Unscrupulous waste trade became a serious concern in the 1980s due to three converging factors: increasing amounts of hazardous waste; inadequate processing plants; and stricter regulations in the developed world with growing environmental awareness. Managing special waste streams properly became expensive, apparently too costly for some. Filthy shipments started travelling round the world.

It is impossible to detail all the types of waste directly or indirectly involved in manufacturing mobile phones. In developed countries production processes manage to keep sensitive materials in a closed circuit, without any waste escaping to the outside world. Production – “Made in Elsewhere” – does not usually take place where the phones are most widespread. Degrees of efficiency in health and environmental protection vary. In some assembly ...

The impact of income on lifestyle is apparent in China like elsewhere. There has been a massive surge in all consumer goods with rising income in towns. The same trend can be observed to a much lesser extent in the country.

Describing and quantifying global trade in waste is difficult. The official figures compiled by the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal are a good start, but have their limitations. Reporting is based on collaboration by member states and the Convention has no means of obliging any state to do so.

At 29 per cent of total wastes generated and with over 400 million tonnes of materials, mining and quarrying account for the largest stream of waste generated by countries that are members of the Euro pean Environment Agency.

Statistics from the Paper Task Force show virgin paper (from tree harvesting to the landfill) versus and recycled paper (from collection to recycling again) and their respective environmental impacts by various by-products.

According to Residua, a UK company working on solid waste issues, about 50 per cent of European goods are wrapped in plastic (17 per cent by weight). There are many types of plastic packaging: plastic bottles are often made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), yoghurt pots are mostly polypropylene (PP), wrapping film, bin liners and flexible containers are usually low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and so on. This diversity partly explains why re...

In Buenos Aires informal waste collectors recover 9 to 17 per cent of municipal waste, representing an estimated saving for the municipality of US$30 000 to US$70 000 a day or US$3.5 to US$7 per collector. Scavenger households earn an average of US$58.4 a week. Despite their role in the economy, the working conditions of Buenos Aires cartoneros and their counterparts in other cities in the developing world are very poor, working mainly at ni...

Scrapped cars or “end-of life vehicles” are not collected as bulky waste, but they too pose problems because of their size and disparate components. Given car production trends this is an issue that demands serious consideration.

Not long ago the amount and composition of waste was such that it could be simply diluted and dispersed into the environment. Most items were reused and only a few remained, that would not decompose naturally. With industrialisation and rising urban density, a new concept followed: collect and dump out of sight. The aim was to eliminate waste or at least protect the population from it. This generally involved either openly burning it (still pract...

Recognizing that industrial society must fix this major flaw in the system, governments and many forward-looking companies started exploring solutions as early as the 1970s. The strong activism of civil society organizations and the interest of the media in cases of toxic waste dumping were central in bringing the issue on the international agenda. By the 1980s, the international community launched treaty negotiations under the auspices of the Un...

A visual timeline of historical waste manaement. From the first recorded landfill created in Knossos in 3000 B.C. to the English parliament banning waste disposal in public waterways and ditches in 1388 to the establishment of The Basel Convention in 1992.

Combating waste trafficking demands international cooperation and a high-level of scientific expertise (to analyse the composition of waste, for instance). This is primarily the task of customs and port authorities, but initiatives for broader cooperation are developing, such as the European Union Network for the Implementation and Enforcement of Environmental Law (IMPEL), which controls shipments in major European ports.

Though it is based on wood, a natural renewable resource, the pulp and paper industry is one of the worst sources of pollution. It absorbs more than 40 per cent of all timber felled worldwide. Despite the development of digital communications tools global paper production is expected to increase by 2.2 per cent a year from 330 million tonnes at present to 440 million tonnes worldwide by 2015. The main growth areas are Asia and Eastern Europe, but...

The plant is designed to restrict waste movement and environmental damage. Strict safety regulations govern storage of hazardous waste (chemicals, asbestos, varnish, oil, etc.). Such waste is not moved until it is destroyed on the spot or redirected to specialist plants elsewhere. All the other waste is separated by the consumers themselves and dumped into skips.

In 2005 household waste output was up by 10 000 tonnes on 2000, rising from 15 000 to 25 000 tonnes for almost the same population. Nor does this include 20 000 tonnes of business waste (construction, light industry and service sector). In all Heftingsdalen processes about 45 000 tonnes of waste, making an average of 720 kilograms per person per year.

Despite international efforts to halt dumping of illegal waste outrageous incidents occur. Collating relevant data is difficult but there is no doubt about the damage. Toxic waste causes long-term poisoning of soil and water, affecting people’s health and living conditions, sometimes irreversibly. It mainly involves slow processes that must be monitored for years to be detected and proven (let alone remedied).

One person’s dustbin is not the same as another’s. Depending on which continent you live on, on your life style, financial resources, and so on, your trash will be different. This shows two cases from Japan.

Why would any country import goods already produced at home or nearby? One explanation is straight forward: It may be cheaper to buy abroad than produce locally or the necessary know-how is not available locally. In some cases a famous brand or the country of origin is a guarantee of quality.

Some countries, for example the Netherlands and Belgium, seem to act as “waste dispatchers”. Their figures suggest that they are the top waste exporters, a fact that reflects neither the waste they produce (given their population) nor their internal processing capacity. Presumably large amounts of hazardous waste are simply passing through Antwerp, Rotterdam and other industrial ports on the North Sea.