Der er penge i skidtet. Også i de fattige lande, hvor skraldet hober sig op i ufattelige mængder. Netop den problematik bliver diskuteret på en UNEP-konference i Japan. Affald kan nemlig vise sig at rumme nøglen til løsning af problemet og bane vejen for en mere bæredygtig udvikling i fattige lande, lyder den opmuntrende melding.
OSAKA, Japan, 6 November 2012 – With approximately 1,3 billion tonnes of municipal (kommunal) waste generated each year, and volumes expected to increase to 2,2 billion tonnes by 2025 according to World Bank figures, urgent action is needed to head off the threat to the environment and human health posed by this global waste crisis.
This growing problem was foremost in the minds of delegates who gathered at the biennium conference of the UNEP-hosted Global Partnership on Waste Management (GPWM), held on November 5 and 6 in Osaka, Japan.
The conference brought together waste experts from around the world to find answers to the global challenge of waste management and reap the economic and environmental benefits through better coordination.
Affaldet hober sig op i lav-indkomstlande
The threat posed by poor waste management is particularly prominent in low-income countries where waste-collection rates are often below 50 per cent.
Piles of garbage along river banks; thick smoke from open burning of mixed, and partly toxic (giftig), waste; pungent odours; flies and rodents (gnavere) are an all too familiar scene.
Ever-faster population growth, urbanization and economic development are producing increasing quantities of waste that are overburdening existing waste-management systems.
As the crisis unfolds, there are significant opportunities for organizing the waste sector, with all its complexities, in a way that is more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable.
Skraldet rummer grønne muligheder
Matthew Gubb, Director of the United Nations Environment Programme’s International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC), recognizes both risks and opportunities inherent in the waste sector and highlights it as “a model area for greening the economy”.
Indeed, if handled properly, waste management has huge potential to turn problems into solutions and to “lead the way towards sustainable development” through
* the recovery and reuse of valuable resources;
* the creation of new business and employment opportunities, including for the informal sector;
* reduced emissions of greenhouse gases from waste management operations, such as landfills; and
* conversion of waste to energy.
Affald har business-potentiale
The benefits are huge, for both climate and business. A 2010 UNEP report showed that, in Northern Europe, recycling one tonne of paper or aluminium saves more than 600 kg and 10.000 kg of CO2 equivalent respectively.
And that is not all. If you consider that a 2009 UNEP report revealed there is 65 times more gold in one tonne of old mobile phones than the five grammes in a tonne of ore, the business case for “urban mining” is clear.
Those who work in the 410 billion US dollar waste sector already understand the great potential of sound waste management.
So, let us consider waste not as a problem, but as an opportunity to recover and convert resources, a paradigm shift that is gaining increasing currency. Whatever perspective one takes, the message is clear: waste matters.
Læs mere her: http://unep.org/newscentre/Default.aspx?DocumentID=2698&ArticleID=9317&l=en
