cross-posted from the Green and Red Podcast
In much of the developed world, waste is out of sight and out of mind. The world generates around 2 billion tons of municipal solid waste annually, with at least 33% of it not managed in an environmentally safe manner, according to a 2018 World Bank report. Though high-income countries only account for 16% of the world’s population, they generate about 34% of the world’s waste each year. A third of all food produced is wasted and ends up in the garbage can. Plastic waste is another mounting issue: Across the globe, less than 10% of it is recycled, according to the most recent data from 2018 published by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. Plastic waste has more than doubled globally since 2000.
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In our latest, we talk with journalist, and author of “Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, And Why It Matters,” Oliver Franklin-Wallis (@olifranklin) and take a deep dive into the global waste crisis.
Bio// Oliver Franklin-Wallis is an award-winning magazine journalist, whose writing has appeared in WIRED (where he is a contributing editor), British GQ, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Times Magazine, The Sunday Times Magazine, 1843, and many other publications. He’s also the author of “Wasteland: The Dirty Truth About What We Throw Away, Where It Goes, And Why It Matters.”