Global garbage generation could nearly double between 2015 and 2050. It accounts for 8% of human-caused methane emissions. Only about 13% is recycled and 5.5% composted. Switching to circular waste management could reduce that by about 88% by 2050. This management emphasizes technologies and policies that primarily encourage reuse and recycling materials. What can’t be recycled is burned in high-tech incinerators to generate energy, landfills being a last resort. It would achieve pickup of all the world’s trash by 2050, recycle 90% of paper and textile waste and 80% of plastic and wood, and send 100% of food waste to anaerobic digesters, producing biogas for energy. Achieving it will require new laws and policies, and capacity building and financial assistance for less wealthy nations, as well as individual action. It’s a worthy goal.
www.anthropocenemagazine.org/2022/01/circular-trash-management-powerful-overlooked-climate-solution/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=circular-trash-management-powerful-overlooked-climate-solution