How many rubbish dumps are there in the world

Nature: Waste production must peak this century. UN: Why do chemicals and waste matter. Spread the message. Make a donation. Or update your wardrobe with clothes from our modest but growing selection of sustainably sourced and crafted clothes. The World Counts. Shop Support. All Challenges. Get a Counter. In This month This week Today. Put this counter on your website. Shop Thousands of Verified Sustainable Products.

Visit the Arbor Marketplace. Shop Products. Find ethical companies when you are browsing. See more here. A world of waste Every year we dump a massive 2. Types of waste Waste in many different forms is dumped on the planet.

Electronic waste The amount of electronic waste or e-waste has been exploding in recent years along with technological developments. E-waste dump of the world Guiyu, China, may be the world's largest e-waste dump with tons of trashed electronics per year. These heavy metals and chemicals are are known to affect not in a good way in case you doubted : The central nervous system The reproductive and endocrine system The immune system Our blood, skeleton, digestive and respiratory systems… basically everything in the human body.

Hazardous chemical waste Industrial chemical waste is often very toxic and difficult and costly to dispose of. The chemicals leaked into the local river and caused the death of nineteen villagers. The dirty business of shipbreaking Another type of waste often dumped in less developed countries is old discarded ships. Old ships often include toxic materials that contain for example lead, zinc chromates, mercury, arsenic, asbestos… The workers often dismantle the ships without any protection.

Some materials are recycled. But not all. Global waste trade Toxic and hazardous wastes are often sold by developed countries to poorer developing countries. Toxic colonialism. Reverse logic The rich countries exporting their waste actually have the technology and resources to process the waste safely. Waste Management Global waste generation outlook by region Waste Management Number of waste incineration facilities in China Profit from additional features with an Employee Account.

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Exclusive Corporate feature. Corporate Account. Statista Accounts: Access All Statistics. Basic Account. The ideal entry-level account for individual users. Corporate solution including all features. Statistics on " Solid waste in China " The most important statistics. The most important statistics. Further related statistics. Weight of materials discarded in the U. Further Content: You might find this interesting as well. Per capita MSW generation increased from 4. See Food: Material-Specific Data.

Paper and paperboard products made up the largest percentage of all the materials in MSW, at Generation of paper and paperboard products declined from Generation of newspapers has been declining since , and this trend is expected to continue, partly due to decreased page size, but mainly due to the increased digitization of news.

The generation of office-type high grade papers also has been in decline, due at least partially to activities such as the increased use of the electronic transmission of reports. Paper and paperboard products have ranged between Food waste comprised the fourth largest material category, estimated at Yard trimmings comprised the next largest material category, estimated at This compares to 35 million tons The decline in yard trimmings generation since is largely due to state legislation discouraging yard trimmings disposal in landfills, including source reduction measures such as backyard composting and leaving grass trimmings on the yard.

In , plastic products generation was This was an increase of 4. Plastics generation has grown from 8. Plastics generation as a percent of total generation has varied from In , 2.

The total MSW recycled was more than 69 million tons, with paper and paperboard accounting for approximately 67 percent of that amount. Metals comprised about 13 percent, while glass, plastic and wood made up between 4 and 5 percent.

Measured by tonnage, the most-recycled products and materials in were corrugated boxes Collectively, these products accounted for 90 percent of total MSW recycling in Check out our Reduce, Reuse, Recycle web area for more information on recycling. The total MSW composted was 25 million tons. This included approximately Other methods of food management were estimated for the first time in In , Food made up the largest component of MSW combusted at approximately 22 percent.

Rubber, leather and textiles accounted for over 16 percent of MSW combustion. Plastics comprised about 16 percent, and paper and paperboard made up about 12 percent. The other materials accounted for less than 10 percent each. Check out our Municipal Solid Waste Landfills page for more information, and visit our Landfills web area for information on other landfills. In , about Food was the largest component at about 24 percent.