ATA Descriptions
Region/Country: The geographical area (region or country) represented in the data, providing the basis for waste management analysis.
UN Region: The United Nations region the country belongs to, offering a geographical and political context for the data.
Income Level: World Bank income classification of the country (e.g., low, middle, high), providing economic context for waste generation and management.
Country Code: ISO country code, a standardized code for identifying countries, useful for cross-referencing with other datasets.
MSW 2020 (thousand tonnes): Total municipal solid waste generated in 2020, measured in thousand tonnes, indicating the current waste levels.
MSW 2030 (thousand tonnes): Projected total municipal solid waste for 2030, measured in thousand tonnes, future forecast based on GWMO2024 methodology.
MSW 2040 (thousand tonnes): Projected total municipal solid waste for 2040, measured in thousand tonnes, future forecast based on GWMO2024 methodology.
MSW 2050 (thousand tonnes): Projected total municipal solid waste for 2050, measured in thousand tonnes, future forecast based on GWMO2024 methodology.
MSW kg/capita/day 2020: Average municipal solid waste generated per capita per day in 2020, highlighting individual contributions to waste generation.
MSW kg/capita/day 2030: Projected average municipal solid waste generated per capita per day in 2030, future forecast based on GWMO2024 methodology.
MSW kg/capita/day 2040: Projected average municipal solid waste generated per capita per day in 2040, future forecast based on GWMO2024 methodology.
MSW kg/capita/day 2050: Projected average municipal solid waste generated per capita per day in 2050, future forecast based on GWMO2024 methodology.
Food and green: Percentage of waste composed of food and green materials, providing insight into the biodegradable portion of waste.
Landfill 2020 (thousand tonnes): Amount of waste sent to landfill in 2020, measured in thousand tonnes, reflecting current landfill usage.
Landfill 2020 rate (%): Percentage of total waste sent to landfill in 2020, indicating the reliance on landfill as a waste management method.
Other waste management variables: Various other waste management methods and their percentages or quantities, detailing the diversity of waste treatment approaches.
Population 2020: Population of the country or region in 2020, providing demographic context for waste generation.
Population 2030: Projected population of the country or region in 2030.
Population 2040: Projected population of the country or region in 2040.
Population 2050: Projected population of the country or region in 2050.
GDP per capita (PPP international USD): Gross Domestic Product per capita, measured in Purchasing Power Parity international dollars, offering economic context for waste generation and management.
Urbanization rate (%): Percentage of the population living in urban areas, indicating the level of urbanization which affects waste production.
Human Development Index (HDI): A composite index measuring average achievement in key dimensions of human development, such as life expectancy, education, and per capita income.
GWMO Definitions
Sources of definitions relevant to municipal waste management include: International Organization for Standardization [ISO] (2013); United Nations Environment Programme [UNEP] (2021 a, b); UNEP (2023e); UNEP-Law and Environment Assistance Programme (n.d).
Additives: Plastic is usually made from polymer mixed with a complex blend of chemicals known as additives. These additives, which include flame retardants, plasticizers, pigments, fillers and stabilisers are used to improve the different properties of the plastic or to reduce its cost
CapEx (capital expenditure): Funds used by an organisation to acquire or upgrade assets such as property, buildings, technology, or equipment.
Circular economy: One of the current sustainable economic models, in which products and materials are designed in such a way that they can be reused, remanufactured, recycled or recovered and thus maintained in the economy for as long as possible, along with the resources of which they are made, and the generation of waste, especially hazardous waste, is avoided or minimized, and greenhouse gas emissions are prevented or reduced, can contribute significantly to sustainable consumption and production
Design for recycling: The process by which companies design their products and packaging to be recyclable (see Recycling).
Downstream activities: Involves end-of-life management – including segregation, collection, sorting, recycling and disposal. Recycling is a process that starts downstream and ‘closes the loop’ by connecting with upstream (i.e. starting a new life cycle for new plastic products with old materials). Similarly, repair/refurbish processes provide another way to close the loop by bringing products back into the midstream.
Dumpsites: Places where collected waste has been deposited in a central location and where the waste is not controlled through daily, intermediate or final cover, thus leaving the top layer free to escape into the natural environment through wind and surface water.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR): An environmental policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility for a product is extended to the waste stage of that product’s life cycle. In practice, EPR involves producers taking responsibility for the management of products after they become waste, including: collection; pre-treatment, e.g. sorting, dismantling or depollution; (preparation for) reuse; recovery (including recycling and energy recovery) or final disposal. EPR systems can allow producers to exercise their responsibility by providing the financial resources required and/or by taking over the operational aspects of the process from municipalities. They assume the responsibility voluntarily or mandatorily; EPR systems can be implemented individually or collectively.
Externality: An economic term used to describe an indirect cost or benefit experienced by an unrelated third party, arising as an effect of another party’s activity. For example, pollution caused from mismanaging waste is an externality.
Feedstock: Any bulk raw material that is the principal input for an industrial production process.
Incineration: Destruction and transformation of material to energy by combustion
Informal waste sector: Sector where workers and economic units are involved in solid waste collection, recovery and recycling activities which are – in law or in practice – not covered or insufficiently covered by formal arrangements.
Just transition: A framework to ensure that the benefits of the transition to a green economy are shared widely, for example through the protection of workers’ rights and livelihoods.
Leakage: Materials that do not follow an intended pathway and ‘escape’ or are otherwise lost to the system. Litter is an example of system leakage
Legacy waste: Waste that has already been generated and is accumulating in dumpsites or the environment as existing pollution.
Mechanical recycling: Processing of waste into secondary raw material or products without significantly changing the chemical structure of the material.
Mismanaged waste: Collected waste that has been released or deposited in a place from where it can move into the natural environment (intentionally or otherwise). This includes dumpsites and unmanaged landfills. Uncollected waste is categorised as unmanaged
Municipal solid waste (MSW): Includes all residential and commercial waste but excludes industrial waste.
Open burning: Waste that is combusted without emissions cleaning.
OpEx (operating expenses): Operating expenses incurred during the course of regular business, such as general and administrative costs, sales and marketing, or research and development.
Pathway: a course of action that combines system interventions across geographic archetypes to achieve a desired system outcome.
Plastic pollution: Defined broadly as the negative effects and emissions resulting from the production and consumption of plastic materials and products across their entire life cycle. This definition includes plastic waste that is mismanaged (e.g. openly-burned and dumped in uncontrolled dumpsites) and leakage and accumulation of plastic objects and particles that can adversely affect humans and the living and non-living environment.
Recyclable: For something to be deemed recyclable, the system must be in place for it to be collected, sorted, reprocessed, and manufactured back into a new product or packaging at scale and economically. Recyclable is used here as a short-hand for ‘mechanically recyclable (see mechanical recycling ).
Recycling: Processing of waste materials for the original purpose or for other purposes, excluding energy recovery.
Reusable: Products and packaging, including plastic bags, that are conceived and designed to accomplish within their life cycle a minimum number of uses for the same purpose for which they were conceived. In terms of “minimum number of uses”, the PR3 Reuse Standards (PR3 2024) suggest that reusable (containers) should be designed to withstand at least 10 reuse cycles.
Reuse: Use of a product more than once in its original form.
Safe disposal: nsuring that any waste that reaches its end-of-life is disposed in a way that does not cause leakage of plastic waste or chemicals into the environment, does not pose hazardous risks to human health and, in the case of landfills, is contained securely for the long-term.
Sanitary landfill: An engineered facility for the disposal of solid waste on and in a controlled manner. Scenarios: For the purpose of this report, three scenarios were developed to estimate the impacts of different.
Scenarios: For the purpose of this report, three scenarios were developed to estimate the impacts of different municipal solid waste management approaches to 2050:
- Waste Management as Usual – waste generation and waste management practices continue as today, with waste generation projected to grow fastest in regions without adequate waste management capacity;
- Waste Under Control – a midway point, with some progress made towards preventing waste and improving its management;
- Circular Economy – waste generation decoupled from economic growth, with the global municipal solid waste recycling rate reaching 60 per cent and the remainder managed safely.
Single-use products: Often referred to as disposable plastics, are commonly used plastic items intended to be used only once before they are thrown away or recycled, e.g. grocery bags, food packaging, bottles, straws, containers, cups, cutlery etc.
Technology transfer: The transfer of technology and technical know-how from the owner to a new user, which may be an individual, a business or a municipality etc.
Upstream activities: Includes obtaining the raw materials from crude oil, natural gas or recycled and renewable feedstock (e.g. biomass) and polymerization. Plastic leakage into the environment (e.g. pellets and flakes) already happens at this stage.