Greener Means Cleaner
From Evergreen Investing: June 2023
Meaningful progress towards net zero must include how we deal with waste and recycling as an integral part of the narrative.
The old adage that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” is becoming more relevant than ever. That’s because, thankfully, we are increasingly finding ways to recycle, reuse and repurpose through innovation and technology, and to manage the waste we still produce in ways that minimize its impact.
Still, there remains plenty of room for improvement.
According to The World Bank, we now generate 2.01 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste every year on a global scale. As much as one third of that is not managed in an environmentally friendly way. Despite only representing 16% of the world population, developed countries are responsible for about 34% of total waste.
As global living standards improve, consumption rises along with them. That means worldwide waste is forecast to reach 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050, more than doubling the pace of population growth.
That is an issue as we run out of places to store waste. The pollution and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) created are equally concerning.
On average every human produces 0.74 kg of waste each day.
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