Where there are people, there is waste. In itself, this is hardly front-page news. After all, every life form produces waste products in some shape or form. But what makes the waste produced by modern man different is its sheer scale. The countries of the EU-27 alone produce around 1.3 billion tons of waste a year. That‘s enough to spread a layer of refuse half a meter thick over an area of 2,600 square kilometers – roughly the size of the Saarland. Every year, the world already churns out 12 billion tons of waste. By 2020, however, relentless urban sprawl and population growth will drive this figure up as high as 18 billion tons.
How much waste a country produces depends on how fit its economy is. The more prosperous the country, the larger its mountains of waste. For example, developing countries produce around 200 kilograms of household waste per head of population per year. This compares with more than 800 kilograms per head of population in industrialized countries. And countries differ – even within Europe. Thus the Czech Republic produces an average of 281 kilograms of household waste per person each year, while in Denmark the figure is almost three times as high.
Rising environmental standards present companies in this lead market with excellent growth opportunities in Eastern European EU member states.
Companies working on ways to reduce emissions are top performers in terms of rates of return, growth, research and revenues.
Booming economies in China, India and other aspiring industrial nations in Asia, coupled with worldwide population expansion, significantly increase the need for innovative waste management technology.
In Germany, waste production is falling. Waste volumes per capita are down, despite increasing economic productivity.
Politics leads the way: Germany wants to put an end to the dumping of recyclable waste in landfill sites by 2020.
The mountains of waste we produce each year have a devastating impact on the planet. Refuse incineration and other forms of waste treatment are largely unknown in most countries around the world, so the majority of refuse finds its way back to nature. Landfill sites scar the countryside. They also put human health at risk. Worse still, uncontrolled dumps can poison groundwater when contaminated water seeps down into the layers of soil that lie below. Roughly 70% of waste in developing countries is organic material. This begins to rot even during storage, producing landfill gas that is roughly fourteen times as harmful to the climate as carbon dioxide.
The costs of living in a throwaway society are enormous. The United Nations estimates that municipalities around the globe spend an average of 20% to 30% of their budgets on collecting and disposing of refuse. Dealing with waste is a particular burden on the already meager financial resources of economically underdeveloped countries, eating into money that could be better invested in education and infrastructure.Our modern “disposable mentality”, coupled with increasing demand for raw materials, also puts industry under pressure. Growing demand accompanied by unchanging supply levels has triggered an explosion in the price of raw materials. Between 2000 and 2007, dollar-based raw material prices rose by 100% worldwide. The price of iron ore, steel scrap and non-precious metals tripled. Steel is now so coveted a commodity that around 100 tons of rails were stolen from German railroad operator Deutsche Bahn between 2006 and 2008. Although raw material prices dropped sharply in the second half of 2008, buoyant demand from the aspiring industrial nations is only one reason why this situation isn‘t going to ease off in the medium to long term. The shortage of raw materials and rising prices leaves us no choice: We have to do more to promote recycling in the future.
The growing mountains of waste force us to find answers to two questions: How can we achieve an appropriate standard of living for all without drowning in a sea of our own refuse? And how is it possible to achieve economic growth without destroying the very basis of existence for both humanity and the world around us?
