Waste Management Isn’t Just a System — It’s a Story of Inequality

According to a World Bank report, the world generated over 2.2 billion tonnes of solid waste in 2020, amounting to a footprint of 0.79 kilograms per person per day.

Most of it doesn’t just disappear.

Take Jakarta, Indonesia. Home to more than 11 million people, the city’s main landfill, Bantar Gebang receives over 7,000 tonnes of waste daily. The mountain of trash grows taller each year, spilling into nearby communities, polluting water sources, and choking the air with toxic fumes.

This is not just Jakarta’s story. From Delhi to Lagos, Sao Paulo to Manila — urban waste is becoming an invisible emergency.

At the heart of it all are people:

• Waste pickers who work without safety gear.
• Children growing up near open dumpsites.
• Communities fighting for clean air, water, and dignity

So, what is the role of sustainable waste management?

• Is recycling enough when the system is built for disposability?
• Can circular economies thrive in cities still struggling with basic sanitation?
• And what would it take to see waste not as a problem but as a shared responsibility?

These aren’t just questions for policymakers or environmentalists.They belong to all of us.

Source: World bank,  The New York Times  

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