"NAIROBI - Waste produced by the public will surge by 2050, causing hundreds of billions of dollars of damage through biodiversity loss, climate change and deadly pollution, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a report on Wednesday.

The report said unless urgent measures were taken global waste generation would soar, driven largely by fast-growing economies, including in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa where many countries are already struggling to manage current production levels.

UNEP projected the cost at $640 billion annually by the middle of the century, representing a more than 75% increase compared to 2020, when the world produced an estimated 2.1 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste, which excludes industrial waste."

Aaron Ross reports for Reuters February 28, 2024. [2]