Highlights
- China became world's largest waste generator in 2004, passing the United States.
- New estimates predict that, by 2030, China will produce twice as much solid waste as the United States.
- China previously set 70% recycling rate goal by 2015
From the article:
Waste volumes are increasing quickly around the world with municipal solid waste (MSW) growth fastest in China, other parts of East Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The annual waste generation in East Asia and the Pacific Region is approximately 270 million tons per year. This quantity is mainly influenced by waste generation in China, which makes up 70% of the regional total.
Furthermore, while China surpassed the US as the world’s largest waste generator in 2004, by 2030 the country will likely produce twice as much municipal solid waste as the United States.
This is according to a new report from the World Bank, entitled: What a Waste: A Global Review of Solid Waste Management. The report provides consolidated data on MSW generation, collection, composition and disposal by country and by region.
