About 11.2 billion tons of waste flood the planet with garbage every year

Approximately 11.2 billion tons of wastewater are generated each year in the world. Solid wasteand only 20% is recycled, garbage that in countries with poor recycling services causes pollution of the air, water, soil and environment. oceanwhich affects the health of people and ecosystems.

These are data that are part of the International Recycling Day this Friday, May 17, although in December 2022 the United Nations adopted a resolution for the creation of the International Zero Waste Day -on March 30-, which aims to minimize waste as much as possible.

Currently, according to scientists, humanity faces three crises: the climate crisis, the loss of biodiversity and pollution, all of which, although apparently distant, are closely related to each other due to the extraction of virgin resources for industrial production, the emission of gases the atmosphere and pollution in production processes.

Prevention, reuse and recycling, as well as environmental awarenessare the basic principles that are included in environmental regulations around the world and currently the objective is to promote the circular economy, that is, giving value to waste through the separation of materials to give them a second use.

However, the figures on the generation of garbage in the world do not stop growing, because some containers or packaging of products last less than five minutes in the hands of a consumer, however They can take up to 500 years to decomposewithout counting on the natural resources and water that are needed for its manufacture.

In relation to plastic, according to data from United Nations, Between 1950 and 2019, annual world production of this material went from 2.2 million tons to 460 million tons; a figure that according to forecasts will reach 1.5 billion tons by 2050, although it is expected that the international agreement currently being negotiated will allow its use to be limited.

Plastic is a material that is manufactured 99% from oil, a fossil fuel responsible for emissions into the atmosphere, the greenhouse effect and global warming that is occurring on the planet at a faster rate due to industrialization. and when it decomposes it reaches the food chain and humans.

Every year some 13 million tons of plasticsaccording to United Nations estimates, and it is expected that in 2025 there will be one ton of plastic in the ocean for three tons of fish, and in 2050 there will be more plastic than fish.

According to the Spanish organization Rezerowhich promotes knowledge and ideas towards a Zero Waste production and consumption model, a normal purchase in a supermarket usually has approximately 16 kilos, of which three are only packaging.

“The best waste recycling involves non-generation,” is the motto of the international forum Waste in Progresswhich brings together the best experiences in the world in the framework of waste prevention and management and ensures that it is possible to change the current way of life, if the actors involved, that is, the administration, the private sector and consumers, act together.

The fashion industry is the second most polluting on the planet, thanks to disposable fast fashion, which produces low-quality garments, and is responsible for 10% of carbon dioxide emissions and Water Pollution.

Very well known are the images of the desert of Atacama, Chilewhere millions of textile items accumulate, many unused and still with purchase labels hanging, just like in Ghana and other African countries, depositaries of many types of waste from the most developed countries.

And precisely Ghana It is one of the examples of countries that receive waste, electrical and electronic waste, a waste that increases five times faster than the recycling capacity of the devices, according to the fourth report of Global Electronic Waste Monitoring of the UN, which indicates that in 2022 62 million tons of this type of waste will be produced, 82% more than in 2010.