Theory

• Globally, waste increases by about 7% year on year. Population growth accounts for much of this increase but economic development also plays a role, since greater personal wealth increases consumption of goods and services and this leads to more waste.
• In urban areas, where there are large concentrations of people, the amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) is particularly high and is set to increase significantly over the next decade as a result of urbanisation and rising living standards.
• In 2002, there were 2.9 billion urban residents who generated about 0.64kg of MSW per person today, rising to 3 billion generating 1.2kg/capita/day in 2012. By 2025, this is predicted to rise to 4.3 billion generating 1.42kg/capita/day.