastic enters the environment.
A world-first global register of plastic pollution, published in the journal Nature, identifies India as the biggest source of such trash and burning garbage as a much bigger problem than previously thought.

How used clothes became part of Africa’s creative economy – and fashion sense

Karen Tranberg Hansen

In recent years the global secondhand apparel market for clothing and shoes has grown exponentially. In 2002 used clothing exports were worth US$1.4 billion. Despite a slowdown during the COVID-19 pandemic exports were close to US$4 billion in 2020.
Some of this growth has been driven by well known brands and high street retailers developing in-house clothing resale and establishing partnerships with digital secondhand platforms to find new uses for preloved fashions, especially luxury fashions.
In the west, secondhand clothing has acquired a new cachet for its sustainability and its role in circular economies. A circular economy links production and consumption to minimise waste through reusing, repairing, refurbishing, recycling as well as sharing and leasing.

Transforming Textile Waste Management: Insights from Training Programs

Saahas Zero Waste

India generates approximately 8 million tons of textile waste annually, much of which ends up in landfills or incinerators, depleting natural resources and contributing to environmental pollution and climate change. To address this issue, Concordia Textiles, Enviu, and Purfi under the develoPPP funding programme implemented by GIZ India on behalf of Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), have been working since 2021 to demonstrate an inclusive and circular value chain for textile waste in India. Saahas Zero Waste (SZW) has partnered to develop a training curriculum, teaching aids, and conduct 50 training programs for 3000 waste workers, among other activities in the project. These training programs aim to equip waste workers with the knowledge and skills to efficiently handle and sort textile waste, promoting environmental sustainability and economic opportunities.

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