Why don’t we dive into the numbers that nobody really wants to know or see. Still, we want to share them with you, the enormous waste flows of the world's most common objects: plastic, textile, food and electronics.
Plastics
77 % of all plastics end in our waste bin every year. 18 % ends up on badly managed waste flows like illegal landfills or litter on land or in the oceans. We find them everywhere on the side of the road, in forest, etc.
Of all plastic waste, 67 % comes from personal use at home, businesses and public buildings. 11 % comes from the automotive sector and another 11 % from textiles and clothing. 5 % is coming from building and construction and 4 % is from electronics. The last 2 % is unaccounted for.
From all the plastic that is generated 49 % went to landfills in 2019, 19 % was incinerated, 16 % was collected for recycling (although only about 8 % was really reused) and 23 % became pollution.
It’s estimated that plastic pollution is costing 300-600 billion USD yearly on social and environmental impact, while some estimate more than 1,5 trillion USD per year. The world is wasting an equivalent of 2189 toothbrushes worth of plastic per person, per year. This means you throw away your toothbrush every time you go to the bathroom.
Textiles/Clothing
About 80 % of all textile production is wasted, that’s like 92 million tons per year in 2022. It’s an equivalent of 2000 Titanics of textile every year.
About half a million tons of microplastics are released by washing your clothes, which end up in our oceans. These are about 5000 blue whales worth of microplastic pollution.
In 2022 66 million tons of synthetic fibre was produced, made from virgin fossil materials. The majority is polyester, about 54 % of all fibre production worldwide.
Only 1 % of all used clothes or recycled for new clothes. People with a higher income generate an average of 76 % more clothing waste compared with people with lower incomes.
Food
It’s been estimated that every year 916 million tons of food is wasted. It’s like every person on earth will throw away 652 quarter-pound hamburgers every year.
In de US they estimate that a four person family is throwing away an equivalent of 25 dozens of eggs every week.
Homes are responsible for 61 % of all food waste, 26 % comes from food service establishments and 13 % from retail. If food waste would be a country, it would be the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. About 8-10 % of all greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to come from non-consumed food.
E-waste
Every year we generate 62 billion kilogram of e-waste. That’s 8 kg for every person. Load it on tractor trailers and you’ll need about 1,55 million of them. In one long line they will stretch the entire equator. Of this 62 billion only 13 billion is recycled in the right and documented way, which is also only an estimation. 18 billion is shipped to low-income countries without documented management systems, 15 billion is going to landfills or is incinerated, 16 billion is so called unaccounted for.
For example in Norway, 26 kg of e-waste is generated per capita, which resembles a family of four throwing away 57 laptops per year.
About 3,3 billion kilograms of e-waste is estimated to be moved via “uncontrolled, transboundary movements” from high-income to middle- and low-income countries, the equivalent of 19,3 billion iPhones 15s every year.
By 2030, environmental health risks of hazardous materials from e-waste like lead, mercury and plastic will create 93 billion USD in externalised costs to people and the environment.
These are staggering numbers, but still worth thinking about.
Source: atmos.earth - Atmos volume 10 - "Talking Trash"
