We are all very familiar with it. We all partake in its production, management, and disposal. And none of us needs to have complex technical knowledge to appreciate the extent of its pernicious impact on society—an early morning trip downtown will suffice.
Rubbish is one of the most pervasive elements of our contemporary society. Yet it is certainly neither the bread and butter of diplomats, nor a glamorous topic for global environmental negotiators, news reporters, or even scholars. Garbage remains to date largely “black-boxed”, kept out of sight, silently moving in and out of our households, neighbourhoods, cities, and countries.
We are once again in the presence of an issue that is coming to be regarded, as urbanization was in the early 2000s, as a critical one to global processes, human development, and international dynamics. And yet it remains hidden under the veil of the mundane. Waste is not an understudied subject, though, and it does appear on all the lists concerned with sustainability issues. However, the related academia is generally ghettoized to the ethnographic domain of anthropologists or the technical expertise of the engineering and physical sciences, while a broader debate on the pivotal impact of waste on our contemporary society, and most importantly on the politics of garbage in the third millennium, is all the more needed. The world currently generates about 1.3 billion tons of solid waste per year, sustaining a $433 billion industry which discards, transforms, and moves garbage across cities, states, and continents. Waste management might account for as high as five percent of urban employment worldwide. It has been proven to have direct links to the production of greenhouse gases (methane) and, ultimately, climate change.
The global outlook for waste management is not comforting: the governance of garbage is challenged by poor data collection and extremely limited data compatibility, not just at the international level, but also at the domestic level. Often cities or states use partly divergent definitions and metrics. Both due to its contextual specificity and technicality, as well as its “mundane” character, waste management generally remains the exclusive undertaking of local government and major environmental providers like Veolia or Suez. But this results in a distinct lack of national strategy and international coordination.
Waste is directly related to geopolitical shifts that animate much of the international debates on diplomacy and foreign policy. The rise of East Asia as the prime market for recycled materials (roughly 50 percent of global exports) is perhaps the most influential trend defining the global outlook for the waste management industry over the next few decades. After the OECD, China is not just the single largest producer of waste but also the overall largest importer, with at least 7.4 million tonnes of plastics and 28 million tonnes of paper entering the PRC each year.
Of growing centrality are the “underground-market” recyclers that, mostly in developing countries but also in some higher GDP nations, handle a significant portion of overall waste management. Evidence from various recent studies shows that this informal economy may be providing a livelihood for 0.5 percent of the global urban population and reducing waste management expenses in developing countries by as much as 20 percent. The global architecture that sustains these flows is uncertain at best. The underlying market for recyclable material is heavily dependent on volatile secondary materials prices, and it lacks a structured management scheme.
On top of these uncertainties, discussions on waste are often hijacked by the perceived centrality of household garbage. But household waste makes up only part of all waste. In developed counties, it might account for as little as 20 to 30 percent of overall municipal solid waste (MSW). The rest is commercial and industrial (C&I) and construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Likewise, recycling activities often obscure the amount of waste that is shipped overseas for disposal. For instance, as much as 20 percent of all waste exported from the EU is not recycled but ends up in landfills.
The challenges facing global waste management are gargantuan. Even as concerns about environmental sustainability, GHGs emissions, and health hazards mount, still 70 percent of MSW is driven to landfills. Only about 11 percent is converted into energy through thermal and other waste-to-energy systems, and 19 percent is either recycled or subject to biological treatments like composting. There is a pressing need for industry and government to better understand the dynamics that shape global waste management. Likewise, garbage demands a more prominent place on international negotiating tables and a fairer assessment in global media.
Some positive steps have been taken this year by the World Bank, which has published a global review of solid waste management titled What a Waste. The International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), which represents the worldwide industry, has put together a multi-phase task force to study the “globalization of solid waste management.” It is expected to provide a comprehensive report on expanding industrial and informal networks by the end of 2013. Still, the political study of waste management, including current socio-political challenges and the importance of cities in responding to these challenges, is still dangerously overlooked by policymakers and academics generally. As the figures above demonstrate, this is more than a theoretical problem. Increasing urbanization rates, together with endemic consumerism, are expanding the problem to unprecedented levels. It seems as though now might be a good time to start talking a little trash to diplomats.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's November/December 2012 print edition.
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Talking Trash to Diplomats
December 14, 2012
We are all very familiar with it. We all partake in its production, management, and disposal. And none of us needs to have complex technical knowledge to appreciate the extent of its pernicious impact on society—an early morning trip downtown will suffice.
Rubbish is one of the most pervasive elements of our contemporary society. Yet it is certainly neither the bread and butter of diplomats, nor a glamorous topic for global environmental negotiators, news reporters, or even scholars. Garbage remains to date largely “black-boxed”, kept out of sight, silently moving in and out of our households, neighbourhoods, cities, and countries.
We are once again in the presence of an issue that is coming to be regarded, as urbanization was in the early 2000s, as a critical one to global processes, human development, and international dynamics. And yet it remains hidden under the veil of the mundane. Waste is not an understudied subject, though, and it does appear on all the lists concerned with sustainability issues. However, the related academia is generally ghettoized to the ethnographic domain of anthropologists or the technical expertise of the engineering and physical sciences, while a broader debate on the pivotal impact of waste on our contemporary society, and most importantly on the politics of garbage in the third millennium, is all the more needed. The world currently generates about 1.3 billion tons of solid waste per year, sustaining a $433 billion industry which discards, transforms, and moves garbage across cities, states, and continents. Waste management might account for as high as five percent of urban employment worldwide. It has been proven to have direct links to the production of greenhouse gases (methane) and, ultimately, climate change.
The global outlook for waste management is not comforting: the governance of garbage is challenged by poor data collection and extremely limited data compatibility, not just at the international level, but also at the domestic level. Often cities or states use partly divergent definitions and metrics. Both due to its contextual specificity and technicality, as well as its “mundane” character, waste management generally remains the exclusive undertaking of local government and major environmental providers like Veolia or Suez. But this results in a distinct lack of national strategy and international coordination.
Waste is directly related to geopolitical shifts that animate much of the international debates on diplomacy and foreign policy. The rise of East Asia as the prime market for recycled materials (roughly 50 percent of global exports) is perhaps the most influential trend defining the global outlook for the waste management industry over the next few decades. After the OECD, China is not just the single largest producer of waste but also the overall largest importer, with at least 7.4 million tonnes of plastics and 28 million tonnes of paper entering the PRC each year.
Of growing centrality are the “underground-market” recyclers that, mostly in developing countries but also in some higher GDP nations, handle a significant portion of overall waste management. Evidence from various recent studies shows that this informal economy may be providing a livelihood for 0.5 percent of the global urban population and reducing waste management expenses in developing countries by as much as 20 percent. The global architecture that sustains these flows is uncertain at best. The underlying market for recyclable material is heavily dependent on volatile secondary materials prices, and it lacks a structured management scheme.
On top of these uncertainties, discussions on waste are often hijacked by the perceived centrality of household garbage. But household waste makes up only part of all waste. In developed counties, it might account for as little as 20 to 30 percent of overall municipal solid waste (MSW). The rest is commercial and industrial (C&I) and construction and demolition (C&D) waste. Likewise, recycling activities often obscure the amount of waste that is shipped overseas for disposal. For instance, as much as 20 percent of all waste exported from the EU is not recycled but ends up in landfills.
The challenges facing global waste management are gargantuan. Even as concerns about environmental sustainability, GHGs emissions, and health hazards mount, still 70 percent of MSW is driven to landfills. Only about 11 percent is converted into energy through thermal and other waste-to-energy systems, and 19 percent is either recycled or subject to biological treatments like composting. There is a pressing need for industry and government to better understand the dynamics that shape global waste management. Likewise, garbage demands a more prominent place on international negotiating tables and a fairer assessment in global media.
Some positive steps have been taken this year by the World Bank, which has published a global review of solid waste management titled What a Waste. The International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), which represents the worldwide industry, has put together a multi-phase task force to study the “globalization of solid waste management.” It is expected to provide a comprehensive report on expanding industrial and informal networks by the end of 2013. Still, the political study of waste management, including current socio-political challenges and the importance of cities in responding to these challenges, is still dangerously overlooked by policymakers and academics generally. As the figures above demonstrate, this is more than a theoretical problem. Increasing urbanization rates, together with endemic consumerism, are expanding the problem to unprecedented levels. It seems as though now might be a good time to start talking a little trash to diplomats.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's November/December 2012 print edition.
