GEO-6 Chapter 4: Cross-Cutting Issues

exported to developing countries, with the potential to cause significant, and displaced, impacts (Figure 4.8) (Rucevska et al. 2015). The illegal trafficking of end-of-life electrical and electronic equipment has become an issue of global concern (UNEP 2015; UNEP 2016b).

4.3.4 Waste and wastewater

The Global Waste Management Outlook (UNEP 2015) estimates the total ‘urban’ waste generation, including municipal solid waste, commercial and industrial waste, and construction and demolition waste, at around 7-10 billion tons per year. Waste generation rates are stabilizing in developed regions. However, Asia and Africa are expected to contribute significant amounts to global waste generation over the next century (UNEP 2015). GEO-6 highlights key global waste management challenges consistent across the regional assessments prepared for it and prioritized in the Global Waste Management Outlook (UNEP 2015). These include food waste, marine litter, waste trafficking and crime, and the growing disparity in waste management between developed and developing countries. Approximately one-third of the food produced for human consumption is wasted or lost annually, at a financial cost of US$750 billion to US$1 trillion (FAO 2013; FAO 2015; UNEP 2015). This wasted food could feed over 2 billion people, more than twice the number of undernourished people estimated globally (FAO 2013). Food losses and waste result in unnecessary greenhouse gas emissions, estimated at 3.3 gigatons of CO 2 equivalent in 2007, or around 9 per cent of total global GHG emissions that year (UNEP 2015). This estimate does not take into account GHG emissions as a result of land-use changes. Considering land-use changes, GHG emissions from food waste would be 25-40 per cent higher. Even without counting land-use change, if food losses and waste all occurred in one country, it would rank as the third largest country in the world in terms of CO 2 emissions (FAO 2013). With increasing global demand for resources, the waste market has become a viable economic sector, estimated at US$ 410 billion a year, from collection to recycling. In a context of increasing costs for the safe disposal of hazardous waste, weak environmental regulations and enforcement, and increasing resource scarcity, this market creates opportunities for waste trafficking and illegal activities. This is evident in large quantities of often hazardous waste being unlawfully

© Shutterstock/Fabian Plock

4

Figure 4.8: Global illegal waste traffic

EasternEurope andRussia

Western Europe

Russian Federation

Lithuania

Ukraine

Japan

Croatia

Albania

Tunisia

Syria

United States

Iraq

!

West Africa

Jordan

Pakistan

Egypt

China

India

Hongkong

Southand Southeast Asia

Senegal

Eritrea

Vietnam

Guinea

Thailand

BurkinaFaso Benin

Djibouti

Phillipines

Ghana

Liberia

Nigeria

Côte d'Ivoire

Somalia

Malaysia

Cameroon EquatorialGuinea

Uganda

Kenya

Congo

Indonesia

Tanzania

Angola

Hazardouswasteproducers Million tonnes More than30 10 to30 5 to10 1 to5 Less than1 Nodataavailable

Main tra cking destination

Countrywhere illegal wasteexporthasbeenproven

Regionof destination

Region oforigin

Main route

SouthAfrica

Source: Pravettoni (2015).

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Setting the Stage