Waste
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What is our reality today?
The world generates enormous amounts of waste - food and garden waste, mining waste, industrial waste, sludge, old cars, batteries, plastic bags, sanitary waste, and the list goes on. Poor waste management contributes to air and water pollution and affects many ecosystems and species.
Types of waste (focus on household waste, including plastic packaging)
Plastic pollution is one of the most hazardous threats to the environment. With plastic waste continuing to accumulate in landfills and our oceans, tackling plastic pollution has never been so pressing. Plastic pollution is not only contained in our oceans. It is in the air and the food that we eat. Most of the plastic entering water streams also ends up improperly disposed of at landfill sites.
Households also generate a sizeable proportion of waste. These include plastic waste, paper waste, tins and metals, ceramics, liquid waste, garden and organic waste, and hazardous waste. Household waste management is a challenging task because of the increasing amount of waste globally as well as the large quantity of varied materials in the waste stream. Household waste has become one of the most significant causes of severe damage to the environment because of the copious amounts of waste discharged and the improper disposal of it.
Other types of waste include industrial waste, liquid waste, agricultural and animal waste, radioactive waste, construction debris, extraction and mining waste, oil and gas production waste, and fossil fuel combustion.
Consequences/local impact
In Africa, waste generation is driven by population growth, rapid urbanisation, changing consumption habits and production patterns. More than 90% of Africa’s waste is disposed of at uncontrolled dumpsites and landfills, usually followed by open burning. In West Africa, plastic waste is a huge concern. The waste that humans discard is extremely toxic to our environment and is not dealt with in the most sustainable way. The waste that is dumped at our landfill sites discharge methane gas which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and poses large-scale risks to our atmosphere and health.
The more emissions that we produce due to how much waste we generate, affects our health in the long-term. People are suffering from respiratory illnesses and other infectious diseases because of this. In addition, bacteria and vermin can also be added to the problem that trash causes.
Plastic debris and other waste dumped in water streams and oceans are impacting our marine life. Fish and other aquatic life such as dolphins, seals, penguins, and turtles cannot distinguish between what is or isn’t food. They consume the waste which cannot be broken down by their bodies often resulting in starvation and death.
What can we do to make a positive impact? (responsible management, sustainable packaging, sorting and recovery-recycling collection)
Waste management in Africa is of critical importance to public health, climate protection, and environmental preservation. Governments, businesses, and civil society can all play a part in waste management. It is encouraging to see considerable experimentation and innovation taking place in some African cities with waste collection and recycling. There is significant potential for other African cities to learn from this.
At Nestlé, reducing plastic waste is our urgent priority. Our vision is that none of our packaging ends up in landfill sites, oceans, lakes, or rivers. We are working tirelessly to deliver on this to achieve a waste-free future. We are committed to making 100% of our packaging recyclable or reusable by 2025 and beyond. We are working with numerous value chain partners, industry associations and civil society to explore different packaging concepts to move towards a waste-free future. Such a system-wide transformation will take time, but we are committed to creating a better world and delivering on our commitments.