Solid Waste

Unique identifier / Notation

TL0036

Synonyms

Not available.

Solid waste covers discarded materials that are no longer required by the owner or user. Solid waste includes materials that are in a solid or liquid state but excludes wastewater and small particulate matter released into the atmosphere (United Nations, 2014).

Primary reference(s)

United Nations, 2014. System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012—Central Framework. Accessed 19 November 2019.

Additional scientific description

Solid waste may include such materials as: general domestic garbage such as food waste, ash and packaging materials; human faeces disposed of in garbage; hazardous waste; healthcare waste; and disaster waste. Examples of disaster waste include plastic water bottles, packaging from other emergency supplies and other waste from relief operations, rubble resulting from the disaster, mud and slurry deposited by the disaster, fallen trees and rocks obstructing transport and communications (WHO, 2019).

Conceptual and methodological problems of statistics on solid waste have long been identified. They have been discussed by a range of international organisations, such as the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Eurostat, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and the Basel Convention, but due to the complexity of the subject the issues cannot be addressed by individual organisations separately (UNECE, 2016).

Methodological work related to statistics on solid waste is mainly carried out by Eurostat and the UNSD, and by the OECD. It takes into consideration the work of the Secretariat of the Basel Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal (Basel Convention) and the European Commission (Commission Decision 2014/955/EU on the list of waste, Commission Regulation 1357/2014/EU on the hazardousness properties of waste) for hazardous waste, and where necessary of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (Rotterdam Convention) (UNECE, 2016).

Metrics and numeric limits

Not available

Key relevant UN convention / multilateral treaty

Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (1989). At the time of writing, there were 187 parties to the Basel Convention (UN Treaty Collection 2019).

Examples of drivers, outcomes and risk management

Poor waste management (including ineffective collection and disposal) causes air, soil and water pollution (UN Environment, no date). The safe disposal of solid waste is critical for public health (WHO, 2019; UN Environment, no date) and presents a serious risk to ecosystems (UN Environment, no date).

Solid waste poses a hazard in emergencies (WHO, 2019). The Sphere Handbook (Sphere Association, 2018) is the internationally recognised tool (but non-legally binding) in the field of humanitarian standards, including for solid waste management. The Sphere standards state that people should be able to live in an environment that is uncontaminated by solid waste and suggests respective standards in disaster response and humanitarian assistance.

Solid waste creates favourable habitats for insects, rodents and other disease vectors and thereby increases the risk of disease such as dengue, malaria and yellow fever (WHO, 2013; Sphere Association, 2018). In addition, communities may scavenge among solid waste, leading to increased cases of disease such as dysentery and exposure to other noxious or toxic substances. Meanwhile, indiscriminate dumping of waste can also block water courses causing flooding (WHO, 2013). Breathing difficulties can arise from the fungi that develop on solid waste. People passing through solid waste containing areas are exposed to risk of injuries from broken glass, needles, etc. Waste has a demoralising impact on communities and may lower morale (WHO, 2013).