Vital Waste Graphics 2

Prepared by
Emmanuelle Bournay (cartography)
Claudia Heberlein (text and editing)

Philippe Bovet, Paris (text)

Philippe Rekacewicz, GRID-Arendal
Diana Rizzolio, Stéphane Kluser, DEWA/GRID-Europe
Cécile Marin, Paris (cartography)
Nicole Dawe, The Basel Convention Secretariat

In collaboration with
The Basel Convention Secretariat

Copy editing and translations by

Harry Forster, Interrelate, F-Grenoble
 Waste
at every stage Agriculture Manuf-
Energy Forestry acturing
production
waste
100
waste 900 waste 1000
Mining The squares are proportionnal to the estimated amounts of waste generated by sector in 2002,
in the OECD countries (in million tonnes).

Construction
Waste is produced from the very beginning of the life cycle of a product,
long before we as consumers are aware of it.
waste 600
Demolition

Sewage waste 800

sludge
Municipal Water
purification
waste
100
300
waste 600 Source: OECD, 2006 (estimates for 2002).

Waste is a complex and sometimes controversial issue. Good business for

!
some, a bothersome problem for others and a threat to health for yet an-
other category of people. Obtaining reliable data on waste is a difficult un-
dertaking. Definitions vary across countries, so does reporting discipline.
Despite efforts by international organisations to facilitate comparison by
providing standardised questionnaires for reporting waste quantities, cau-
tion is required when singling out possible “culprits”. Perhaps they were
DATA WARNING just more diligent in their reporting? Numbers are also a way to fight for a
HANDLE WITH CARE! political cause, and can always be read in different ways.

For Vital Waste Graphics we use data from various sources: NGOs, international organisations, the
official Basel Convention database, specialised publications and scientific research.
Data on several waste types is subject to estimation. Expert opinions differ considerably when it
comes to the estimation of total amount of a specific waste type and its share of total waste. This
might result in potentially contradictory statements even within this publication.
Realising the controversy the choice of a certain dataset may cause, we ask our readers to bear in
mind the above and display understanding. The aim is to describe phenomena and pinpoint trends,
not to accuse individuals or countries.

As data collection systems, definitions and reporting discipline improve over time, so too will the
quality and usefulness of our publication, and thus the quality of the debate it informs. In the mean-
time, we hope you will enjoy this work, join in debate and think about how you can contribute to
rising to the global waste challenge.

A history of waste management in selected anecdotes

First recorded landfill created in Knossos, the Cretan capital, In Naples, Italy, "who deposits muck Waste piles up so high outside
where waste is buried in large pits or debris at other than the Paris gates that it interferes with
designated places is to be seized city’s defences or
Composting already Dumping of waste and sent on a galley or be whipped
a common practice in China from windows forbidden across the whole city”.
in Paris, France
In Athens waste is carried away English parliament bans In France Louis XII Fi
to municipal dumps at least a mile waste disposal in public decides to organise m
outsided the city gates waterways and ditches waste collection at

500 B.C. 1185 1220 1388 1400 1506

3000 BC 2000 BC 1000 BC 0 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500

Sources: US Environmental Protection Agency; National Energy Education Development Project, Museum of Solid Waste, 2006; Ecollect, 2006; Waste online, 2006; Environment Switzerland 2000; Stadtreiningung Hamburg.
 4 | | 5

Dear readers,
Welcome to the second edition of Vital Waste Graphics. Building on the popularity of the first edition
in 2004, the Secretariat of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of
Wastes and their Disposal has produced this edition in partnership with UNEP-GRID/Arendal with
financial support from UNEP’s Division of Environmental Law and Conventions (UNEP/DELC).

In this edition we have summarised key issues and high-
lighted global trends in waste with accessible graphics,
maps and texts both within and beyond the scope of the
Basel Convention.
Our prime aim is to raise public awareness of the need for
environmentally sound waste management. But we must
to go further. We are now addressing readers as producers
and consumers of goods and the document consequently
hinges on waste-related issues such as production, dis-
tribution, consumption and disposal. Collectively we must
reduce waste output at every stage of a product’s life, man-
age waste more effectively and spare natural resources.
The more information we have on problems and solutions,
the more we can achieve.
Vital Waste Graphics 2 will be launched at the eighth meet-
ing of the Conference of the Parties of the Basel Conven-
tion. The meeting is focusing on electronic waste, cur-
rently the fastest growing waste stream. In 1998 six million
tonnes of e-waste was produced. Today, e-waste accounts
for 8 per cent of the municipal waste stream. The volume of
e-waste is expected to increase by 3 to 5 per cent a year,
nearly three times faster than the overall rate. Accordingly
several sections of the publication focus on mobile-phone
production, use and disposal.
Readers will also find the latest data from the Basel Con-
vention Secretariat, related organisations, and research
carried out specially for the document, backed by links to
additional sources.

Individual consumers can do a great deal to cut waste out-
put. But we need to rethink the way we consume too.
Before a product reaches its point of sale, it has already
caused several times its own weight in waste. In rich coun-
tries for every rubbish bag put out by households 70 times
more waste is produced in mining, logging, farming, oil and
gas exploration, and industrial processes used to convert
raw materials into finished products and packaging.
With more efficient manufacturing and consumer pro-
cesses, we can reduce pressure on essential resources,
improve public health and protect the environment.
Gathering waste-related data is a major challenge. I wish to
extend my heartfelt thanks to all the experts involved in this
project for their valuable contribution to the publication.
I hope you enjoy Vital Waste Graphics 2.

Economic growth does not necessarily mean more waste.

There are alternatives. Producers and consumers can work Geneva, November 2006
on environmentally sound production methods, sustainable
management of natural resources and new ways of replac- Sachiko Kuwabara-Yamamoto,
ing toxic components in products. We can all contribute to Executive Secretary
integrated management of product life-cycles. Basel Convention

The Basel Convention on hazardous waste movements is adopted

In Nottingham, England, First waste incinerator 1992: The Basel Convention comes into force
“destructors” burn garbage and produce electricity built in the United States
1874 1885
Rittenhouse Mill, Philadelphia, Report links diseases to filthy In the 19th century use of public bins
makes paper from recycled fibers environmental conditions: becomes widespread in large cities
originating from waste paper and rags the "age of sanitation" starts starting in England, France and Germany

I First Cleanliness Decree in Hamburg, Germany: The British Waste Paper

e market squares cleaned four times a year Association is established and
n at public expense paper recycling begins in England

1842
1560 1690 1921 1989

1600 1700 1800 1900 2000

Hamburg.
 TR
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 6 | | 7

Contents
PRODUCTION
8–9 Mountains of altered rock, lakes of gleaming liquids
(Mining waste)
10–11 No energy without waste
(Energy production waste)
12–13 The big waste factory
(Manufacturing waste)

DISTRIBUTION
14–15 The packaging nightmare
(Packaging waste)
16–17 Message ’round a bottle
(Bottled water case study)

CONSUMPTION
18–19 Consumption worlds
(Consumption worldwide)
20–21 The relativity of basic needs
(New trends in consumption)

DISPOSAL
22–23 Counting the bins
(Household waste and other categories)
24–25 Dump, bury or burn?
(Waste management)
26–27 A model for waste processing?
(Case study from Heftingsdalen, Norway)
28–29 Creative alternatives
(Case studies from Curitiba and London)
30–31 Recycling – the right choice?
(Reusing/Recycling)
32–33 Discarding mastodons
(Ships, planes and other hyperbulk waste)
34–35 Official waste trade routes
(Official waste trade)
36–37 Crime industry diversifying
(Illicit waste trafficking + The Abidjan incident)

38–39 International mobilisation

40–41 Waste definitions and legislation

42–43 References and bibliography

44 List of maps and graphics
MINING WASTE

Mountains of altered rock, lakes of

gleaming liquids
Thousand million The first step in manufacturing any product – mining raw materials – produces
tonnes per year
large amounts of waste. Waste statistics do not usually include waste caused
26 Iron by mining and quarrying. Far from being negligible the volume is simply too
large to be dealt with with the usual waste management instruments. So much
24
mining waste is generated as only a proportion of the material removed actually
contains the sought after element – and then often in small concentrations. The
22
extraction of the mineral from this material then requires both physical and/or
a chemical processes and then again leaves residues in significant quantities.
20
Slurries of the residual material (tailings) are channelled into tailing ponds. As an
example – a gold wedding ring containing five grams of gold would often leave
18
3 tonnes of waste. As another, the extraction of the various metals contained in
a personal computer produces a total of 1.5 tonnes of waste. In many places
16
the remaining metals are recovered and reused. However, there are problems.
14
Such as the contamination caused by mixing them.

12
Mining waste is likely to increase in the future as prices for natural resources
Copper are, due to increasing demand, on the rise, and new and or previously aban-
10
doned mines are opened or taken into opreation again.

8
Gold
Useful ore Densely packed technology and a global
Material removed problem
6 to access the ore body In 20 years mobile phones have shrunk from 5 kilo-
(”mine development rock”)
grams to less than 100 grams. We can use them to
The data do not include the soil and rock covering
4
the useful ore (“overburden”), which is also waste.
make phone calls of course, but also to take snaps,
watch films and generally entertain ourselves, quite for-
2 Aluminium getting their ecological footprint. Many precious metals
Zinc Lead Manganese (cadmium, mercury, tungsten, etc.) are used in various
Nickel Tin Tungstene parts of the device. One of the most damaging is tan-
0
talum (obtained from coltan ore). It is found in Australia,
Source: Worldwatch Institute, 1997 (figures for 1995). Canada and Brazil, but also the Democratic Republic
of Congo (RDC). To mine coltan ore militia groups have
Mining waste takes up a great deal of space, blights the
driven local people from their land then forced them to
landscape and often affects local habitats. By its very nature
work in the mines. Furthermore the mines are located in
it can constitute a serious safety hazard. Poor management
nature reserves home to some of Africa’s last surviving
may allow acidic and metals containing drainage to the en-
great apes. Coltan, which sometimes fetches more than
vironmnent, it can result in contaminated dusts be spread
US$500 per kilogram thus finances local militia groups
by the wind, and can also pose a physical risk. Indeed, the
and armies. In 2001 and 2002 the UN condemned such
failure of structures such as dams built to contain mining
industrial practices and proposed an embargo on Con-
waste has lead to many accidental spills with extremely seri-
golese coltan, but to no effect.
ous consequences.

At 29 per cent of
Mining and quarrying waste quantities in Europe total wastes gener-
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 Million tonnes ated and with over
Romania 400 million tonnes
United Kingdom of materials, min-
Bulgaria Source: EIONET, European Topic Centre ing and quarrying
Sweden on Resource and Waste Management, 2006 account for the
(figures for 2002).
Germany largest stream of
Poland waste generated
Spain by countries that
Finland
are members of the
Portugal
European Environ-
Malta
ment Agency.
 8 | | 9

Mining waste emissions to land and water in Australia

Emissions to land Emissions to water
100 80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 80 100%

Iron mining
Other metal mining
AUSTRALIA
Copper mining
Black coal mining
PRTRs (Pollutant Release and Transfer
Silver-Lead-Zinc mining
Registers) are databases of chemical re-
Gold mining
leases to air, land and water from factories
Mineral sand mining
or other sources. Targeting a broad public
Nickel mining
Most pollutants from the mining audience, they support our right to infor-
Bauxite mining
industry are emitted to water. mation on toxic waste and air pollution.
All mining industries 20% 80% The Australian National Pollutant Inven-
100 80 60 40 20 0 20 40 60 80 100% tory (NPI), for instance, not only provides
in percentage of all waste produced * the public with free access to data on its
* Emissions to air are not taken into account (they are not considered as “waste” per se). website but also helps facilities estimate
Source: Australian National Pollutant Inventory, 2006 (figures for 2004). and report emissions.

The production of aluminium in- Mining waste generated Waste-rock

volves three main stages: mining from aluminium production The mining process generates
bauxite ore, refining bauxite to 10 tonnes of waste-rock ...
Sources: European Aluminium Association;
alumina (Al2O3), and then smelt- Nachhaltige Stadtentwicklung beginnt im Quartier,
ing alumina to produce aluminium. Carsten Sperling et Oekoinstitut e.V. (Ed.), Freiburg, 1999.

Bauxite comes from open mines

mainly located in tropical and
subtropical regions. On average
it takes 4 to 5 tonnes of bauxite ... 4 to 5 tonnes
to produce 2 tonnes of alumina, of bauxite
have to be
yielding 1 tonne of aluminium. The extracted
main solid by-product of the alu- In order
mina extraction (Bayer process) is to produce
one tonne
red mud and roughly 3 tonnes is of aluminium ...
left for every tonne of alumina. 1t
... and 3 tonnes of toxic red mud.
Recycling 1 kilogram of aluminium
saves 5 to 8 kilograms of baux-
ite, 4 kilograms of chemicals and 1t 1t 1t
14 kilowatts of electricity. It also
Aluminium Bauxite Red Mud
produces 95 per cent less air pol-
lution. As much of the bauxite is
mined in the tropics and some in
tropical forests; the recycling of
aluminium also helps save tropical
forests.

Jamaica China

Guinea India

Brazil
ON THE WEB
Australia
The UNEP/OSCE/NATO/UNDP pub-
lication on sustainable mining
practices: Bauxite production
www.envsec.org/see/pub/mining- Million tonnes per year
fullb.pdf Major bauxite producers
European Commisison on mining
waste:
Source: US Geological Survey,
ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/ Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2006
mining 5 15 25 50 (figures for 2005)
ENERGY PRODUCTION WASTE

No energy without waste

Many of today’s products involve complex production pro- Million tonnes
cesses that use large amounts of energy. Waste is a major 18 Poland
environmental concern for the energy sector. Depending 16
on the type of energy, the production process itself will 14 Turkey
Energy production waste
generate substantial quantities of waste. The energy sector 12 in selected European countries
generates specific types of waste: waste from mining and 10
Romania
upgrading coal and lignite (tailing); waste from oil and gas 8 Czech Republic
refining; combustion waste from thermal power stations; 6 Bulgaria
waste from air-pollution abatement devices and finally the 4
The Netherlands
Slovenia Belgium
components of the power station itself which must be dis- 2
Spain Denmark Portugal
Finland
mantled at the end of its service life (particularly sensitive Croatia
Norway
0
in the case of nuclear power stations). Source: EIONET, European Topic Centre on Resource and Waste
Management, 2006 (figures for 2002).

Radioactive waste hotspots and transboundary pollution in Central Asia’s Ferghana Valley
Poorly managed waste sites Waste from polluting industries Radioactive material processing and storage sites
Mining tailing ponds and piles Metallurgical industry Uranium tailing or radioactive processing
Municipal waste Oil and coal production Closed uranium mine
Pesticides and hazardous chemicals

Pollution pathways 0 50 100 km

Transboundary risk of soil, air and water contamination
Spills and reported industrial accidents
Toktogul Reservoir

Chatkal
Reservoir
KAZAKHSTAN c h ik TEREKSAY
hir
KYRGYZSTAN
C

ron KYZYLDZHAR
Chardara Reservoir Tashkent ga SHEKAFTAR TASH-KUMIR
SUMSAR
an

MAILUU-SUU
Ah

YANGEBAT
CHARKESAR
CHADAK
Sy Jalal-Abad
r- Namangan
ALMALYK Andijan
Da

Syrdarya UYGURSAY
rya

ADRASMAN MINGBULAK Andijan Kara-Darya

ia OIL FIELD Reservoir
ar
r-D Osh
Gulistan
TABOSHAR Sy
Karakkum Ferghana
UZBEKISTAN KhujandReservoir
BEKABAD TEO-MOYUN
KANIBADAM
KAN
ISFARA
DEGMAY KADAMJAI
Jizakh
GAFUROV SHURAB Batken
CHKALOVSK

SULUKTA KHAIDARKAN

u
Kyzyls

TAJIKISTAN CHINA
ZERAVSHAN
ANZOB Source: UNEP, UNDP, NATO, OSCE, Environment and Security Initiative, 2005.

The Soviet Union used the Ferghana Valley as one of its
main sources of metal and uranium ore. The area has many
nuclear waste storage sites, abandoned uranium mines
with poorly secured tailing dams and nuclear reactors
that pose a severe security hazard. Tailings are exposed
to wind erosion and easily accessible to grazing animals.
Local people are often unaware of the risks of exposure
to radiation, using metal and tailing materials for building.
Farmland borders tailing areas and children use waste
storage sites as playgrounds.
 10 | | 11

ON THE WEB
International Energy Agency:
www.iea.org
German renewable energy site:
www.german-renewable-energy.com/Renewables/Navigation/Englisch

Polluting renewables?
Renewable energy sources include a variety of techno-
logies that tap into existing energy flows, such as sunlight,
wind, water, and other processes, in particular biodegra-
Million kilojoules 50 to 150
dation and geothermal heat. Such sources can be replen-
Less than 10 150 to 300
10 to 50 More than 300 ished naturally in a short period of time and create little or
no waste in their active phase.
Energy consumption per capita (2004)
For instance photovoltaic panels have very little impact
All statistics are given for on the environment, making them one of the cleanest
Projected energy demand “primary energy”, the energy power-generating technologies available. Some use small
contained in naturally
Thousand million tonnes amounts of toxic metals such as cadmium and selenium,
of oil equivalent occurring form (such as coal)
before being transformed into generating a certain amount of hazardous waste that
Projections more convenient energy
(such as electrical energy). nonetheless need to be properly disposed of. Photovoltaic
15
oil 35% panels operate for 25 years at least. In due course we will
Sources: International Energy have to recycle four to 10 million tonnes of old or broken
Agency (IEA), World Energy
10 Outlook 2005; US Energy panels, but manufacturers have already set up the neces-
gas 25% Information Administration, sary processes. Ironically a lot of fuss is made about any
International Energy Annual
5 2004; Wikipedia. waste caused by renewable technologies, yet the same
coal 22%
level of cleanliness is rarely required of more conventional
renewables*
hydropower
nuclear energy sources.
0
1971 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 * other than hydropower Conventional – non-renewable – energy sources include
fossil fuels, primarily oil, natural gas and coal, and uranium,
According to current forecasts the world’s energy require- of which atoms are split (through nuclear fission) to create
ments will have risen by more than 50 per cent by 2030. heat and ultimately electricity. They cannot be replenished
Oil and natural gas will account for more than 60 per cent within existence of mankind. They were created over mil-
of the increase. lions of years.

The Radioactive Wager Nuclear waste generation

Radioactive waste is a politically sensitive issue (to say the
least). It includes spent fuels from power plants but also radio- Spent fuel arisings
active materials of all kinds (spent reactors, military equipment, Thousand tonnes of heavy metal Spent fuel
etc.). Uranium mining leaves heaps of slag and uranium tailings 4.5
Projections
(see Ferghana map for example).
4.0
Waste management strategies and technologies seek to pro- North America
tect human health and the environment. But it has so far proved 3.5
impossible to dispose of radioactive waste completely. The only high
3.0
solution is to hide it as safely as possible. There is always a risk of Europe (EU15)
uncontrollable outside events, but this tends to be glossed over. low
2.5 estimate
United States

Spent Nuclear Fuel 2.0

Every 18 to 24 months nuclear power plants must shut Canada

1.5
France
down to remove and replace the “spent” uranium fuel,
1.0
which has released most of its energy in the fission pro- Japan
cess and become radioactive waste. How best to store this 0.5
waste has become an international issue. Some states,
0
particularly Russia, expect high financial benefits from im- 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010
porting such waste. Western states facing strong public Source: OECD Environmental Data, 2004.
opposition to storing waste at home are only too happy
to unload the problem elsewhere and export spent fuel. End-of-life reactors
As with any hazardous waste transport, moving nuclear Numbers of nuclear reactors in operation worldwide
waste raises questions about the priority given to profit, by age (in years)
rather than the safety of people in the importing country 0 50 100 150 200
(see pages 34 to 36 for waste in transit).
Over 40
More than three-quarters of nuclear reactors currently in
30 to 40
service are more than 20 years old. After an average service
life of 30 years it takes 20 more years to dismantle them. 20 to 30

The spent fuel figures for 2002 are national projections. 10 to 20

Quantities fluctuated strongly in the United Kingdom, part-
ly due to variations in electricity output from nuclear power.
Decommissioning of several older power stations explains
the peaks.
Under 10
Sources: International Atomic Energy Agency’s Power Reactor Information System;
UNEP/GRID-Europe; UNESCO, 2006 (figures for 2005).
MANUFACTURING WASTE

The big waste factory

Have you ever considered the volume of waste caused by manufac-
turing the little implement for cleaning your teeth? One toothbrush
causes 1.5 kilograms’ waste. About 94% of the materials extracted
for use in manufacturing durable products become waste before the
product is manufactured.

Industry is the top producer of waste in developed countries. A

large proportion of industrial waste is hazardous, because industrial
processes often involve chemicals. Cleaner production – reducing
the amount of problematic components in a product and additives
used in the production process – waste avoidance anda life cycle
approach to waste management are attempts in the right direction.
For some, this is not enough: they promote a complete rethinking of
material use – only use components that have a positive influence
on the environment! There is talk of a “new industrial revolution” and
‘cradle to cradle design’.

Producing paper differ-

ently
The Julius Schulte Söhne
GmbH paper mill in Düsseldorf
manufactures paper from re-
cycled waste paper, with zero
effluents. Thanks to proprietary
technology the mill cleans its
own waste water and reuses
it. It thus saves some 260 000
cubic metres of water and €400
000 in sewage expenses. The
gas produced by the effluents is
scrubbed to remove the sulphur
and used to generate electricity,
covering all the requirements of
the mill.
Paper and paperboard production From 2009 the Forscot mill in
Millions tonnes
(producers above Includes all types of paper and paperboard: Scotland plans to produce pa-
500 000 tonnes only) newsprint; printing and writing paper; construction paper and per in a fully integrated mill sup-
paperboard; household and sanitary paper; special thin paper;
wrapping and packaging paper and paperboard and all other plied by timber from Scotland
paper and paperboard. and the north of England, de-
1 10 20 30 80 Source: FAO, Forestry Report 2003. livered by train or boat. Waste
materials (bark, sawdust, etc.)
and effluents linked to pulp
Waste water stains on white paper production will be used for the
Though it is based on wood, a natural renewable resource, the pulp and paper in- mill’s electrical power supply.
dustry is one of the worst sources of pollution. It absorbs more than 40 per cent of About 90 per cent of the 144
all timber felled worldwide. Despite the development of digital communications tools megawatt output will be used
global paper production is expected to increase by 2.2 per cent a year from 330 mil- on the spot, the rest being fed
into the power grid. Forscot
lion tonnes at present to 440 million tonnes worldwide by 2015. The main growth
plans to produce about 970
areas are Asia and Eastern Europe, but annual per capita consumption in Western
000 tonnes of paper and pulp,
Europe is also expected to rise from 207 kilograms currently to 264 kilograms. of various grades, primarily tar-
Regulations and legislation introduced in Europe and North America in recent geting customers in the United
years require improved production processes both in terms of energy consumption, Kingdom, where demand is
resource usage and pollution control. Bleach-free production is technically possible high. Deliveries will be made by
now and water pollution could be cut to a minimum. Thanks to labels that com- rail or sea.
municate environmental standards, consumers could and should be aware of the For an example of how waste
possibilities of choosing paper with less environmental impact. from the paper industry can be
Transferring production from Europe and North America to other parts of the world reduced by reusing paper di-
rectly see pages 30–31.
where standards tend to be lower (China, South America) partly outweighs these gains.
 12 | | 13

Cell phone mostly

contained ON THE WEB
composition
in...
UNEP’s Division on Technology, Industry and Economics:
Circuit
boards www.unep.fr/en/about
International Society for Industrial Ecology:
Case www.is4ie.org
Wires Invergordon paper mill:
www.forscot.com
Screen
Plastics 50%
Chips

Batteries

Made in elsewhere
It is impossible to detail all the types of waste directly or
indirectly involved in manufacturing mobile phones. In de-
veloped countries production processes manage to keep
sensitive materials in a closed circuit, without any waste
escaping to the outside world. Production – “Made in Else-
Copper 15% where” – does not usually take place where the phones are
most widespread. It is unlikely such a high degree of effi-
ciency can be achieved in the countries where many mobile-
phone components are assembled, particularly as environ-
Glass, mental rules are often difficult to implement there. Assembly
ceramics 15%
workers can be exposed to a mixture of toxic chemicals,
with waste finding its way into the atmosphere, ground and
Cobalt or
Lithium 4% water supply, posing a serious risk to their health and that
of the people living in the neighborhood.
Carbon 4%
Let us take three of the most hazardous metals for both
Ferrous metal 3%
0.5% Zinc the environment and human health. Lead is used in monitor
Nickel 2% 0.5% Silver
Tin 1% 0.5% Chromium screens, in solder for mounting integrated circuits (chips)
0.5% Tantalum
Other* 3% 0.5% Cadmium on printed circuit boards (the brains of your phone). Micro-
0.5% Lead processors contain mercury. And there is cadmium in the
*among them, less than 0.1% of antimony, gold and berrylium
circuits and battery (mobile phones use 60 per cent of re-
chargeable batteries produced worldwide).
Sources: Basel Convention, 2006; Lindholm (Nokia report), 2003.

Typical hazardous wastes

Germany Slovak generated by selected manufacturing industries
Republic
Norway Strong acids and bases
Reactive wastes
Ignitable wastes
Discarded commercial chemical products Chemistry
Sweden
Tanning liquor and effluent
treatment containing chromium
Hazardous waste generation Dyestuffs and pigments Leather
The containing dangerous substances and textile
Netherlands
Kilograms
per person per year Paint wastes containing heavy metals
Belgium Strong acids and bases
200 Cyanide wastes
Manufacturing Sludges containing heavy metals Metal
industry
175 Romania
Ignitable and corrosive wastes
Other sectors Latvia Ink wastes, including solvents and metals
Photography waste with
Paper
150 heavy metals solutions and printing

Bulgaria Heavy metal dusts and sludges

125 Ignitable wastes Cleaning
Solvents
Strong acids and bases and cosmetic
ATLANTIC
100
OCEAN
Ignitable wastes
Czech Spent solvents
Spain Republic Paint wastes Furniture and wood
75 Denmark
Slovenia Paint wastes
50 Croatia Ignitable wastes Vehicle
Spent solvents
BLACK
SEA
Acids and bases maintenance shops
25 Portugal
MEDITERRANEAN SEA Animal waste (not always hazardous) Food and
Cleaning wastes
0 CFCs (refrigerants) beverages
Source: European Commission, Eurostat, Theme Environment and Energy, 0 500 km Sources: UACPA, 2002; Commission Decision
Waste generated and treated in Europe. 2005 Edition (figures for 2002). 2001/118/EC on the European List of Wastes (2001).
PACKAGING WASTE

The packaging nightmare

Packaging represents a growing share of the average household’s waste, particularly if you con-
sider not only its weight but also its volume. There are many reasons for this increase: smaller
households, increasing use of convenience food (ready-made meals) at home and on the move,
and higher food hygiene standards. All these factors encourage the use of disposable packaging
and individual portions. But above all packaging is a key component in international trade. Fifty
years ago most of what we consumed was produced nearby. Today even basic goods such as wa-
ter travel halfway round the world to reach us (see following page). Last but not least, packaging is
a major marketing tool, a vector for brand names and consumer values.

The manufacture of packaging itself generates

waste and by definition it has a particularly short
lifespan. It turns into waste as soon as its con-
tents reaches its destination. This is certainly a
blessing for the packaging sector – and the relat-
ed plastics, paper and printing industries – but it
presents a serious challenge for waste manage-
ment (see also pages 24–25 and 26–27).

Packaging of all kinds

Once a product is manufactured and ready to be sold, it
must be distributed. To protect it from dirt and shocks, to
make it easier to store, but also to make it look appealing,
a whole science has developed to design the most suitable
wrappings. The variety of products demands a huge diver-
sity of packaging and a wide range of materials: cardboard
boxes, glass jars, plastic bags, plastic film, aluminium
wrappers and expanded polystyrene, to name just a few.
Part of it is reused or recycled with varying efficiency de-
pending on the degradability of the components and the ef-
ficiency of the recycling chain (collection and processing).

Packaging waste composition in the UK

in percentage of total packaging waste
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100% Plastic packaging
Glass bottles Paper and
According to Residua, a UK company working on solid
Plastic
and jars Cardboard waste issues, about 50 per cent of European goods are
33% 32% 19% 14%
wrapped in plastic (17 per cent by weight). There are many
among which: types of plastic packaging: plastic bottles are often made
Metal cans and foil
Plastic Plastic Mixed beverage containers of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), yoghurt pots are most-
film bottles ly polypropylene (PP), wrapping film, bin liners and flexible
16% 9%
United containers are usually low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and
Kingdom
so on. This diversity partly explains why recycling rates for
plastics are low: each type of plastic needs its own recy-
Recycling rates of different packaging material cling process.
in percentage of the specific packaging waste produced
Most plastics are derived from oil or gas, the extraction and
70
Paper processing of which requires large amounts of chemicals and,
See also page 30.
60 of course, generates waste (including hazardous waste).
50 Glass
40 Steel
30
Aluminium
20 Facts
Plastic
10 One plastic bag takes 1 second to manufacture, is 20 min-
utes in use, and takes 100-400 years to degrade naturally.
0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004
500 thousand million bags a year distributed worldwide, or
16 000 a second
Sources: UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, e-Digest of
Environmental Statistics, 2006; Julian Parfitt, WRAP as cited in Cool Waste Management, 60 000 tons of plastic are used in France alone to produce
Greenpeace, 2003. disposable plastic bags.
 14 | | 15

ON THE WEB
At your level: WRAP (Waste and Resources Action Programme):
Consume local produce (especially fresh www.wrap.org.uk
Packaging Recovery Organisation Europe:
food);
www.pro-e.org
Drink tap water and advocate protecting Evaluation of European packaging waste management systems:
its quality; reports.eea.europa.eu/eea_report_2005_3/en/FINAL-3_05-Pack-
Take your own reusable bag when you go aging_waste_WEB.pdf
shopping;
Choose containers that are easy to reuse
and recycle;
Buy in bulk when possible;
Boycott over-packaged products and indi-
vidual portions.

Packaging waste production per capita

Kilograms per year
NORWEGIAN Finland
200 SEA

176 EU15 average

150
Sweden
100
United
Ireland Kingdom Denmark
The Netherlands
Source: European Environmental
Belgium Germany
Agency, Generation and recycling
of packaging waste, May 2005
Luxembourg
Assessment. France Austria

Portugal
ATLANTIC Spain
OCEAN
Italy
Greece
0 500 1 000 km MEDITERRANEAN
SEA

Norway Finland
Invading the landscape United Kingdom
Plastic bags are given away in huge quan-
tities by grocery stores and supermarkets Ireland
Denmark
all over the world. The bags are not de- The squares are
gradable and end up on dumps or in the The Netherlands proportionnal
wild, spotting landscapes with flickering Germany to waste production
in 2002 (or latest
coloured dots. The bags certainly come United States year available)
at a cost, but it is well hidden in the price for selected countries.
of our purchases and, as consumers, we
Austria
tend to forget we could avoid this sur-
Spain New Zealand
charge (and the extra waste) by bringing
our own bag.
Some countries are launching drives
to ban plastic bags or replace them
with more sustainable containers (rais- Waste production in thousand tonnes Sources: OECD Environmental Data 2004.

ing some interesting scientific debates 100 000

on less resource-intensive options). But
50 000 Household waste
there is growing concern in developing
countries especially in Africa. The in- Packaging waste
10 000
creased use of plastic bags is particularly
1 000
noticeable in the new economies of the
former Soviet Union, where only a few
years ago a plastic bag was treasured as Share of packaging waste in total household waste:
an important belonging and washed end- Higher than 50% Between 33 and 50% Lower than 33%
lessly for careful reuse.
BOTTLED WATER CASE STUDY

Message ’round a bottle

It seems understandable nowadays that Iceland might need to im- The circles are
proportionnal
port fresh produce from abroad or that North America and Western to value of import trade
Europe should want to bring spices from Asia. But if we look more (figures in thousand
thousand
2004
[ 2.3 ]
closely much of the trade criss-crossing the globe defies common million dollars)
sense. Why would the United States import so much meat from 2003
[2]
Australia? Why would Canada import bottled water from France 2002
[ 1.8 ]
when the country exports a large share of its own output to the US In two years only,
the trade value of
and Japan? bottled water importations
rose by 25 %.

Consumption per capita in the United States Trade for trade’s sake
Litres Why would any country import goods already
30 produced at home or nearby? One explanation is
straight forward: It may be cheaper to buy abroad
than produce locally or the necessary know-how
is not available locally. In some cases a famous
brand or the country of origin is a guarantee of
quality. Such explanations only account for part
20 of the truth. The single most important factor for
people wanting such and such a brand of water is
clever advertising (see page 21). One of the rea-
sons this system can work is that transport costs
do not reflect the full story, disregarding the long-
term cost of environmental damage (in terms of
10 waste but also energy resource depletion and cli-
mate change).
Bottled water is a typical case. Powerful mar-
keting strategies and increasing suspicion to-
wards tap water have made mineral water a fast
growing market (a largely unjustified suspicion
0 for that matter because tap water is subjected to
1991 1995 2000 2005 more regular quality controls than bottled water,
at least in large cities).
India Total bottled water consumption The maps illustrate the crazy logic of today’s
Spain (leading consumers) global trade. Exchange is no longer based on lo-
Indonesia cal needs or resource availability (in most coun-
France tries where large amounts of bottled water are
2004
Germany 1999 consumed, the tap water is perfectly drinkable),
Italy
with unnecessary exchange involving major im-
Brazil
porters that are also major exporters (France,
China
Mexico
Germany and Belgium).
United States
It goes without saying that bottled water re-
quires large amounts of plastic, for a container
0 5 10 15 20 25 thousand litres
that has a very short life span and takes a very
Sources: International Bottled Water Association, 2005; Beverage Marketing Corporation, 2005. long time to biodegrade.
 16 | | 17

ON THE WEB
Bottled Water:
www.bottledwater.org

France

Trade value (2004)

Major bottled water China
Thousand million dollars

exporters Belgium
500
Germany
Italy Countries where 400
Canada annual trade value
exceeds twenty thousand
million dollars only 300

United
Kingdom
Turkey 200

United States
Luxembourg
100

Fiji
United States
Germany
Belgium

Hong Kong
United Japan
Major bottled water Kingdom

importers Canada
Russian Federation
Source: UN Comtrade online database, 2006.
France
Switzerland
Luxembourg
CONSUMPTION WORLDWIDE

Consumption worlds
Since the post-war enthusiasm of the 1950s the word “progress” has enjoyed a special aura, for
generalising goods that make our life easier. All over the world people can buy goods at increasingly
affordable prices. Though this easy materialism enables some people to enjoy greater comfort oth-
ers seem overwhelmed by the speed with which consumer objects multiply. Very few families have
resisted this trend and are still in phase with their culture.

The cost of all these products for the environment is colossal. The goods we accumulate today will
pile up as waste tomorrow, and more yet in view of the global trends. Projections tell us that there
will be 9 000 million people on Earth by 2050. According to the Global Footprint Network life on
Earth would not even be sustainable for 2 000 million people consuming at the same rate as in the
richest countries today. Unless we change the way we produce (see pages 12–13) and consume.

Population in thousand million

10 Medium variant
projections
9 Nine thousand
World million people
8 by 2050

7
Sustainable
population
6 at a middle income
consumption level
Asia
5

4
The population of India
3 is expected to overtake
that of China around 2030.

2
MILY, SPAIN
Sustainable

China
1 at a high income
India
0
1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040 2050
Sources: Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social
Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects:
The 2004 Revision; Global Footprint Network, 2005.
THE DE FRUTOS FA
population
consumption level
Photographs from a project by the Ameri-
can photographer Peter Menzel. In 2001
he took pictures of 30 middle-class fami-
lies outside their home with all their pos-
sessions, in 30 different countries, publish-
ing his findings in Material World, see www.
menzelphoto.com. The Hodson family was
photographed by David Reed/IMPACT.

A
AMILY, GUATEMAL
F
CALABAY SICAY
THE

ALB ANIA
MILY,
AKO NI FA
THE C
 18 | | 19

ON THE WEB
Global Footprint Network:
www.footprintnetwork.org
Population and development in the United Nations system:
www.un.org/esa/population

GDOM
THE HODSON FAMILY, UNITED KIN

THE KAZUO UKIT

A FAMILY, JAPAN
Population by income level
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 Thousand million

2004

1960 Consumption level

Low income
Middle income
High income

No data

THE WU F
AMILY, C
HINA
China and
Indonesia
joined the
“middle income world”
in the 1990s

Source: World Bank, 2006 (figures for 2005).

The rich world consumes more and thus produces more waste. The World
Bank classification based on gross national income per capita is an indica-
tion of the global consumption level. Over the last two decades the world as
a whole did not get any richer but China and Indonesia, two densely popu-
lated countries, entered the “middle income world”, as defined by the World
Bank. Consumer items are available to a growing number of individuals, par-
THE GE
TU FA
ticularly in the two countries. If they cannot disconnect economic growth MILY,
from resource depletion and energy use, they will not be able to enjoy their ETHIO
new-found wealth for very long.
PIA
NEW TRENDS IN CONSUMPTION

The relativity of “Basic Needs”

Several trends characterise modern consumer goods. Our appetite for them con-
tinues to grow, with product ranges growing too. Meanwhile the average lifespan
of many products is shortening. 80% of what we make is thrown away within six
months of production. Each product contains more components and they are usu-
ally more difficult to biodegrade than before. All of which complicates the way prod-
ucts are processed once they become waste.

New products Thousand thousand million dollars

The electronic era that started 30 or 40 years ago has revo- 25
lutionised the way we work and communicate. Digital de-
vices are omnipresent in business and in everyday life. But
a closer look shows they are not always essential. They
are governed by fashion and innovation, so we “have” to 20
buy the latest gadget increasingly often, turning the previ- Global household
ous one into electronic waste all the sooner. For instance expenditure
ten years ago we used a notebook as a diary. Now even 15
schoolchildren “need” an energy-hungry electronic for a
similar purpose.

10
Gadget today, garbage tomorrow
Our modern world is full of gadgets we can have for free: a
plastic ball in the cereal pack or a hand bag with the per-
fume. Start a new cellphone contract and pick up a mobile. 5
Subscribe to the daily newspaper and get a TV magazine
too. As we never wanted them in the first place, these gad- Source: World Bank online database, 2006.
gets turn into trash even faster than other goods. 0
1970 1980 1990 2000 2003

Consumer items in China Household expenditure per capita

Number of items per 100 Chinese households Thousand dollars
200 18 Norway
16
150 14
Cities Bicycle
12 The Netherlands
Colour TV
Cell phone 16 Spain
100
Fridge 10 New Zealand
8
50 6
Computer Poland
4
Car 0
0
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2004

150
Household waste generation per capita
Bicycle Kilograms
100
Colour TV 600
The Netherlands
50 Countryside 500
Cell phone Spain
Fridge 400 New Zealand
0
1985 1990 1995 2000 2004 Norway
300
Sources: China Statistical Yearbook 1996, 2001 and 2005.
200 Poland
The impact of income on lifestyle is ap- 100
parent in China like elsewhere. There has
been a massive surge in all consumer 0
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2002
goods with rising income in towns. The
same trend can be observed to a much Sources: World Bank online database, 2006 ; OECD Environmental Data 2004.
lesser extent in the country.
 20 | | 21

ON THE WEB
Key statistics from the International Telecommunication Union:
www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics
China Statistical Yearbook:
www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2005/indexeh.htm

Mobile phone growth Mobile phones per 1 000 people

Mobile phones were launched in 1984 and the market
has been booming ever since. In 20 years they have
spread like wildfire. By September 2004 there were 344
million subscribers (out of a population of 380 million) in
the 15 (old) members of the European Union. Accord-
ing to Nokia there will be 2 000 million cellphone users
worldwide by 2008.
Whereas in 2002 only 13 persons out of 1000 in Al-
geria and 474 persons out of 1000 in Lituania owned a
cell phone, the number is now 145 and 996, respectively. 2002
In Africa cell phones have enjoyed almost 40% growth
since 2000, though market penetration is very uneven.
In many countries with poor coverage by land lines, cell 0.01 to 10
10 to 50
phones are the only means of communication. 50 to 200
200 to 500
500 to 1184 no data available

Throw-away culture
The list of products we used to keep for years and now dis-
pose of instantly is almost endless: tissues, face wipes, ra-
zors, kitchen wipes, serviettes, nappies, plastic bags, toner
cartridges, cameras and barbecues, to name just a few.
Every year US consumers throw away 39 thousand million
tonnes of cutlery and 29 thousand million tonnes of plates.

Inventing new demand

The marketing and advertising industry is constantly teas- 2004
ing us with trendy, cool and largely superfluous products.
To judge by investment in advertising, it takes more and
more to achieve the same effect. With all that stimulation it Source: WDI database, 2006.
is an effort asking just what we stand to gain.

Consumption appeal Advertising expenditure

by category

Others
Canada Europe
9% Pharmaceuticals
United
Electronics
States 10% and telecommunications

Middle
East 11% Entertainment and media
Asia and Pacific
Latin America Africa
18% Personal care

Advertising expenditure
Million dollars 600 Advertising expenditure 19% Food
500 Thousand million dollars
46 000
400 World
10 000 300 Source: Advertising Age, Global
1 000 Marketing: Top 100, November 2005;
200
Robert J. Coen; Worldwatch Institute, 24% Cars
100 United States Vital Signs 2006.
0
Top ten advertising countries 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2005
HOUSEHOLD WASTE AND OTHER CATEGORIES

Counting the bins

One person’s dustbin is not the same as another’s. Depending on which continent you live
on, on your life style, financial resources, and so on, your trash will be different. On aver-
age, European households produce roughly one kilogramme of waste per person per day;
in a number of developed countries this average is even higher. In emerging countries,
particularly rural areas with limited contact with the western world almost all domestic
waste can still be composted. In rich countries it is almost the exact opposite. The amount
of compost-ready waste is dropping and now only accounts for a third of household
waste. In France packaging represents half the total waste and is steadily increasing. Not
only do we overpack goods, but also we increasingly tend to consume them in individual
portions, which obviously results in more packaging. Buying coffee in individual pods, for
instance, demands ten times more packaging than a 250 gram pack.

Compost from waste food (from works cafeterias, vegetables from markets, garden cut-
tings, etc.) is valuable. Once it has decomposed it enriches the earth. It seems clear
enough we should not wreck nature with the contents of our bins, why then should we
continue leaving nature in our bins?

What is e-waste?
E-waste: a toxic time bomb 100%
A growing share of municipal waste contains electronic or 10% Electronic
electric parts. E-waste is one of the fastest growing waste waste
Monitors
streams and makes up approximately 4 per cent of munici-
10%
pal waste in the European Union. In the US, between 14
and 20 million PC’s become obsolete every year. The pic- Televisions
ture is the same all over the world and e-waste is increas- 15%
ing steadily. In 2004 some 183 million computers were Computers,
purchased worldwide, an 11.6 per cent increase on the telephones, fax,
previous year. The same year we bought 674 million new printers, etc.
mobile phones, compared to 471 million in 2003 (a 30 per 15%
DVD / VCR players,
cent increase). On average people in developed countries
CD players, radios,
only keep a computer for two years and mobile phones
Hi-Fi sets, etc.
last even less time. The rising tide of e-waste also includes 50
20% Electric
notebook computers and similar handheld devices, televi- waste
sions, radios, DVD and video players, etc. So there is little
likelihood of it stopping in the immediate future. In Europe
e-waste is increasing by 3 to 5 per cent annually, almost Refrigerators
three times faster than the total waste flow. As for devel- 30%
oping countries they are expected to have tripled their e-
waste output by 2010. For the planet as a whole e-waste
currently represents 5 per cent of all solid municipal waste. Washing machines,
For the planet as a whole e-waste currently represents 5 dryers, air-conditioners,
per cent of all solid municipal waste. Pages 12–13 (manu- vacuum cleaners,
facturing) and 30–31 (recycling) tell more about the hazards coffee machines,
arising from these growing piles of electronic wastes. toasters, irons, etc.
0
Additional categories: lighting equipment (fluorescent
tubes); toys, sports and recreational equipment; electric
and electronic tools (drills, sewing machines, lawn mowers,
etc); surveillance and control equipment; medical
instruments; automatic ticket machines.

Source : EMPA Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials

Testing and Research (definition according to the
European Union WEEE Directive).
 22 | | 23

ON THE WEB
A simple and practical guide to
Japanese household waste composition
household waste management: (Neyagawa case study)
www.purdue.edu/dp/envirosoft/
housewaste/src/dispose.htm in % of total weight in % of total volume
e-waste: 100% 100%
Others
www.ewaste.ch Others
Glass

Garden waste
Kitchen waste

Metals

Packaging
share

50 50
Plastics

Paper

Packaging
share
0 0

RUSSIA
40
°N The plastic share of a Japanese garbage bin (Osaka case study)
Pacific other disposable goods 0.1 fruit and vegetable juice 0.3
CHINA Ocean bags from water draining 0.3 carbonated beverage 0.8
JAPAN disposable lighters 0.1 sports beverage and mineral water 1.1
lactic drinks, coffee, tea 1.8
NORTH Neyagawa
plastic waste from offices 0.8 soy sauce 0.7
KOREA Tokyo other cooking sauce 1.0
spices 0.7
SOUTH Osaka 30° N toothpaste 0.3
KOREA
shampoo, hair conditioners 2.6
Household items drugs and cosmetics 0.9
7.3 plastic bottles detergent 1.9
130° E 140° E
other 0.4
for food and plastic
beverage bottles
buffer material 0.7 miscellaneous
6.4 for non- tofu 0.9
container lid 0.3 packaging cups 3.1
packaging lace 0.7 (candy or food 6.1 egg containers 1.1
packaging net 0.2 snacks) 6.8

other
8.6
large and middle
garbage bags 7.5 containers 8.9
sized package for boxes and trays
non-food (laundry for food 12.2
come-outs etc.) 2.6
large and middle
sized package for packaging 91.4 packaging trays 5.9
food (rice bags etc.) 0.3
plastic package
for non-food 1.7
boxes and
plastic food package
plastic wrap 6.6 trays non-food
without printing
0.6
(pickles etc.) 8.1

plastic food
packaging with plastic shopping bags
Household plastic waste composition printing (snacks, large shopping sacks 0.5
in percentage of total plastic waste wet weight noodles) 8.3

Sources: Kohei Watanabe, Reference material provided for the talk

"Waste and Sustainable Consumption", Capability and Sustainability Centre, small supermarket bags 16.7
St Edmund's College Cambridge, March 2005; Association of Regional Planners
and Architects, Detailed Sorting and Measuring of Household Waste, Kyoto 1998. See also page 14.
WASTE MANAGEMENT

Dump, bury or burn?

Not long ago the amount and composition of waste was such that it
could be simply diluted and dispersed into the environment. Most items
were reused and only a few remained, that would not decompose natu-
rally. With industrialisation and rising urban density, a new concept fol-
lowed: collect and dump out of sight. The aim was to eliminate waste
or at least protect the population from it. This generally involved either
openly burning it (still practised today in many countries, this is a major
source of toxic gas emissions such as dioxins and furans) or dumping
it on specially designated landfill sites. In most countries landfill is still
the most popular option. It is the second largest source of greenhouse
gas emissions in the US (after fossil fuel combustion).

As garbage piles up, however much space we set aside for landfill,
we are beginning to realise that producing waste at this rate is no lon-
ger viable. It is time for the three “Rs”: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and
integrated waste management. Waste management strategies are as
diverse as waste itself. But whatever we do there is no escaping the
“waste of waste” (unless we rein in our greed and buy less). Incineration
residue, even from plants proporely equipped with filters, represents
about a quarter of the original volume. The residues partly consist of
highly concentrated ashes containing hazardous substances.

US dollars Solid waste management cost

per person per year
70
for selected cities

60

50

40

30

20

10

Tallinn
Riga
London Budapest Ulan Bator Fukuoka
Toronto
Strasbourg
Bucharest
New-York Lahore Kathmandu Macao
Hanoi
Caracas Dakha Manilla
Madras
Cebu
Bogota Accra Kuala Lumpur
Sao Paulo
Surabaya
Buenos Aires

Sources: MacFarlane, 1998; UN/ESCAP, IGES, 2002.

 24 | | 25

ON THE WEB
Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and sustainable
Resource management (ACR+):
www.acrplus.org
Waste management choices in Europe Example of national waste reduction initiative:
www.zerowaste.nz
in percentage of municipal waste generated Interactive game to understand waste management by the US
Environmental Protection Agency:
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100%
www.epa.gov/recyclecity
Greece 2003

UK 2002

Italy 2001

Portugal 2002

Ireland 2002

Finland 2002

Spain 2002

France 2002

Luxemburg 2000

Austria 2000

Germany 2002

Sweden 2002

Belgium 2003

Denmark 2003 Energy from waste

Netherlands 2003 Rubbish can be burned in special incinerators using the
resulting energy to produce steam for heating buildings or
landfilled incinerated composted recycled generating electricity. Many factories use this technique to
Source: European Topic Centre on Resource and Waste Management, 2006; cut waste output and generate some of the energy required
OECD Environmental Data 2004. for production processes (see paper factory on page 12).
One tonne of rubbish produces as much heat energy as
Managing hazardous waste 250 kilograms of coal. The US now burns 15 percent of
Everyday products increasingly contain hazardous chemi- its solid waste – 14 percent in waste-to-energy plants and
cals or use them in their production process. Hazardous the rest in conventional incinerators. Burning waste sub-
waste must be monitored and controlled from source to stantially reduces the amount of trash going to landfill. But
final disposal. Output can be reduced by not mixing haz- waste-to-energy plants cause air pollution. And some crit-
ardous and non-hazardous waste. But, again, the most ef- ics of such plants fear that burning waste will hamper re-
fective solution is not to produce it in the first place. cycling programmes.

Los Cartoneros, Buenos Aires’ waste scavengers The study reveals that 90 per cent of minors working as
The World Bank estimates that in low-income countries collectors do it more than once a week, and for more than
around the globe about two per cent of the population three hours a day. Their occupation raises several concerns
make a living by selling salvaged materials. Informal waste for their well-being. They often suffer health problems due
collection systems have many environmental and eco- to poor living conditions and exposure to waste. Family
nomic benefits, reducing the need for landfill, and saving income may be too low to pay school fees, pushing them
energy and natural resources. into the streets at an early age. The low social status of
The number of waste scavengers depends on economic scavengers discriminates against them and reduces their
conditions, unemployment and city waste management chances of social advancement.
policies. Waste recovery rates tend to reflect fluctuations
in prices for recycled materials. Waste scavengers of Buenos Aires
In Buenos Aires informal waste collectors recover 9 to
Less than 5 years of age
17 per cent of municipal waste, representing an estimated
saving for the municipality of US$30 000 to US$70 000 a 6%
day or US$3.5 to US$7 per collector. Scavenger house-
holds earn an average of US$58.4 a week. Despite their 5 to 9 years Female
role in the economy, the working conditions of Buenos Ai- 11% Male 38%
res cartoneros and their counterparts in other cities in the 62%
developing world are very poor, working mainly at night, Adults 10 to 14 years
without any protection such as masks or gloves. 52% 15%
An IOM/UNICEF study estimates that children or teenagers
15 to 17 years
account for roughly half the waste scavengers working in the
Argentinian cities. It considered that Buenos Aires has some 16% Source: IOM / UNICEF, Informe Sobre Trabajo
Infantil en la Recuperación y Reciclaje de
8 800 cartoneros, 4 300 of whom are children or teenagers. Residuos, 2005.
CASE STUDY FROM HEFTINGSDALEN, NORWAY

A model for waste processing?

“Everything you see, any of the goods on the shelves, will all end up with
us. It may take a day or ten years, but in the end we recover everything,
even the contents of septic tanks.” Our visit to the Heftingsdalen municipal
waste processing plant (which serves three localities in southern Norway)
starts in the supermarket of the nearby village of Saltrød!

“I wanted to remind you why places like Heftingsdalen exist. For consumers, waste disap-
pears the moment their bin is emptied. They see us as a sort of cemetery for the consumer
society. They completely disregard the concept of waste and what it becomes. Nor do ���������������
they have much idea of the many ways waste may be processed. Nothing disappears. It
all becomes something else, which inevitably impacts on our environment and way of life.” ����������������
Our host, an engineer, takes us past the shelves pointing out needlessly over-wrapped ���������������
goods and packaging that mixes materials (carton and plastic, for instance), a nightmare ��
for recycling. “There are times I feel like a paramedic in a humanitarian crisis. We have this �������������
��������������
enormous ability to produce consumer goods, with a correspondingly huge flood of waste,
which is stretching our limits. Five years ago waste processing plants represented a fairly
��
effective, sustainable solution, now they are a crisis response.” In 2005 household waste
output was up by 10 000 tonnes on 2000, rising from 15 000 to 25 000 tonnes for almost the
same population. Nor does this include 20 000 tonnes of business waste (construction, light
industry and service sector). In all Heftingsdalen processes about 45 000 tonnes of waste, ��
making an average of 720 kilograms per person per year.
At the entrance to the plant, which covers more than 15 hectares, a sign announces:
“Compost, bark and wood shavings for sale”. Other waste is separated, packed and redi- ��
rected to logistics centres elsewhere in Norway and Sweden. Jens Christian Fjelldal, the
head of the plant, explains that they sell a range of more than 200 recycled materials to
buyers in Europe and even South America and Asia. The recycling activity pays its way, �
enabling the three localities to cover the full cost of waste management. The plant employs
about 30 people and makes a tiny profit of about €500 000.

�
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���� ���� ���� ���� ����
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���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� ����������������������������������������
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 26 | | 27

������������������
������������������ �����������
��������������
���������
���
���������������������
����������� The plant is designed to restrict waste movement
������� ������������ and environmental damage. Strict safety regula-
��������������
tions govern storage of hazardous waste (chemi-
�������������
����������� cals, asbestos, varnish, oil, etc.). Such waste is
�������� not moved until it is destroyed on the spot or redi-
��������������
������������� �����������������
���������������� rected to specialist plants elsewhere. All the other
�������������� ��������������������� waste is separated by the consumers themselves
������������� ������ and dumped into skips. Full skips are transported
���������������������� to the relevant processing plant in such a way
��������������
������������ ��������������� as to restrict internal movement. Special drains
���������
collect any polluted surface water, contaminated
�������������
with chemicals, germs or pesticides, and channel
�������������
�������������������� it to holding ponds. From there it flows down a
����������� closed pipeline to a waste water treatment plant
������������
20 kilometres away. Waste effluents must never
������������������� come into contact with the water table.
�������������� ������������ Much of the plant is devoted to composting
������������������� ����������������
���������������� ���������������������
and landfill for unseparated waste, the latter oc-
����������� cupying half the total area. This is the destination
������������������������������ ���������������������
�������������
������������������������� of all the waste that can neither be separated nor
���������������������� ���������� recovered (37 per cent of the total). Every day bull-
dozers carefully spread 20 to 25 cubic metres of
trash dumped by the refuse collection vehicles.
The heaps of detritus are a stark reminder of the
��������������������� problem of over-consumption and waste. The
����������������
area allocated to landfill is filling up much faster
than in the gloomiest forecast. The current site
has already reached the level originally planned for
2014. At this rate Heftingsdalen will soon be full,
the only solution being to spill over into the sur-
������ ���������������������� rounding forest. The plant could also obtain per-
�������������� mission to raise the embankment making room for
several tens of thousands more tonnes of waste,
but that too is only a short-term solution.
��������� As it seems likely that the Norwegian authori-
���������
����� ��������� ties will introduce measures, coming into force in
����������� 2009, to ban landfill for unrecoverable household
waste and switch to incineration, the team at the
������� ����������
����������� plant is looking at ways of recovering energy from
waste incineration, a technology that is cheaper
����������� and more energy-efficient than the methane pro-
���������
duction plant previously considered. At present
�����������
��������� methane gas emissions are almost all burned in
������ a furnace at one end of the site. In all some 1.9
�������� �������� million cubic metres of gas are burned every year
��������������������� ����� to avoid releasing it into the atmosphere. The en-
����������������� ergy could however be put to other uses.
������������
������������� ��� ���������� In terms of waste separation Heftingsdalen is
���������������� exemplary, processing waste in ways that are safe
������� �������� ����
��������������� ��������������� for its workers and the environment. But it is just
�������������������� one small cog in a complex system, with energy
������� ����������������
�������������������� consumed at every step in the recycling process,
������������ including transport and handling. If the ecological
balance sheet includes energy costs the whole
process proves pointless. It may save raw materi-
als and protect nature, but oil consumption and
emissions still increase. Plants such as Heftings-
dalen only make sense if they go hand-in-hand
������������� with progress by all the players involved. Up-
stream, manufacturers need to rethink their choice
of materials, to facilitate separation, with distribu-
tors redesigning packaging. Downstream, govern-
ment and international agencies must restrict the
�������� � �� �� �� �� ���������� movement of waste and promote the construction
��������
of local or regional processing plants.
 CASE STUDIES FROM CURITIBA AND LONDON

Creative alternatives
Overcoming the broad challenges posed by household waste requires a holistic approach,
both in well-organised Europe and North America as well as in other continents, where
the problems are of a different nature. The two examples on this page demonstrate that
by looking at waste in a broader context we may find solutions that solve more than one Santa F
problem at a time. Whether imposed from above as in the Brazilian city of Curitiba or as
part of a private initiative at Beddington, in the suburbs of south London, the results are
encouraging and provide a blueprint for the future. Caracas

VENEZUELA Georgetown
UNITED KINGDOM Bogota GUIANA
Paramaribo
Guyane (France)
COLOMBIA SURINAM
Oxford
Southend-
es London on-Sea C
Tham

Sutton
BRAZIL
BedZed Dover
Lima
Brasilia
PERU
Brighton BOLIVIA
Portsmouth
La Paz

PACIFIC Rio de Janeiro

PARAGUAY Curitiba
OCEAN São Paulo
English Channel
CHILE Asunción
ARGENTINA ATLANTIC
0 50 100 km
FRANCE URUGUAY OCEAN
ON THE WEB Santiago Montevideo “Cambio verde”
Buenos Aires collecting sites
BedZED: www.bioregional.com 0 1 000 km

Curitiba: ippucnet.ippuc.org.br/Bancodedados/Curitibaemdados/Curitiba_em_dados_Pesquisa.asp
www.curitiba.pr.gov.br
Ecological housing in Europe: www.oneplanetliving.org
BedZED: Make use of waste, don’t create it
At Beddington, south of London, a housing devel-
opment known as BedZED (Beddington Zero en-
ergy development) was designed from the start to
produce little waste of any sort. It was built on a
depolluted plot of land, previously used by indus-
try, and recycled materials were used in its con-
struction. For instance 120 tonnes of steel girders
were recovered from demolition sites and reused.
BedZED’s inhabitants are sparing in their use of
private transport and sort their household waste,
composting anything organic. The architects also
took considerable trouble to restrict use of water
and liquid effluents as a whole.
An average British consumer draws more than
150 litres of mains water a day, whereas their
BedZED counterpart makes do with 76 litres, halv-
ing the amount of waste water that needs to be
processed. To achieve this result all the taps at
BedZED are fitted with energy-saving systems.
Conventional flush toilets account for a third of the
water used by households, drawing 7.5 to 9 litres
of water each time. BedZED toilets are fitted with
a dual-flush which uses 2 or 4 litres. This results in
an annual saving of 11 000 litres per person. Simi-
larly a clothes washer uses about 100 litres on aver-
age for each wash, engulfing 21% of all the water
consumed by UK households. Washing machines
Main slums
Parks
P
Major streets
at BedZED only require 39 litres, achieving annual Highways
savings of 16 700 litres per household. and motorways
The housing development also makes good use
of any rain, with 328 square metres of planted roof
space and 2 000 square metres of untarmacked
land, both of which soak up rainfall. Rain falling
on the remaining 472 square metres of roof space
is channelled into huge tanks, subsequently used
to water gardens and flush toilets. Other vegeta-
tion processes waste water organically for reuse in
the toilets. Simply by not tarmacking outside areas
waste water flowing into the sewage system is re-
duced by 1 540 cubic metres a year.
BedZED, launched in 2002, is the largest envi-
ronmentally friendly housing development in the
UK. With about 100 privately owned or rented flats
and offices it uses no fossil fuels, operating without
central heating. Energy saving is built-in and flats
only require about 10 per cent of the energy used
by even the most recently built conventional hous-
ing. The rest comes from solar radiation, heat pro-
duced by household devices (or computers in the
offices) and the body temperature of occupants.
Comparable developments already exist or are
being designed elsewhere in Europe, and fur-
ther afield, mainly at the initiative of individuals or
groups keen to minimise the environmental impact
of their lifestyle.
 28 | | 29

Waste collection
Thousand tonnes in Curitiba
700
Boa Vista
Total waste collected
600

Santa Felicidade 500

Matriz 400
Conventional
municipal waste collection
300

200
Portão
Cajurú
CIC
100 Citizens’ waste
collection programmes

0
1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2005

Boqueirão 20

18 “Waste that is not waste”

(recycling programme)
16

14

12
erde”
sites 10
Bairro Novo
s 8
“Purchase of waste”
programme
aç
u

Pinheirinho 6
o Ig u
ets Ri
4

ways 2 “Green exchange”

0 2 4 6 km programme (cambio verde)
0
Source: Instituto de Pesquisa e Planejamento Urbano de Curitiba, 2006. 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2005

Curitiba: smart policy for a green identity
Curitiba has become world-famous for its original approach
to basic municipal problems thanks to a unique mixture of
innovative town planning, determined political leadership
and good public relations.
In the 1980s severe hygienic problems plagued parts of
Curitiba where housing development was uncontrolled. The
winding streets were too narrow for council trucks and waste
rotting in the open caused disease. In 1989 the council de-
cided to act. It sent environmental education teams into af-
fected areas where they joined forces with neighbourhood
associations to organise waste collection by local people.
These groups took charge of distributing rubbish bags to in-
habitants and put big containers where the waste-collection
trucks could reach them. Villagers bring the waste they col-
lect to the containers. Neighbourhood associations pay the
collectors and in turn receive payment for the waste collected
from the bins. Initially an eight to ten kilogram bag earned
a ticket for public transport or school equipment. Later it
changed to a bag of fresh farm produce, of which there is a
local surplus. One to four bags entitled collectors to a limited
choice of produce, and in exchange for more than five bags
there is rice, potatoes and honey too. Ten per cent of the val-
ue of recycled waste is paid to the association, with members
deciding which community projects qualify for investments.
With the “purchase of waste” and “green exchange” pro-
grammes, the municipality achieves several aims in one go:
hygiene among the poorest inhabitants is improving, as is
their diet; people now have a paid occupation; and there is
less waste littering the streets of Curitiba.
Also in 1989 the whole city of Curitiba started separating
different categories of waste and recycling it. The motivation
was an overflowing landfill. But the programme had a social
goal too: by recycling precious materials it created work.
Curitiba had the good sense to combine goals of dif-
ferent departments and bring international publicity to po-
litical and managerial decisions. It has thus won renown
worldwide while raising the environmental awareness of
its townspeople, who are proud of their surroundings and
keen to keep them clean.
REUSING/RECYCLING

Recycling – the right choice?

Reusing and recycling are natural survival strategies for many people in the
developing world. In rich countries we abandoned the habit and are now re-
learning how to reuse and recycle. Public rubbish collection and a well estab-
lished recycling industry do a big part of the job for us. We appease our guilty
conscience by recycling the goods we buy in increasing amounts. But recyclers
do not process everything locally, sending some devices abroad for reuse by
those who cannot buy new goods. There they pile up. But this does not mean
we should stop recycling waste. We just have to keep sight of what it involves.

Recycling demands lengthy transport, which also affects the environment. In

France waste transport accounts for 15 per cent of all goods transport. It is
estimated that half the cost of recycling a tonne of waste is transport-related.
It has an impact on energy consumption too. Much glass is recycled but its
recovery, involving transport and melting, consumes lots of energy. Why not
reuse the same bottles several times? So if we really want to reduce damage,
the only solution is to cut waste output. The simplest way to do that is to reduce
consumption. Hence the three “Rs” slogan: reduce – reuse – recycle. We might
add, rethink!

Everyday alternatives: biodegradable, disposable or conventional tableware? The priority is to decrease the
amount of waste we gener-
Hundred “grams of resource used” along the life cycle Not as environmentally friendly as it sounds ate. Only then should we will
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 (among others, the wood for the cutlery be proud of the high rates for
often travels a long way)
recycling some countries re-
Biodegradable disposable dishes port (see examples for glass
Disposable dishes landfilled after use and paper). Glass recycling
Disposable dishes incinerated with energy recovery scores best, perhaps because
Conventional reusable dishes
97% of this amount is the energy needed to heat the dishwasher water,
an old habit has never been
the 3% remaining are due to the dishes fabrication process. lost. Many countries still have
The calculations consider all resources necessary to support the life cycle of a single table setting
a deposit on glass bottles
(plate, glass, knife, fork, spoon and coffee cup). (Scandinavia) or have even
Source: Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek et al., Der ökologische rucksack, Wirtschaft für eine zukunft mit zukunft, Hirzel Editions, Stuttgart, 2004. expanded it (Germany).

The downside of the mobile phone hype

On average Americans changes their mobile every two
years. In Europe they only keep them 18 months. Yet the
device itself is designed to last at least seven years. In
the US, in 2005, an estimated 130 million cell phones
were trashed, resulting in 65 000 tonnes of waste. Most
of these ex-marvels of technology end up as toxic fumes
and dioxin belching from an incinerator, due in particular
to indium, a metal found in liquid-crystal displays. Only
two per cent of mobiles are recycled in Europe. Millions of
others are lying around unused in cupboards and draw-
ers (19 million in France alone). And their number will go
on rising until efficient recycling systems are set up.
Some operators recover old mobiles and send them to
eastern Europe and emerging countries where they are
reconditioned and sold. This “generous” gesture enables
operators to displace future waste and build up a cus-
tomer base in countries where wireless networks are de-
veloping. The collection of these used phones at the end
of their life remain a challenge.
A French NGO has adopted a different approach. With
the help of a welfare organisation it is refurbishing old
phones and giving them to poor people in France, who
feel excluded not having a mobile.
As for recycling itself, the cable on the charger, once
crushed and sorted, produces copper and plastic. LCD
screens are processed at special facilities, as are batter-
ies which generally contain lithium. The shell is melted
to make more plastic. Specialist recyclers can powder
the integrated circuits and recover all the tiny quantities
of rare, precious metals (gold, silver, copper, platinum,
palladium, rhodium, etc.). With the price of raw materials
rising steeply even such costly methods are becoming
financially viable.
The waste caused by constant replacement of mobiles
is certainly a problem. Yet we could halve that amount by
simply keeping our phones twice or three times as long.
 30 | | 31

ON THE WEB
Local Paper for London:
www.greenchoices.org/features/00001.html
Mobile phone:
www.ticethic.com
Plastics:
Recycled paper Recycled glass www.residua.com
in % of paper consumption 100% 100% in % of glass consumption

Belgium
Switzerland
Virgin paper lifecycle Vs. Recycled paper lifecycle
Finland (from tree harvesting to landfill) (from collection to recycling again)
100 Index
90 90 Germany
= 100
Norway, Sweden 90
Levels of selected
Austria 80 environmental damage:
Iceland 70 68 Suspended solids in water emissions
Japan 60 56 Particulates in atmospheric emissions
54 Total energy usage and GhG emissions
50 50 Effluent flow
80 80
40 44 Solid waste generation
The Netherlands
30 Comparing 30 Chemical Oxygen Demand
Denmark in water emissions
20 environmental impacts
of virgin and
10 recycled office paper
Germany, Finland 0 0 Wood Use

Switzerland 70 70 Source: Paper Task Force Recommendations for Purchasing and Using Environmentally
South Korea *
Norway Preferable Paper, Environmental Defense Fund, 1995 (figures revised in 2002).
Sweden
Japan, The Netherlands
Other ways of recycling paper
South Korea * In 1999, the British consultant BioRegional (see page
Austria 28) thought up an innovative way of dealing with waste
60 60
European 59 paper. Surely offices could sort their own paper and, af-
Union ter local reprocessing, reuse it? Local Paper for London
Denmark 56 average France now recycles more than 2 000 tonnes of paper a year,
cutting the paper bill by 20 per cent for 400 organisa-
Spain Italy tions (schools, government bodies, firms, etc.) taking
France
50 50 part in the scheme.
Ireland
United Kingdom, Belgium
Ugandans drive the Japanese way
Czech Republic, Hungary,
As in other African countries there is a busy trade
Italy, Portugal
in second-hand cars from developed countries in
Uganda. In 2002 it was estimated that the country
Canada *, Slovak Republic 40 40
imported 1 000 used cars, at least five years old, ev-
ery month from Japan. More than three-quarters of
Spain them stayed in the capital Kampala.
Greece, Ireland Portugal Such imports have many environmental impacts,
Poland in particular on the atmosphere. Very few garages
have the electronic gear to tune such cars properly.
Iceland 30 30
The ones that do are very expensive, the preserve of
Greece the upper classes and expatriate westerners.
United Kingdom ***
Household waste and recycling in England
Kilograms per person per year
Waste production
20 20 600 slowdown

500
3% 22%
400
Hungary ** 0.8% Recycling
300 increase

10 10 200 England

100
0
1984 1992 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2005
Recycling rates for 2002
(except * 2001, ** 1999 and *** 1997). Waste production Recycled and composted share
Source: UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs / CIPFA.
Source: OECD Environmental Data 2004. 0 0
SHIPS, PLANES AND OTHER HYPERBULK WASTE

Discarding mastodons
Bulky waste is a major challenge for the recycling industry, in no way comparable to everyday house-
hold waste. One comes in large, steady streams, the other is an occasional occurrence. We only re-
place mattresses, cupboards and fridges from time to time, whereas we empty the bin most days. In
many countries local authorities organise special collection days. Residents may also take bulky items
to waste collection centres. As a rule these centres are not open to industry, which must use profes-
sional services specialising in their particular type of waste (solid, liquid, chemical waste, etc.).

Hyperbulk waste, i.e. very large items, ranging from cars to boats and aircrafts, is a complex form
of waste, containing large numbers of different components, some of which may be dangerous
(batteries, asbestos, etc.). They must be dismantled with great care to ensure each waste category
is processed separately and recovered. Separation demands expensive technical know-how. If we
made allowance for dismantling at the design stage it would be easier and less expensive. Con-
sequently hyperbulk waste is often sent from one country to another in order to find the cheapest
dismantling facilities.

Jumbo recycling
At the end of their service life airliners may prove useful in many ways. They the Evergreen Aircenter, at Marana,
often fly as freighters for several years. When finally grounded they are scav- Arizona. At present they are process-
enged for spare parts for other aircrafts, or used for training aircrews and ing planes built in the 1970s that have
firefighters. Sometimes sheet metal is cut off and melted down. But many of been in service for 30 years.
them end up rusting at the end of an airstrip or in desert storage in Arizona, The recycling centres strip off any
where US airlines have taken to dumping their old planes. parts that can be sold (landing gear,
The first purpose-built recycling platforms are appearing in Europe and instruments, etc.), “depollute” the
the US – Bartin Aero Recycling at Châteauroux-Déols airport in France, and aircraft (removing fuel, brake fluid,
batteries, neon tubes, etc.) then cut
it up. The scrap metal is ground up,
Number of planes to be dismantled worldwide
automatically sorted by density and
Thousands
magnetism, then sold to the trade. It
40
takes about two months to dismantle
Other countries Projections
an aircraft.
United States Such platforms, when properly
35
Russia equipped, can recover the whole of
Brazil a plane. The question is will they take
30
France the trouble to do so. There are 25 000
large civil aircraft (airliners, freighters
25 and private jets) worldwide, with 7
Estimations based on plane construction data for 2004, or 8 000 of them probably being dis-
20 assuming a plane has a 30-year service life mantled over the next 10 to 15 years.
(civilian aircraft carrying more than 15 passengers only). Furthermore the materials used to
build planes are constantly changing.
15 The airframe of the Airbus A380 con-
tains 40 per cent composite materials,
10 some of which are brand new, in par-
ticular Glare, a complex mixture of fi-
breglass and aluminium. Does anyone
5 know how to recycle such materials?
And what will happen to old aircraft
0 stranded in developing countries, un-
1986 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035 able to reach a porperly operated re-
Sources: Institut du Transport Aérien; ENAC (French National School of Civil Aviation), 2006. cycling centre?
 32 | | 33

ON THE WEB
Aircraft Fleet recycling Association:
www.afraassociation.org
Greenpeace on shipbreaking:
www.greenpeaceweb.org/shipbreak

Number of cars to be scrapped in Europe Construction and demolition

Millions Building work is particularly common in emerging econo-
18 mies such as China, where skyscrapers are replacing entire
Projections traditional neighbourhoods, and places such as the United
16
Arab Emirates, where the travel industry is booming, driv-
ing spectacular growth in the construction sector. In Abu
Dhabi alone, the tourist board aims to develop about 100
14
new hotels over the next ten years. This is expected to
cause a 25 per cent annual increase in building activity.
12 Landfill in Abu Dhabi is already taking an estimated 800
EU passenger cars only. tonnes of construction waste a day from the city and its
10 surroundings.
In developed countries construction waste represents
8 10 to 15 per cent of total waste. Spain produces 35 mil-
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 lion tonnes of building and demolition waste annually. Of
Source: Kilde, Larsen, 2000 as cited by the European Environment Agency.
that 25 million tonnes end up in uncontrolled tips and only
1 million tonnes are reused. This is all the more inexcus-
Scrapped cars or “end-of life vehicles” are not col- able now that we know how to crush and recycle concrete
lected as bulky waste, but they too pose problems blocks, recover steel girders (see page 28 on BedZED),
because of their size and disparate components. reuse bricks. If carried out systematically we could sub-
Given car production trends this is an issue that stantially reduce the environmental impact of building all
demands serious consideration. over the world.

Shipbreakers of Asia Ships sold for breaking

Million tonnes in % of world fleet
40 4.0
Major shipbreaking yards

35 3.5

30 3.0
Turkey
China Deji 25 2.5
Jiang Yin
Pakistan Yang Tse River delta
India Xinhui 20 2.0
Panyu
Alang Chittagong Pearl River delta
15 1.5
Bangladesh
10 1.0
Indian Pacific Ocean
Ocean 5 Source: UNCTAD, Review of maritime transport 2005; 0.5
compiled on the basis of data supplied by
Fearnleys Review and Lloyd’s Register-Fairplay.
Source: UNCTAD, Review of maritime transport 2005; Greenpeace, 2006.
0 0
1990 1995 2000 2004
in percentage of shipbreaking market share Turkey *
* Estimates
Pakistan *
Bangladesh India China Ships broken up at Alang, India
57% 20% 19%
Million tonnes
Drastic decrease
3
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100%
A few recent changes in national and international regulations provoked a massive drop in the 2
tonnage of ships being broken up and major shifts in the shipbreaking market. Bangladeshi Source: Gujarat
shipbreaking yards are, for example, gradually gaining ground on their Indian counterparts Maritime Board, 2006.
because Bangladesh does not enforce mandatory “gas-free for hot work” certification for oil 1
tankers (Greenpeace).
In 2004 a Basel Convention decision officially classified old ships as “toxic waste”, preventing them 0
from leaving a country without the permission of the importing state. 1982 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
OFFICIAL WASTE TRADE

Official waste trade routes

Describing and quantifying global trade in waste is difficult. The official Transboundary movements of waste
figures compiled by the Basel Convention on the Control of Transbound- among Parties to the Convention
Million tonnes
ary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal are a good start,
20
but have their limitations. Reporting is based on collaboration by member
states and the Convention has no means of obliging any state to do so imports + exports
16
or of checking that data is complete. At present 99 countries monitor and
publicise their imports and exports of 45 types of hazardous waste and 12

two categories of waste “requiring special consideration” – household

8
waste and their incineration residues. (Radioactive waste is not covered
by the Convention.) Of the 99 countries reporting in 2003, 62 reported 4
on the amounts of hazardous wastes exported. In addition, 17 Parties
stated that there was no export from their country. 79 countries reported 0
Source: Basel Convention, 2006.

on imports. Of these 79, 42 declared not to have imported any hazard- 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003

ous wastes, and 37 described the quantities. The limited availability of

national reports can distort the interpretation of the official data sets.

Basel Convention data trends

Looking at the Basel Convention datasets reveals several
global patterns:
• The official trade in waste predominantly involves developed
countries and official exports are not particularly directed to-
wards developing countries. Although the BAN amendment
that forbids trade from developed to developing countries
(if both are Parties to the Convention) has not yet come into
force, it is already implemented by the European Union.
• Incineration residues and lead compounds are among the
most traded waste categories.
• Germany, Italy and France were the leading waste im-
porters among Parties to the Convention in 2003.

The Netherlands

Amounts of exchanged waste

Switzerland Thousand tonnes
Belgium 1 300
Germany

Only countries 1 200

receiving or sending
Major waste exporters more than fifty thousand tonnes
1 100
M
are shown.
declared as “countries of origin”
in the reporting of imports 1 000
by other Parties to the Convention.
900

800
United States

700
France
Spain Austria
Sweden 600
Ireland
Norway Russian Federation
Finland Japan 500

400

Ukraine
300
Portugal
United Kingdom Italy 200

Luxembourg Denmark
100

Singapore 0

Export for “Recycling” to the developing
world
Exports of waste to the developing world are often
labelled as “goods to be recycled”. In their desti-
nation countries, they nourish entire sectors of the
local economy with the supply of scrap and dis-
sasembled materials.
China is world’s biggest importer of waste and
secondary raw materials, in 2004 the country im-
ported more than 4 billion tonnes of plastics waste,
around 12 billion tonnes of waste paper and over
10 billion tonnes of scrap iron and steel, according
to a 2005 Japanese study.
Germany, a leader in the waste treat-
ment industry?
Ninety-eight per cent of wastes entering Germa-
ny originate in Western Europe. German industry
seems to specialise – among others – in processing
residues from industrial waste disposal operations,
zinc compounds and incineration residues. The
availability of specific technologies for managing
waste streams in a particular country may explain
much of the trade described in the Basel datasets.
There are only a few highly specialised processing
units, on which specific waste streams must con-
verge. At least part of the explanation why most
of the reported waste movements concern OECD
countries is that the processing units are often lo-
cated there. Even though things are evolving quick-
e ly, most developing countries lack the infrastructure
s to support such technologies now.
0 imports or exports). This could be mainly due to some differences
0 wastes. Germany, for instance, is reported as the destination of 4
0
Major waste receivers
declared as “countries of destination”
0 in the reporting of exports
The Netherlands
by other Parties to the Convention.
Belgium
United States France
United
Kingdom
The Netherlands
Switzerland Austria
Denmark
34 | | 35
ON THE WEB
Basel Convention datasets:
www.basel.int/natreporting/compilations.html
Transit and dispatching
Some countries, for example the Netherlands and Belgium,
seem to act as “waste dispatchers”. Their figures suggest
that they are the top waste exporters, a fact that reflects nei-
ther the waste they produce (given their population) nor their
internal processing capacity. Presumably large amounts of
hazardous waste are simply passing through Antwerp, Rot-
terdam and other industrial ports on the North Sea.
Rems on the road
Radioactive waste, outside the remit of the Basel Convention,
is the Achilles’ heel of nuclear technology (together with power
station safety). Its storage and treatment is a particularly com-
plex issue and there are still only a few nuclear waste disposal
facilities, many options having been ruled out on the grounds of
geology or population. Radioactive waste may therefore travel
some distance from production to storage sites. The French
site at La Hague receives spent nuclear fuel from as far away
as Japan. Special trucks regularly transport radioactive waste
throughout Europe and Asia, causing lasting security prob-
lems. There has recently been renewed interest in international
nuclear waste disposal sites, in particular Mayak in the Urals, in
Russia. In the United States, the controversial Yucca Mountain
repository in the Nevada desert is suggested to store all radio-
active wastes of the country.
Germany Source: Basel Convention, 2006 (data for 2003).
4 150
Caution: results may vary significantly between tables (reported
in classification of wastes and/or reporting of non-hazardous
150 thousand tonnes of waste by other member countries but only
reports imports totalling 1 500 thousand tonnes.
Assuming that some Parties may consider it politically sensitive to
report their own waste movements, we have shown trade as
reported by their partners. We can thus also include countries not
party to the Convention in our charts, such as the United States
which seems to be a sizeable waste importer.
Norway
Sweden
Countries reporting to the Basel Convention in 2003
Belarus
Kazhakstan
Ukraine
Italy
ILLICIT WASTE TRAFFICKING + THE ABIDJAN INCIDENT

Crime industry diversifying

Despite international efforts to halt dumping of illegal waste outrageous in-
cidents occur. Collating relevant data is difficult but there is no doubt about
the damage. Toxic waste causes long-term poisoning of soil and water, af-
fecting people’s health and living conditions, sometimes irreversibly. It main-
ly involves slow processes that must be monitored for years to be detected
and proven (let alone remedied).

Unscrupulous waste trade became a serious concern in the 1980s due to

three converging factors: increasing amounts of hazardous waste; inad-
equate processing plants; and stricter regulations in the developed world
with growing environmental awareness. Managing special waste streams
properly became expensive, apparently too costly for some. Filthy ship-
ments started travelling round the world.

Business as usual for (eco)mafia An international answer to global crime

All the investigations confirm that hazardous waste traffick-
ing is booming. It is mainly the work of existing criminal or-
ganisations, using the same networks and methods as for
other “goods”, such as drugs, arms and people. They some-
times hide behind a legal front in the waste treatment indus-
try. From emission to final disposal this trade involves many
other players, including shipping agents and brokers. On the
way waste may pass through several countries, making it all
the more difficult to pinpoint responsibilities. The prime vic-
tims are developing countries (it is hard to refuse a large sum
when your salary doesn’t cover your living costs) and conflict
zones (trafficking of all sorts thrives on social disorder).
In Italy an estimated 30% of the special waste process-
ing business is thought to be owned by “ecomafia” outfits,
winning contracts quite legally and “taking care” of waste
by dumping it on the Campania Region farmlands or in the
Mediterranean, in Italy and abroad (mainly in Africa). Le-
gambiente, an Italian environmental NGO, estimates that
eco-crime in Italy involves 202 organised groups, with
€22.4 thousand million revenue in 2005. Though profit is
the main incentive, the limited risks are also attractive. En-
vironmental offences are not a priority and police pressure
is consequently lower.
Combating waste trafficking demands international coop-
eration and a high-level of scientific expertise (to analyse
the composition of waste, for instance). This is primarily
the task of customs and port authorities, but initiatives for
broader cooperation are developing, such as the European
Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of
Environmental Law (IMPEL), which controls shipments in
major European ports. Waste being shipped is not nec-
essarily hazardous and may consist of scrapped cars, old
fridges, waste plastic (mostly going to Africa) and e-waste
(mostly to Asia).
Fighting against illegal waste trade also requires har-
monised environmental laws and the backing of an inter-
national jurisdiction, regardless of which territories or na-
tionalities may be involved.
ON THE WEB
Basel Action Network:
www.ban.org
Iman Shebaro, Hazardous Waste Smuggling; A Study in Environ-
mental Crime, TRACC:
www.american.edu/traccc/resources/publications/students/she-
bar01.pdf

Trafficking waste stories

SCRAPPED CARS
Eastern
From Europe Europe
New
Jersey China
Baja California Campania
Mediterranean Sea Hongkong
Red India
Senegal Nigeria Sea
Mexico Philippines
Somalia Asia
The 2004 tsunami
Singapore
Côte
d’Ivoire washed quantities of
toxic waste barrels CABLE WASTE
Abidjan on the Somalian shores. PLASTIC WASTE
ELECTRONIC WASTE
Africa
SCRAPPED CARS
OECD countries CFC PRODUCTS
REFRIGERATORS
(main hazardous waste
producers)

States or regions where Major current conflict zones

Campania illegal waste dumping Regions where small arms (related) traffic is particularly developed
has been proven
(not comprehensive) Major illegal waste shipment routes from Europe (as reported by IMPEL)

Sources: Iman Shebaro, Hazardous Waste Smuggling: A Study in Environmental Crime, TRACC website; IMPEL-TFS Threat assessment project: The illegal shipment of waste among IMPEL member
states, 2006; Legambiente; The Guardian, 14 October 2004; Human Rights Watch 1999 Report, Human Rights, Justice and Toxic Waste in Cambodia; Stockholm International Peace Research Institute,
2006; Small Arms Survey 2005.
 36 | | 37

Major merchandise ports [ and likely waste transit points ]

South Korea :
China : Pusan
Bergen Qinhuangdao Gwangyang
Dalian Ulsan
Rotterdam Hamburg Qingdao
Vancouver
Antwerp Yokahama
Le Havre Tianjin
Long Beach Houston Marseille Nagoya
New York Shanghaï
Ningbo
Guangzhou Kaohsiung
Hongkong
Pacific
Ocean
Pacific
Ocean Singapore

Saõ Paulo
Saõ Sebastiao Richards Port Hedland
Tubarao Bay Dampier
Atlantic
Ocean Indian
Ocean Newcastle

Total traffic in thousand tonnes

in 2003
The blue lines represent major trade routes
and are proportionnal to the traffic. 50 to 70 70 to 100 100 to 150 150 to 250 300 to 350

Sources: Atlas du Monde Diplomatique 2006, Armand Colin; Panorama des ports de commerce mondiaux 2003, ISEMAR, January 2005;
Images économiques du monde 2002, Sedes.

IMPEL Seaport project: a European initiative to control international waste shipments

The Abidjan disaster
On 19 August 2006, highly toxic Slovenia Between September 2004 and May 2006, international waste shipments
residues were dumped at over have been checked in the 30 European ports, combining custom documents checks
Spain and physical inspections of containers and storage locations.
a dozen sites in and around the
densely populated city of Abidjan Sweden
in Côte d’Ivoire. At least 10 peo- Number of illegal waste shipments
Malta Number of breaches of custom regulations
ple were killed, many thousands
Ireland (mostly incomplete data)
became violently ill and half a mil-
lion were forced to evacuate their France
homes in the following weeks.
Meanwhile, the hazardous Belgium
residues have been recollected The Netherlands
and will be incinerated in France,
following emergency intervention United Kingdom
by the United Nations. Investiga-
tors in several countries pursued Germany
several lines of investigation to
determine what led to the trag- 0 50 100 150 200
edy. Was this a classic case of Source: IMPEL-TFS Seaport Project II, International cooperation in enforcement hitting illegal waste shipments, 2006.
cross-border waste smuggling
to avoid the regulations and
high costs of waste disposal in
developed countries? Or was it
Sweden
Participating ports United
Kingdom North
caused by the inadequate treat- STOCKHOLM
ment of the “slops” left over after Sea GÖTHENBURG SÖDERTÄLJE
RIGA
cleaning a ship’s holding tanks? Baltic Latvia
Ireland DUBLIN AMSTERDAM
Understanding the causes of BREMEN Sea
ROTTERDAM
such calamities is important for GDYNIA
VLISSINGEN DELFZIJL
assigning liability. But it is also
CORK FELIXSTOWE
essential for gaining insights into THAMESPORT SWINOUJSCIE
Atlantic 1 HAMBURG
how the illegal waste trade can SZCZECIN
SOUTHAMPTON MOERDIJK
operate. The ship that unloaded Poland
Ocean 2
the toxic residues visited several OSTEND Germany
other ports on its voyage to Abi- LE HAVRE ZEEBRUGE
djan, including The Hague, where ANTWERP
[ 1 ] : The Netherlands
it aborted an effort to dispose of
[ 2 ] : Belgium
wastes. Several months after the
France
original dumping, it was still un- Slovenia
clear whether the Basel Conven- KOPER
tion on hazardous wastes had
Portugal
been violated, or whether the the 0 50 km Sicilia
MARPOL Convention applies, Spain BARCELONA
LISBOA Malta
which covers the treatment of Mediterranean Sea
SETUBAL 0 300 km VALLETTA
post-voyage cleaning residues.
The making of international
legislation

The cross-border transport of hazardous wastes seized the public’s attention in the late
1980s. The misadventures of “toxic ships” such as the Karin B (1988) and the Pelicano,
sailing from port to port trying to offload their poisonous cargoes, made front-page
headlines around the world. These tragic incidents were motivated in good part by tight-
er environmental regulations in industrialized countries. As a consequence, the costs of
waste disposal skyrocketed, and “toxic traders” searching for cheaper solutions started
shipping hazardous wastes to Eastern Europe, Africa and other regions.
Recognizing that industrial society must fix this major flaw in the system, govern-
ments and many forward-looking companies started exploring solutions as early as
the 1970s. The strong activism of civil society organizations and the interest of the me-
dia in cases of toxic waste dumping were central in bringing the issue on the interna-
tional agenda. By the 1980s, the international community launched treaty negotiations
under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Programme. In March 1989,
they adopted the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of
Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal. The treaty entered into force in 1992.
Following its adoption, many countries started discussions to address regional is-
sues in more detail. Various protocols have been added to other conventions, among
them to several UNEP Regional Seas Conventions aimed at protecting the marine
environment from pollution from land-based sources, dumping of harmful substances
and hazardous wastes, and protection from radioactive contamination.
Nongovernmental organizations are often at the root of new multilateral environ-
mental legislation. They stir attention among the public and the media. Once the re-
sponsible governmental representatives have caught on, they collaborate with gov-
ernments to initiate and shape conventions and protocols.
The most important other international conventions which address the production,
transport or trade of hazardous materials and wastes are the London Convention, the
Rotterdam and the Stockholm Conventions. They all address the same challenge: the
most toxic chemical products of our industrial civilization must be carefully managed
during their entire life-cycle from production to disposal. (see pages 40–41 for more
on international waste treaties)
 38 | | 39

168 Parties to the Basel Convention

in 2006
Russian Federation

Slovakia

(167 States China

and the European Tehran
Community) Egypt
Senegal
Trinidad
El Salvador and Tobago

Nigeria South
Pacific
Indonesia region
Number of member states
South Africa
160
Uruguay
Argentina
120
The Basel Convention
Non-parties Regional centre
80
Parties
Note: The regional centres undertake
Parties who reported regional projects and deliver training and
40 their hazardous waste technology transfer for the implementation
1993 1996 2000 2003 2006 exports and imports for 2004 of the Convention.
(latest reporting year)
How many Parties since 1993? Source: Basel Convention.

Who is involved ?

The twelve
countries who
have signed the
four conventions
are all europeans

Number of conventions ratified :

None
One
Two
Three
Four
Four international conventions regulate hazardous waste production and trade:
Data not available
Basel Convention, with BAN Amendment Transboundary movements of hazardous wastes (1989; 1996)
London Convention Protocol Ocean dumping (1996)
Sources: Basel Action Network, November 2005;
Rotterdam Convention Chemicals exports (1998)
Secretariats of each convention, October 2006. Stockholm Convention Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001)
 Defining and quantifying waste:
a tricky undertaking
A multitude of approaches exists to classify the various categories of waste. Waste
can be sorted either by its origin (what activity has created it?), by its composition
(what is it made of?), by the level of danger it poses to humans and the environ-
ment, or by the way it is managed and treated. Each of these approaches will lead
to a list of wastes, and often those definitions are overlapping – yet another fact
that complicates the collection and interpretation of data about waste.
Examples of Definitions:
Waste according to
– the Basel Convention:
Wastes are substances or objects that have been disposed
of, that are intended for disposal, or whose disposal is re-
quired by the provisions of national laws.
– the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD):
Wastes are materials that are not primary products (pro-
duced for the market) and for which the generator has no
further use in terms of production, transformation or con-
sumption and therefore wants to dispose of. Wastes may
be generated during the extraction of raw materials, the
processing of raw materials into intermediate and final
products, the consumption of final products, and other hu-
man activities. Residuals recycled or reused at the place of
generation are excluded from this definition.
About the difficulties of classifying waste (and counting it)
Different approaches and overlapping definitions
what activity generated it? Waste origin
approach
packaging
waste e-waste
how dangerous Waste toxicity medical
is it for human health approach waste
and the biosphere?
hazardous waste
stabilized waste
Nuclear waste is a typically ambiguous categorization:
it tells about the origin of the waste (nuclear energy production
or military activities), but what most people read is the high toxicity and the
specific waste management processes it requires.
– the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD):
Municipal waste is collected and treated by, or for, municipali-
ties. It covers waste from households, including bulky waste,
similar waste from commerce and trade, office buildings, insti-
tutions and small businesses, yards and gardens, street sweep-
ings, the contents of litter containers, and market cleansing.
Waste from municipal sewage networks and treatment and
from municipal construction and demolition is excluded.
Hazardous waste is mostly generated by industrial activi-
ties based on specific patterns of production. It represents
a major concern as it entails serious environmental risks if
poorly managed. Environmental impacts mainly involve the
toxic contamination of soil, water and air.
Nuclear (radioactive) waste is generated at various stages
of the nuclear fuel cycle (uranium mining and milling, fuel
enrichment, reactor operation, spent-fuel reprocessing). It
also arises from decontamination and decommissioning of
nuclear facilities and from other activities using isotopes,
such as scientific research and medical activities.
Statistical institutes of the world use various waste classifications,
based on different approaches.
This diversity is the major obstacle to data globalization and comparison.
municipal waste
recycled waste
incineration
residues
Waste composition what is it
approach made of?
asbestos organic waste
lead plastic waste
nuclear
waste
Waste
management
approach how is it handled? who is in charge?
 40 | | 41

Some international hazardous

waste legislation
on the
The Rotterdam Convention
rme d Con sen t Pro cedure
Prior Info
mic and
als
The London Conven
tion 1972 is an in- for Certain Hazardous Che
al Trade is
ternational treaty tha
t limits the dis- Pesticides in Internation
mo te sha red respon-
charge of wastes tha
t are generated designed to pro The Organization for Economic Coop-
coo perativ e effo rts among
on land and disposed
of at sea. A so- sibility and eration and Development (OECD) has
hazardous
called “black- and gre
y-list” approach Parties on managing developed regulations for wastes in-
hav e agreed
is applied for waste
s, which can be chemicals. The Parties tended for final disposal and recycling
rma tion exc hange
considered for dispo
sal at sea accord- to facilitate info for further use. In 1992 it established a
ing to the hazard the cha racteri stics of haz ard ous
y present to the about the specific contron system for recyclables.
nat ion al
environment. The 199
6 Protocol is a chemicals and about their The constituents of these lists have been
and exp orti ng
separate agreement
that modernised decisions on importing amended several times.
Conven-
and updated the Lo
ndon Convention, hazardous chemicals. The
d into forc e in 200 4.
following a detailed
review that began tion entere
in 1993. A “reverse list In 1993, the European Commu
” approach is ad- nity (EC)
opted, which implies adopted its Directive 259/93
that all dumping The Stockholm Convention on Per- on the su-
is prohibited unless ex per vision and control of ship
plicitly permitted. sistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) ments of
The 1996 Protocol waste within, into and out
will eventually re- targets 12 major POPs for reduction of the EC.
place the London Co It implements the Basel Con
nvention. and eventual elimination. The initial vention.
Through its regulation 120/97
list includes PCBs, dioxins and fu- the EU
implements the Ban Amendmen
n on the
The Bamako Conventio
rans, and DDT and other pesticides. t of the
Basel Convention. It also ado
Afr ica and the The Convention also sets up a system pted several
Ban of Import into decisions on hazardous was
nsb oun da ry Move- for tackling additional chemicals that te incinera-
Control of Tra tion and a waste framework dire
Ha zar do us Wa ste s within may be identified in the future as un- ctive.
ment of
ctiv e wa ste acceptably hazardous. It recognizes
Africa includes radioa
d ba ns all imp ort that a special effort may sometimes be
in its definition an
needed to phase out certain chemicals
into Africa.
for certain uses. The Convention chan-
nels resources into cleaning up the ex-
isting stockpiles of POPs that litter the
Ban the Im-
Convention to world’s landscape. The Convention
The Waigani an d Countries
Forum Isl entered into force in 2004.
portation into ive Wastes
and Radioact
of Hazardous sboundary
rol the Tran
and to Cont ag em en t of Haz-
d Man
Movement an ut h Pacific Protocols to several UNEP
Regional
s within the So
ardous Waste tio n into Fo- Seas Conventions aim at pro
tecting the
the “Importa
Region bans and Ra- marine environment from lan
of Hazardous d-based
rum Countries Co nt rol the sources of pollution, hazard
ous wastes
tes and to
dioactive Was en t an d Man- and radioactive contamination
.
y Movem
Transboundar te s” .
azardous Was
agement of H

The Basel Convention
The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Move-
ments of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal is the most com-
prehensive global environmental agreement on hazardous and
other wastes. It aims to protect human health and the environ-
ment against the adverse effects resulting from the generation,
management, transboundary movements and disposal of haz-
ardous and other wastes.
The Basel Convention regulates the transboundary movements
of hazardous and other wastes and obliges its Parties to ensure
that such wastes are managed and disposed of in an environ-
mentally sound manner. The Convention covers toxic, poison-
ous, explosive, corrosive, flammable, ecotoxic and infectious
wastes. Parties are also expected to minimize the quantities that
are moved across borders, to treat and dispose of wastes as
close as possible to their place of generation and to prevent or
minimize the generation of wastes at source.
The Basel Convention has 14 Regional and Coordinating
Centres (see page 38–39). The Centres develop and undertake
regional projects, and deliver training and technical assistance
for the implementation of the Convention under the direction
of the Conference of the Parties and of the Secretariat of the
Convention. The Basel Convention, adopted in 1989, came into
force in 1992.
References
Selected books, reports, articles and on-line databases (in order
of appearance):
Foreword
Paul Hawken, Amory B. Lovins, and L. Hunter Lovins (1999).
Natural Capitalism: Creating the Next Industrial Revolution
European Commission Information Society and Media, Johan-
na Knast (2005). Assessing Opportunities for ICT to Contribute to
Sustainable Development
8–9 Mining waste
Australian National Pollutant Inventory: www.npi.gov.au/
Carsten Sperling, Oekoinstitut e.V. (ed.) (1999). Nachhaltige
Stadtentwicklung beginnt im Quartier. Freiburg
EC press release on mining waste: europa.eu.int/rapid/pressRe-
leasesAction.do?reference=IP/03/784&format=HTML&aged=1&
language=EN&guiLanguage=de
European Aluminium Association (EAA): www.eaa.net
Henrik Harjula, OECD (2006). Personal communication
The International Aluminium Institute: w ww.world-aluminium.org
UNEP, OSCE, UNDP, NATO (2005). Mining for Closure – Policies,
practices and guidelines for sustainable mining and closure of mines
U.S. Geological Survey (2006). Bauxite and Alumina Statistics and
Information: minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/bauxite
10–11 Energy production waste
UNEP, UNDP, OSCE, NATO (2005). Environment and Security.
Transforming Risks into Cooperation. Central Asia Ferghana/Osh/
Khujand area
International Atomic Energy Agency (2005). Energy, Electricity
and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2030. Reference
Data Series No1
www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/RDS1-25_web.pdf
International Atomic Energy Agency (2005). Energy indicators for
sustainable development: guidelines and methodologies. Vienna
International Energy Agency (2005). Key World Energy Figures
www.iea.org/dbtw-wpd/Textbase/nppdf/free/2005/key2005.pdf
12–13 Manufacturing waste
Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and sustainable
Resource management (ACR+)(March 2006). powerpoint presen-
tation: www.acrplus.org
Hawken and others (1999) (see foreword)
Paper:
Düsseldorf paper mill: www.schulte-papier.de
Food and Agricultural Organisation (2003). Yearbook of Forest
Products
Invergordon paper mill: www.forscot.com
WWF Switzerland (2006). Toilettenpapier und Walderhaltung.
Eine Analyse des europäischen und Schweizer Hygienepapier-
marktes, assets.wwf.ch/downloads/06_02_20_tissue_studie_sch-
weiz_final_web.pdf
14–17 Packaging waste
ADEME (2004). Evaluation des impacts environnementaux des
sacs de caisse Carrefour, Analyse du cycle de vie des sacs de
caisse en plastique, papier et matériau biodegradable. Report pre-
pared for the French department store Carrefour
Environmental Defense Fund, 1995 (figures revised in 2002).
Paper Task Force Recommendations for Purchasing and Using
Environmentally Preferable Paper
European Environment Agency (2005). Effectiveness of packag-
ing waste management systems in selected countries: an EEA pilot
study, reports.eea.europa.eu/eea_report_2005_3/en/FINAL-3_05-
Packaging_waste_WEB.pdf
18–21 Consumption
Adler E., Jeftic L. (2006). Marine Litter – A Global Challenge.
UNEP paper produced for the Inchon ML workshop, May 2006
Cleaning wipes (in French): www.echo-nature.com/inf/actu.
cgi?id=2077
Global Footprint Network: www.footprintnetwork.org
Key statistics from the International Telecommunication Union:
www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/statistics
Population and development in the United Nations system:
www.un.org/esa/population
Sustainable consumption (in French): www2.ademe.fr/servlet/
getDoc?id=11433&m=3cid=96
22–23 Household waste
Associates of Regional Planners and Architects – Kyoto (1998).
Detailed Sorting and Measuring of Household Waste. Kyoto
French Agency of the Environment and Energy Management
Ademe (2006). Virtual exhibition on the history of waste manage-
ment (in French). www.ademe.fr/particuliers/expositions/dechet.
html
Kohei Watanabe (2005). Reference material provided for the talk
“Waste and Sustainable Consumption”, Capability and Sustain-
ability Centre, St Edmund’s College Cambridge
E-waste:
DEWA/GRID-Europe (2005). E-waste, the hidden side of IT
equipment’s manufacturing and use, UNEP-Early Warning on
Emerging Envrionmental Threats no 5. Geneva
Greenpeace International (2005). Toxic tech. Pulling the plug on
dirty electronics. www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/italy/ufficio-
stampa/rapporti/rifiuti-tecnologici.pdf
Swiss Environment Agency information website on e-waste:
www.ewaste.ch/welcome/ewaste_definition
24–25 Waste management
Gisèle Madeleine Thiombiano (2006). L’Experience de L’ong Lvia
dans le Secteur de la Gestion de l’Environnement Urbain au Senegal
(1996-2005), (waste management and plastic recycling issues)
The White House Task Force on Recycling (1998). Recycling ...
for the future: Consider the benefits. Office of the Federal Environ-
mental Executive, Washington, DC
Waste to energy:
www.wte.org/environment/#
Waste scavengers:
IOM/UNICEF (2005). Informe Sobre Trabajo Infantil en la Recu-
peración y Reciclaje de Residuos
Medina M. (1999). Reciclaje de Desechos Sólidos en América
Latina. In: Frontera Norte, Vol. 11, n° 21
WASTE advisers on urban environment and development. The-
matic Evaluation on child labour in scavenging Africa, Asia and
Europe: www.waste.nl/page/720

26–27 Case studies waste management
Curitiba municipality official websites: www.curitiba.pr.gov.br/
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aspx?o=5
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List of maps and graphics

4–5 Data warning/Foreword – Mobile phones per 1000 people

– Waste at every stage – Household expenditure per capita and waste generation
– Timeline: A history of waste management per capita

6–7 Contents DISPOSAL

– A product’s life story 20–21 Counting the bins
– Japanese cases Neyagana and Osaka
PRODUCTION – E-waste types
8–9 Mountains of altered rock, lakes of gleaming liquids
– Waste rock per useful ore 24–25 Dump, bury or burn?
– Mining waste in Europe – How long does it take to biodegrade?
– Australia mining waste types – What kind of waste management?
– Aluminium production sites – Solid waste management costs for selected cities
– Aluminium production waste – Scavengers: age and sex distribution scavengers

10–11 No energy without waste 26–27 A model for waste processing?

– Energy waste in Europe – Heftingsdalen waste transfer
– Energy consumption world wide – Household waste
– Energy demand projection – Heftingsdalen waste processing plant
– Ferghana valley hotspots
– Age nuclear reactors 28–29 Creative Alternatives
– Spent nuclear fuel arisings – Location of waste collection programmes in Curitiba city
– Development of waste quantitied from different collect-
12–13 The big waste factory ion schemes
– What’s in a mobile phone
– Europe: “total manufacturing waste generated by sect- 30–31 Recycling – the right choice?
or” and “hazardous waste generated by sector” – Glass and paper bars (recycling rates in Europe)
– Typical hazardous wastes generated by selected manu- – UK recycling rate and total waste
facturing industries – One-way dishes versus porcellain
– Box Paper: Main paper producers – Resources/waste economies when recycling paper

DISTRIBUTION 32–33 Discarding mastodons

14–15 The packaging nightmare
– Photo series unwrapping a laptop computer
– Share of packaging waste in total household waste, Europe
– Packaging waste production per capita, Europe
– Packaging waste composition UK
– Recycled packaging by type of material (UK)
16–17 Message ’round a bottle
– Major exporters and importers of bottled water
– Total bottled water consumption
– US per capita consumption
CONSUMPTION
18–19 Consumption worlds
– 7 photos of families
– Household expenditure trend
– World poplulation trend
20–21 The relativity of basic needs
– World advertising expenditures
– Trends in number of items per 1000 Chinese households
urban and rural
– Projection of end of life planes
– Ship breaking: demolition countries %
– Ship breaking: tonnage sold for demolition and in % of
total fleet
– Scrapped cars: projection Eastern Europe
34–35 Routes of official waste trade
– World map export
– World map importers
– Graph Basel trends
36-37 Crime industry diversifying
– World waste trafficking
– Major waste ports
– IMPEL findings
38–39 International mobilisation
– World map 4 conventions chemicals
– Small map parties and data reporting parties
40–41 Waste definitions and legislation
– Overlapping defininitions
 44 | | 45

Youth and pupils collect old paper!

1 tonne of used paper is 750 kilograms of new paper.
This saves 5 cubed metre of forest.