[ti:Report: Harmful Waste Creation Set to Increase]
[al:As It Is]
[ar:VOA]
[dt:2024-03-02]
[by:www.voase.cn]
[00:00.00]The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a report on Wednesday that public waste creation will greatly increase by 2050. 
[00:16.31]The rise will cause hundreds of billions of dollars of damage through biodiversity loss, climate change, and deadly pollution, UNEP reports.
[00:31.79]UNEP's Global Waste Management Outlook 2024 says worldwide waste creation would greatly increase unless governments take urgent preventative measures. 
[00:49.54]The world's fastest-growing economies will drive much of the increase in waste.
[00:57.27]These include some countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that are already struggling to deal with current public waste levels.
[01:11.10]The report predicts municipal solid waste generation will grow from 2.3 billion tonnes in 2023 to 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050. 
[01:28.25]UNEP projected the yearly cost of waste treatment by the middle of the century would rise to $640 billion worldwide.
[01:40.97]That represents a more than 75 percent increase from 2020.
[01:49.10]That year, the world produced an estimated 2.1 billion tonnes of public solid waste, which excludes industrial waste.
[02:03.28]Damage caused by the growing waste would account for about $443 billion of the total cost.
[02:15.00]The report, called Beyond an Age of Waste: Turning Rubbish into a Resource, was released during the U.N. Environment Assembly in Kenya this week. 
[02:29.81]The writers argue that humanity has "moved backwards" over the past ten years. 
[02:38.37]They say humans are creating more waste, more pollution, and more climate changing gases.
[02:47.08]Waste prevention measures and improved waste treatment could reduce those costs, the report said. 
[02:57.90]But it notes, there are major barriers to such reforms, including weak enforcement systems.
[03:07.52]Negotiators are working toward a treaty to deal with the especially damaging and dangerous pollution from plastics.
[03:18.66]They are beginning a fourth round of talks in April. 
[03:24.11]UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said she is hopeful they will complete the agreement by the end of this year.
[03:35.54]Environmentalists and fossil fuel producers continue to disagree about the terms of the agreement.
[03:45.44]They especially dispute whether the deal should center on reducing plastics production or increasing recycling and re-use.
[03:57.43]"There is an interest, and especially among the countries that are producing raw polymer, but as I keep telling them, this is not an anti-plastic treaty," 
[04:10.58]Andersen told Reuters, noting there would still be a need for plastics in vehicles and medical equipment.
[04:21.32]Raw polymers are used in the creation of plastic materials.
[04:27.86]Andersen said she hopes no delegations would work to block progress on the treaty, but instead "find a way forward that actually takes into account the fact that we are drowning in plastic."
[04:45.91]I'm Gregory Stachel.