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Nearly a billion tons of waste are disposed of improperly every year and this is threatening the health and wellbeing of billions worldwide, a new study reports. The study looked at what happens to consumer goods and other products at the end of their useful life and concludes that urgent action is needed to address open burning of solid waste and ill-managed dumpsites.
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The “Global Review on Safer End of Engineered Life” report showed that of all the municipal solid waste generated on Earth, a quarter half a billion tons is not collected, and a further 27% is mismanaged following collection. This means that close to a billion tonnes of waste risk polluting the natural environment every year.
Study calls for urgent action to address the risks posed by unsafe disposal practices
A major global study of what happens to consumer goods and other engineered products at the end of their useful life has found widespread use of unsafe management and disposal practices and calls for urgent action to address the risks posed to human life and health.
The Engineering X Global Review on Safer End of Engineered Life warns that the biggest threat is from the open burning of solid waste which is damaging the health of tens of millions of people worldwide but a lack of data means that the true scale of the problem is unknown and more research is urgently needed.