Amid London’s ongoing struggle to reach its 2025 recycling goals of 45 per cent and bolster material circularity, a pressing need emerges for systemic solutions to confront the burgeoning waste crisis in the UK and beyond.
Cities and municipal governments are central players in addressing the waste crisis — they play a crucial role in raising awareness about waste reduction and establishing systems to enable recycling. However, what cities can do is limited as there are inherent structural challenges that must be addressed. The international dimension of waste exacerbates these challenges, as waste management practices intersect with national policies and global trade frameworks.
Merely relying on improved collection rates for recycling is not adequate to address the magnitude of the issue. There’s a pressing need to be more ambitious and transition away from the single-use paradigm across various materials, including plastics, glass, cardboard and cans, towards more sustainable reuse systems. This shift necessitates comprehensive strategies that go beyond municipal boundaries and require collaboration between governments, industries, retailers and communities to effectively mitigate the crisis.
And it is not only waste from food packaging that needs urgent attention; other waste streams are growing at very fast rates. Globally, 62 million tonnes of electronic waste were produced in 2022, up 82 per cent from 2010, but less than one quarter was collected and recycled. This is not only a toxic waste problem, but we are also losing value materials such as platinum and gold — the UK’s annual e-waste contains an estimated £1 billion of valuable materials.
Worn clothes and textiles is another growing waste stream. According to the 2022 figures from the UN Comtrade database, the UK exported secondhand textiles worth more than $411 million in 2022. Of that more than $64 million was shipped to Ghana — the main destination for the UK’s used textiles. The Tony Blair Institute estimates that about 40 per cent of the UK’s textiles received by Ghana are actually textile waste that cannot be resold on secondhand markets.
Global governance and international co-ordination play pivotal roles in addressing the pressing issue of this waste crisis. Within the European Union, there’s a significant shift in policies aimed at mitigating the environmental impact of waste. For instance, the EU’s Waste Shipment Regulation, updated in March, represents a pivotal step in restricting the types of waste that can be sent to other countries.
Moreover, the pursuit of a global plastics treaty by the United Nations underscores the need for international co-operation in tackling waste challenges. As negotiations progress, it becomes evident that the expected outcomes will not only influence national policies but also filter down to impact recycling practices at the city level. The treaty’s implications and targets for countries will necessitate corresponding actions at the local level, emphasising the interconnected nature of waste management practices and the need for cohesive global governance.
