UNEP report on Global Waste Management key feature at International Solid Waste Congress in Antwerp

The first ever Global Waste Management Outlook featured prominently on the opening day of the International Solid Waste Association’s 2015 World Congress in Antwerp on 7 September.

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The Outlook, jointly prepared by UNEP's International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC) and the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA),was officially launched at ISWA in a press conference and a dedicated panel discussion at the opening of the Congress which was attended by over 1000 waste experts from around the world.

The panel discussion involved Dambisa Moyo (author and international economist), David Wilson (Editor in Chief of the GWMO, Independent Waste and Resource Management Consultant, Tim Kasten(Deputy Director of UNEP’s Division of Environmental Policy Implementation) and Thomas Leysen (Umicore) and was followed by observations from David Newman (president of ISWA).

Inadequate waste management has become a major public health, economic and environmental problem, with 7-10 billion tonnes of urban waste produced each year and 3 billion people worldwide lacking access to controlled waste disposal facilities. The Global Waste Management Outlook provides a global outlook of challenges, trends and policies in relation to waste prevention, minimization and management around the world. Thinking about waste as a resource, rather than just a mounting problem, lies at the heart of this first global report on waste.

In his opening speech, Mr Kasten underlined the timeliness of the report considering the formal adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) expected in New York end of the month and the 2015 Paris Climate Conference (Cop 21 Paris). According to Kasten, the 2030-agenda has to focus on a collective solution for global climate change, beginning with waste management as a starting point for sustainable development. He emphasized that the cost of inaction to society exceeds the financial cost of proper waste management.

David Newman, ISWA President welcomed the report and said : "The Global Waste Management Outlook will help the waste management industry define its future over the next decade, and it also is an urgent call for action for investments to drive a global clean-up of the billions of tons of waste still dumped into our environment."

Dr. Oyun Sanjaasuren, President of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) in her a key note speech at the opening ceremony of the Congress told the audience: "Collectively we have the technological capacity to solve the global waste problem,” and yet billions of people donmt have access to waste disposal facilities. She also said that “international cooperation will be vital in preventing developing countries from becoming dumping ground for hazardous materials."

See more at: http://www.unep.org/newscentre/default.aspx?DocumentID=26844&ArticleID=35410#sthash.eFJulCMP.dpuf

Background:

Global Waste Management Outlook:

The UNEP Governing Council of February 2013, in its decision GC 27/12 on Chemicals and Waste Management, requested UNEP “to develop a global outlook of challenges, trends and policies in relation to waste prevention, minimization and management, taking into account the materials life cycle, subject to the availability of extra-budgetary resources and in consultation with Governments and stakeholders, building on available data, best practices and success stories, taking into account the Global Chemicals Outlook and any other relevant initiatives and taking care not to duplicate existing information, to provide guidance for national policy planning.”

UNEP’s International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC), in collaboration with the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), has taken the lead on this initiative; aiming to develop the Global Waste Management Outlook as a tool to provide an authoritative overview, analysis and recommendations for action of policy instruments and financing models for waste management.

Link to the Global Waste Management Outlook (GWMO) productshttp://www.unep.org/ietc/OurWork/WasteManagement/GWMO

About UNEP IETC

The International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC) is a branch of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) / Division of Technology, Industry and Economics (DTIE). Its main function is to promote the application of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) in developing countries and countries in transition. Currently IETC focuses on waste management issues.

About ISWA

ISWA, the International Solid Waste Association, is the world's leading independent waste management association with members in more than 100 countries. ISWA's declared mission is to promote and develop professional and sustainable waste management globally. The annual world congress is a highlight in the functioning of ISWA. In three full days, more than 1,000 waste specialists, policy makers, industrialists, researchers and entrepreneurs from around the world exchange their ideas and experiences.

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