NO TIME TO WASTE

Tackling the plastic pollution crisis before it’s too late

NO TIME TO WASTE
Tackling the plastic pollution crisis before it’s too late

A report by Tearfund, Fauna & Flora International (FFI), WasteAid and The Institute of
Development Studies (IDS).

Written by Mari Williams, Rich Gower and Joanne Green (Tearfund) with support from
Elisabeth Whitebread (FFI), Zoë Lenkiewicz (WasteAid) and Dr Patrick Schröder (IDS).

Many thanks to Dr Abigail Entwistle, Dilyana Mihaylova (FFI), Hannah Corbett (IDS),

Paul Cook, Melissa Barnston, Ann Hallam, Julia Kendal, Ben Osawe, Simone Vieira (Tearfund),
Mike Bird (WIEGO), Professor David Wilson, Dr Stephen McCauley, Tim Brewer and
Dr Wolf‑Peter Schmidt for their contributions and comments.

Designed by Wingfinger

Cover photo: Hazel Thompson/Tearfund

Tearfund is a Christian relief and development agency working with partners and local
churches to bring whole-life transformation to the poorest communities.

Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is the world’s oldest international wildlife conservation
organisation. Our mission is to conserve threatened species and ecosystems worldwide,
choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science, and which take into
account human needs.

WasteAid shares recycling skills around the world: creating green jobs, improving children’s
health, and keeping plastic out of the oceans.

The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) is a global research and learning organisation
for equitable and sustainable change.

© Tearfund 2019

Published by Tearfund, 100 Church Road, Teddington, TW11 8QE, United Kingdom

learn.tearfund.org
+44 (0) 20 3906 3906
[email protected]
twitter.com/tearfundlearn
facebook.com/tearfundlearn

Enquiries about printed and electronic (PDF) copies of this manual should be sent to
[email protected]
 ENDORSEMENTS

This report is aptly named for the pressing need to tackle the problem of plastic pollution, now.
For the city of Jos where I live, yesterday was a better time to act but today will have to be the next
best option. This report outlines the present and foreseeable dangers of plastic pollution, especially
on poor, developing communities and countries like mine. To continue to ignore this growing problem
is akin to acknowledging that the flourishing of life and human development is of no value in this
present age. We need to pay attention and act.

Ulan Garba Matta, Writer, Filmmaker and Team Lead of the Jos Green Centre, Jos, Nigeria

While reading the report No time to waste: tackling the plastic pollution crisis before it’s too late, I was
sitting on the plane and in front of me: plastic cup, plastic spoon, plastic knife, plastic fork, plastic
plate and food in plastic packaging. All plastic for single use. We can and should organise our lives
differently, better. The consequences of the irresponsible use of plastics are seriously detrimental to
people and planet, as this report is clearly showing. Unfortunately, plastic does not feel the pressure
of time; but humankind can no longer deny the case for urgent action, so, indeed… there is no time
to waste.

Janez Potočnik, Co-chair International Resource Panel and former EU Environment Commissioner

This timely report is an important and urgent call to action for multinational corporations and
developed country governments to tackle the scourge of plastics in poorer countries. Given the
shocking damage plastic pollution is causing across the world to our environment, health and the
livelihoods of communities, we simply don’t have time to waste.

Kerry McCarthy MP, Labour Party, UK

In the UK many people have woken up to the plastic pollution crisis, with some businesses starting
to cut down on plastic packaging. The UK government has already taken some clear actions, with
further action planned. However, globally there is a need for much more urgent action. In many
developing countries discarded plastic blocks drains, causes flooding and exacerbates the spread
of disease. Unchecked plastic waste poisons wildlife and the open burning of plastic can cause
dangerous air pollution. These problems can be solved, but we will need governments, corporations
and local people to work together to deliver this change. Thank you for this report that shines a light
and shows a way forward.

Vicky Ford MP, Conservative Party, UK

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE i
 This timely report draws attention to the scandal of the global waste crisis. Extending solid waste
collection to all and eliminating open dumping and burning, will both improve the health and
livelihoods of billions of the world’s poorest people and halve the quantity of plastics entering the
oceans. Together we can make it happen.

David C Wilson, visiting Professor in Waste and Resource Management at Imperial College London.
Lead author of UNEP and ISWA’s inaugural Global Waste Management Outlook. Immediate Past
President of CIWM, the UK professional body for resources and waste.

‘No time to waste’ – what an apt title for this report on handling the nightmare of plastic pollution.
There have been urgent calls from all over, including the United Nations, but what is needed is for
companies, governments and communities to take responsibility, including support for micro level
initiatives that can implement these steps. This is a wake up call for various contexts, whether in
the developed world or in the developing world, and the problem needs to be seriously addressed.
The situation is growing out of control, as we see in India, and the poorest people are the ones who
are suffering most. I commend the organisations who have produced this study and the issues it is
addressing. Let’s act!

Dr. Ken Gnanakan, Founder President, ACTS Group of Institutions, Bangalore, India

ii NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 FOREWORD

I have seen for myself the effects of plastic pollution

on some of our planet’s most precious species and
natural places – an unfolding catastrophe that has
been overlooked for too long. But we ignore it at our
peril. This report is one of the first to highlight the
impacts of plastic pollution not just on wildlife but
also on the world’s poorest people.

Humankind’s ability to produce this material on an

industrial scale far outstrips our ability to manage
it, and as a consequence plastic is choking our rivers
and seas. This is particularly true in poorer countries,
where the ability to manage waste is inevitably
overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of plastic being
used. In turn, this is causing serious illness and even
death for countless people and wild species, as this
report outlines.

Of course, once plastic reaches the sea, it becomes

a global problem – no matter where it originates.
To tackle this pollution, therefore, we need to respond
at a global scale. We need leadership from those who
are responsible for introducing plastic to countries
where it cannot be adequately managed, and we need
© Gary Morrisroe/Fauna & Flora International
international action to support the communities and
governments most acutely affected by this crisis.

If there is one thing humans are adept at, it is finding clever solutions to the conundrums we face.
It is high time we turn our attention fully to one of the most pressing problems of today – averting
the plastic pollution crisis – not only for the health of our planet, but for the wellbeing of people
around the world.

Sir David Attenborough, Vice President, Fauna & Flora International

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE iii
iv NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 THREE SHOCKING STATISTICS

…the UK throws away
2 double-decker busloads
of plastic waste
EVERY

30
SECONDS

…30 double-decker busloads of plastic waste are

burned or dumped in developing countries

…one person dies from diseases

caused by mismanaged waste
Diseases such as diarrhoea, malaria,
heart disease and cancer. That’s up
to a million people every year.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE v
 CONTENTS

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................................3

INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................................12

PART 1 – THE PROBLEM

1 WASTE, PLASTICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT....................................................................16
1.1 The impact of plastic pollution on our oceans...........................................................................................16
1.2 The impact of plastic pollution on terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity.......................................19
1.3 The contribution of plastic pollution to climate change........................................................................ 20

2 WASTE, PLASTICS AND HEALTH....................................................................................................21

2.1 Health hazard: flooding caused by blocked waterways and drains.................................................... 22
2.2 Health hazard: breeding grounds for disease vectors............................................................................. 22
2.3 Health hazard: increased diarrhoeal disease............................................................................................. 24
2.4 Health hazard: air pollution through burning waste................................................................................25
2.5 Health hazard: landslides................................................................................................................................ 26
2.6 Health hazard: polluting water and soil, and entering the food chain............................................... 26

3 WASTE, PLASTICS AND LIVELIHOODS................................................................................... 27

3.1 The impact of plastic pollution on agricultural livelihoods.................................................................. 28
3.2 The impact of plastic pollution on fishing livelihoods............................................................................ 30
3.3 The impact of plastic pollution on livelihoods related to tourism.......................................................31

4 PLASTIC POLLUTION AND THE SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS)..................................................................................................... 32

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 1
 PART 2 – THE SOLUTION

5 WORKING WITH WASTE PICKERS.............................................................................................. 35

6 MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES AND PLASTIC POLLUTION..................................38

6.1 The ‘sachet economy’....................................................................................................................................... 39
6.2 Plastic PET bottles............................................................................................................................................. 40
6.3 Using their influence for good or ill?............................................................................................................41
6.4 Resisting regulation.......................................................................................................................................... 42
6.5 Tentative steps in the right direction?........................................................................................................ 43

7 HIGH-INCOME GOVERNMENTS, DONORS

AND PLASTIC POLLUTION.................................................................................................................46
7.1 Flawed, polluting models of economic growth........................................................................................ 46
7.2 Export of plastic waste.................................................................................................................................... 47
7.3 A weak response through aid......................................................................................................................... 47
7.4 Aid quality – what works?............................................................................................................................... 48
7.5 Aid quality – what doesn’t work?..................................................................................................................51

8 LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME GOVERNMENTS

AND PLASTIC POLLUTION................................................................................................................. 55
8.1 Limiting the worst forms of rubbish............................................................................................................. 56
8.2 Working with business..................................................................................................................................... 58
8.3 Setting up an inclusive framework for waste management.................................................................. 60
8.4 Accessing and mobilising funding................................................................................................................. 60

9 THE ROLE OF CITIZENS......................................................................................................................... 62

9.1 Holding companies and governments to account................................................................................... 63
9.2 Lifestyle: reducing single-use plastics......................................................................................................... 63

CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................................... 65

ANNEX: EXPLAINING OUR STATISTICS.................................................................................66

2 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This report describes the environmental destruction, sickness, mortality, and damage to
livelihoods that the plastic pollution crisis is causing. It outlines the problem – namely
the huge recent increase in the production and distribution of single-use plastics, and its
expansion across the globe to countries lacking the capacity to collect, manage and recycle
waste. And it spells out the solutions.

Current trajectories point to increased illness and unnecessary deaths, further harm to
livelihoods and greater destruction of our environment. But it doesn’t have to be this way.
In this report we outline the roles and responsibilities of four groups we believe to be key to
tackling the plastic pollution crisis:

•• multinational consumer goods companies who drive the production of single-use plastic
packaging, and currently do little to collect and sustainably manage the waste they
have created

•• developed country governments who have enabled and incentivised a ‘throwaway’

culture and whose response to the crisis in developing countries has so far been weak

•• developing1 country governments whose citizens are the most severely impacted by
the crisis

•• citizens who can show that there is an overwhelming demand for change.

The world’s plastic pollution problem

Plastic pollution is destroying our natural environment and harming the poorest people on the planet.
For every person born since the 1950s, one tonne of plastic has been produced and less than a tenth of this
has been recycled. Around half the amount of plastic waste we produce globally is packaging that is used
just once.

Production is on an upward curve: unless urgent action is taken, global plastic production will double over the
next ten to fifteen years. This growth is fastest in the countries least able to deal with it. Sub-Saharan African
countries’ overall waste generation is currently projected to triple by 2050.

The increasing usage of single-use plastics in developing countries is part of a bigger waste crisis: rising levels
of waste generation where there are inadequate or non-existent waste management systems (and both are
part of the bigger crisis of overconsumption). Two billion people lack access to properly regulated solid waste
collection – that’s one in four people globally – while a further one billion people don’t have controlled waste
disposal (their waste may be collected but it is then discarded somewhere unsafe). Without rubbish collection

1 In the executive summary of this report we use the terms ‘developing countries’ and ‘developed countries’. We recognise the limitations with these
terms – not least the wide range of economic circumstances included when grouping low-income, lower-middle income and upper-middle income
countries as ‘developing’ – but think that on balance these are the best terms to use in order to keep the language of the executive summary clear
and accessible. In the rest of the report we use the terms low-income, middle-income and high-income, because much of the analysis we have used
(for example from the World Bank) uses these descriptors for country groupings.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 3
 or proper disposal, people have no option but to burn or dump their waste. In the poorest countries, about
93 per cent of waste is burned or discarded in roads, open land, or waterways.

The impacts of plastic pollution are alarming.

Environmental destruction
Plastic pollution is threatening the health and future of our oceans and marine life. Some 8–12.7 million
tonnes of mismanaged post-consumer plastic waste ends up in the oceans every year. Once in the ocean,
plastic does not biodegrade, it simply breaks up into smaller and smaller pieces that are easily mistaken for
food. Animals that ingest plastic suffer from choking, perforation of the gut, starvation (as a result of a false
feeling of fullness) and reduced feeding, growth and reproduction.

The ingestion of plastic by marine animals also introduces hazardous substances into marine food chains,
potentially concentrating and passing toxins up the food chain from prey to predator. A range of marine
species face the added risk of becoming entangled in larger plastic debris items.

On land, plastic litters fields, waterways, hedgerows and trees across the globe. Piles of plastic pollution
and waste release a toxic liquid runoff called leachate, which can contaminate soil and groundwater, and
plastic also poses significant ingestion, choking and entanglement hazards to wildlife. There is evidence to
suggest that the impacts of microplastics on freshwater animals can be as diverse and harmful as those for
marine species.

Plastic pollution is also contributing to climate change. While global plastic production emits 400 million
tonnes of greenhouse gases each year (more than the UK’s total carbon footprint), according to the World
Bank solid waste was responsible for a further five per cent of global emissions in 2016. The true figure may
be much higher: emissions from backyard burning of waste are not included in most current emissions
inventories, despite research revealing that in several developing countries they dwarf all other sources of
carbon emissions combined.

A woman and her baby with burning rubbish behind her in the Mocuba District of Mozambique. Photo: Ralph Hodgson/Tearfund

4 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 A public health emergency

The river Tejipio, in Recife, Brazil, is clogged with plastic waste. Tearfund partner, Instituto Solidare, have a project called ‘clean river,
healthy city’, which is working to clean up the river. Photo: Moises Lucas Lopes da Silva/Tearfund

Plastic pollution is creating a growing public health emergency in many towns and cities around the world.
New research by Tearfund suggests that between 400,000 and 1 million people die each year in developing
2
countries because of diseases related to mismanaged waste. At the upper end that is one person every
30 seconds. Mismanaged waste, including plastics, harms people’s health in developing countries in the
following ways:
•• It blocks waterways and drains, which causes flooding, resulting in waterborne diseases and death
by drowning.
•• It creates a breeding ground for disease-carrying flies, mosquitos and vermin. Mosquitoes spread malaria
and dengue. Flies carry and transmit a number of diseases such as typhoid fever and tuberculosis, while
rats spread rabies and plague.
•• It doubles the incidence of diarrhoeal disease for people living among mismanaged waste. Diarrhoeal
disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old.
•• It is openly burnt, releasing pollutants that increase the risk of diseases such as heart disease and cancer,
respiratory ailments, skin and eye diseases, nausea and headaches, and damage to the reproductive and
nervous systems. Outdoor air pollution is responsible for 3.7 million deaths a year, and recent estimates
suggest that open burning could be responsible for as much as a fifth of this death toll.
•• It poses direct risks to life through large informal dumpsites. In 2017, landslides at waste dumps
accounted for more than 150 known deaths.
•• It pollutes water and soil and enters the food chain. Much of the plastic in water and on land
disintegrates into tiny pieces. Microplastic is entering the food chain and being ingested by humans.
The health impacts of this are as yet unknown.

2 This includes all types of municipal solid waste – organic, paper, cardboard, metals, glass and plastics.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 5
 Livelihoods harmed
Plastic pollution is also damaging livelihoods and curtailing growth in developing countries. The United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that the economic costs (eg revenue losses to fisheries,
aquaculture, and marine tourism industries) associated with ocean-based consumer plastic pollution alone
amounts to 13 billion USD every year.

Plastic pollution damages agricultural livelihoods. Studies have found that in developing countries up to a
third of cattle and half of the goat population have consumed significant amounts of plastic. When plastic is
swallowed by animals it does not decompose in their digestive tracts. It leads to bloating, a host of adverse
health effects, and eventually death by starvation. This has dire economic consequences for farmers.

Plastic pollution damages fishing livelihoods. As many as 820 million people directly and indirectly rely on
fisheries as a source of income to support food security. Despite this, very little research has been conducted
to assess the impact of plastic pollution on fishing communities.

Plastic pollution represents an existential threat to livelihoods related to tourism. Communities that
depend on coral reef-related tourism are particularly vulnerable to plastic pollution. According to UNEP, at
least 275 million people depend directly on reefs for livelihoods and sustenance.

A wake up call: it’s time to act

Plastic pollution has a direct impact on over half of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); they
simply won’t be met without tackling the crisis. Urgent action is needed to address the drivers of single-use
plastic pollution upstream – ie the generation of plastic packaging – and downstream in the collection and
management of plastic waste. This crisis is complex, but if all those who hold responsibility take the required
action, it can be tackled. This report identifies four groups of stakeholders who have a role to play in tackling
the plastic pollution crisis. Primary responsibility lies squarely with multinational corporations (MNCs) and
developed country governments. However, we also highlight the important roles of two other groups. While
developing country governments and citizens around the world have done less to create the problem, they are
an important part of the solution.

The important role of waste pickers

In many places lacking formal waste collection and management systems, waste pickers often
play an important role in sorting and recycling waste. These groups can exhibit high levels
of entrepreneurship, resilience and ingenuity. However, their work is informal and they face
considerable challenges including unhealthy conditions, lack of social security or health insurance
and social marginalisation. The work itself is also extremely hazardous. In several countries,
initiatives working with waste pickers and supporting them have resulted in a dramatic expansion
in waste collection as well as improving their livelihoods, workplace safety and sense of dignity.
In considering the solutions to the plastic pollution crisis, it is vital that any waste management
initiatives treat waste pickers as a major stakeholder, and seek to work in partnership with them.

6 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 Urgent action is needed to tackle the waste crisis. Photo: Hazel Thompson/Tearfund

Multinational consumer goods companies

Multinational consumer goods companies carry most responsibility for the plastic waste crisis, driving the
production of single-use plastic packaging and doing little to collect and sustainably manage the waste they
have created. A small number of companies dominate the market in fast-moving consumer goods both in
the UK and overseas. Coca-Cola, for example, sells more drinks in South Africa than in the UK, and more in
India than any country in Europe. And these companies are keen to continue expanding in emerging markets.
However, evidence – including several waste and brand audits, and Tearfund and WasteAid’s Survey on the
impacts of plastic pollution on poverty – suggests that they are high on the list of plastic polluters.

Over the decades, the big MNCs have moved away from reusable and recyclable packaging towards a
throw-away modeI. These products are pushed into countries where there is little or no capacity to collect
or manage waste. As a result, large quantities of plastic end up blocking drains, producing toxic fumes in
backyard bonfires or choking the environment.

Some elements of industry have also resisted legislative efforts to hold them responsible for the waste they
create, for example by withstanding government-led ‘Extended Producer Responsibility’ (EPR), which requires
manufacturers and retailers to pay for the costs of managing their products at the end of their life (Deposit
Return Schemes are an example of this).

However, in recent years, as public attitudes towards plastic pollution are changing, governments have been
emboldened to legislate. And MNCs – at least in their rhetoric – have also started to acknowledge that there
is a problem, making a series of new voluntary commitments to address single-use plastic pollution, such as
the New Plastics Economy Global Commitment launched in October 2018. Some of these initiatives are a
step forward and may represent a willingness for companies to use their global influence for good. However,
the commitments are relatively vague and weak and tend to focus on recycling rather than reducing the
usage of single-use plastics. And while some companies have disclosed their global annual plastic footprint
in volumes as part of the Global Commitment, we urgently need to see a country by country disclosure on
the number of units sold, so that we can see the scale of the problem and the progress that is being made
in developing countries. How do we know if companies are changing practice if we don’t know how much
plastic they are producing? Far stronger action is needed by MNCs to break the link between plastics and

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 7
 poverty and stem the flood of plastic filling the oceans. MNCs cannot and should not wait for governments to
legislate: they have the capacity, resources and systems to take action now.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Multinational corporations should:

•• report, by 2020, on the number of units of single-use plastic products they use and sell
in each country

•• reduce this amount by half, country by country, by 2025, and instead use
environmentally sustainable delivery methods like refillable or reusable containers

•• recycle the single-use plastics they sell in developing countries, ensuring that by 2022
one is collected for every one sold, as part of adequate systems for collection, re-use,
recycling and composting in communities that currently lack these systems3

•• restore dignity through working in partnership with waste pickers to create safe jobs.
Around the world, there are numerous examples of companies partnering with waste
pickers to establish collection and recycling systems that are good for society and
the environment.

•• reimagine the way their products are delivered. Innovate and explore business models
that won’t harm people, the earth or the ocean.

Developed country governments

Developed country governments are also a key part of the problem. Plastic pollution is a consequence
of the take-make-dispose model of economic development birthed and exported by developed countries.
Plastics use is also driven by subsidy: virgin plastic is made from crude oil and natural gas, and fossil fuel
industries receive huge subsidies that depress the price of plastic. Many developed country governments
have not done enough to date (for example in the form of bans, regulations and laws) to combat the
problem of plastic pollution.

Furthermore, for years many developed countries, faced with the problem of too much plastic waste, too
little capacity to recycle and a lack of demand for recycled plastic, have exported the problem to poorer
countries as a key strategy to deal with domestic post-consumer waste. At present, there is no mechanism
for source countries to be held accountable for the impacts of plastic waste exported for recycling to other
countries, particularly to countries less able to manage waste.

Developed countries’ response to the crisis in developing countries has also been weak. Solid waste
management has not been a priority for international aid – only 0.3 per cent of Official Development
Assistance (ODA) is spent on waste management.

However, ODA in this area represents a huge and largely untapped opportunity to accelerate progress
towards the SDGs.

3 MNCs often argue that governments must be involved for collection systems to function effectively, but experience in South Africa demonstrates
that this is not the case. Effective industry-led EPR schemes have been established for tin cans, glass and PET by the relevant industries, dramatically
increasing collection rates – see chapter 8.

8 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 RECOMMENDATIONS

Developed country governments should:

•• phase out the use of fossil fuel subsidies, including fiscal support and public finance,
which help drive the increasing production of virgin plastic

•• increase the volume of aid for waste management from 0.3 per cent to 3 per cent,
which could allow all 2 billion people currently without waste collection to be
reached. ODA should focus on building government capacity to reduce the generation
of unnecessary single-use plastic packaging, and to extending waste collection and
management services to all.

•• avoid investment in ‘white elephant’ projects in developing countries, such as

incineration, that threaten waste picker livelihoods, are not suited to waste streams
with high organic content and require high levels of institutional capacity to
manage effectively

•• prioritise technical assistance to developing country governments to:

– develop and implement legal and fiscal measures to ban or reduce unnecessary,
problematic, and non-recyclable plastic
– implement locally appropriate EPR schemes to ensure businesses benefiting from
single-use plastic contribute to its management
– improve waste management governance and the enabling environment for effective
waste management
– scale up contextually relevant community-based recycling approaches

•• ensure that export of domestic waste from their nations is minimised and, where any
residual plastic waste is exported, that appropriate recycling facilities are in place in the
receiving countries

•• support developing countries to develop national strategies for plastics and waste, with
goals and policy instruments for each area of the waste hierarchy. This should include
support for dedicated plastics action plans to prevent pollution and help reduce the
production of problematic, non-essential and nonrecyclable plastics.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 9
 Developing country governments
Developing country governments have a key role to play both upstream in regulating the plastic produced
and used in-country, and downstream in ensuring sustainable waste management. Developing country
governments have often lacked resources, but it’s also fair to say that waste management often hasn’t been
a priority. This is beginning to change and many of the solutions are being pioneered in the Global South,
by the nations and communities most affected by this crisis. For example a growing number of countries
including Rwanda and Kenya have bans or taxes in place for single-use plastic bags, with many introduced
in the last three years. There are also examples – such as in South Africa – of successful EPR schemes where
governments have worked with businesses to increase their responsibility for collecting and processing the
waste they create.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Developing country governments should:

•• set out a national strategy for plastics and waste, with goals and policy instruments for
each area of the waste hierarchy

•• limit the worst forms of single-use plastic and incentivise innovative product design that
reduces plastic use

•• work with businesses to ramp up their responsibility for collecting and processing the
waste they create (EPR) and require them to publish data on the amount of plastic
packaging they are distributing

•• set up an inclusive framework for waste management, which should:

– clarify the roles of government agencies, local government, businesses, and society,
and set out measures to promote transparency and accountability
– partner with informal waste pickers, providing the instruments and technical support
required for local government to contract with these groups and offering support for
waste pickers to organise together as associations and cooperatives
– include mechanisms for local communities to monitor and become involved in
waste collection

•• increase the political and financial resources available for waste management at both
municipal and national level and work with donors to allocate more funding to this area.
The focus should be on pioneering low-cost, inclusive solutions (as several nations are
already doing).

10 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 Citizens
Citizens also have a role to play, using their voices and actions to persuade governments and companies to
make the changes outlined in this report.

Lifestyle actions that reduce single-use plastics will help reduce the generation of plastic waste. By making
changes and talking about them, social norms can be changed, which also opens up political space for
governments and multinational businesses to act.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Citizens should:

•• hold companies and governments to account for their responsibilities in tackling the
plastic pollution crisis, starting by signing up to support Tearfund’s campaign, which
asks MNCs to take responsibility for the plastic they produce in developing countries
– www.tearfund.org/rubbishcampaign

•• write to their elected representative (in the UK via www.writetothem.com) telling them
their concerns regarding plastic waste and asking them to take action

•• take part in community initiatives to tackle plastic waste, such as community litter
collections or local beach clean-ups

•• reduce usage of single-use plastics where possible, for example by:

– using a reusable water bottle, reusable shopping bags and reusable cup when buying
hot drinks ‘on the go’
– cutting out non-essential items like cotton buds, glitter, plastic cups, plates and
cutlery, and plastic straws4
– buying groceries and toiletries with less or no packaging where possible, eg loose
vegetables rather than those packaged in plastic, unwrapped soap etc5
– buying from ethical companies who are committed (genuinely) to reduce plastic use

4 The exception being people with particular disabilities that require the use of straws.
5 Bio-based, ‘biodegradable’ or compostable plastics are not a solution to the plastic pollution crisis as they present similar risks to the environment as
conventional plastics and can propagate linear material flows that undermine the transition to a circular economy.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 11
 INTRODUCTION

‘Plastic pollution is poisoning our oceans and land, injuring marine life, and
affecting our health. We can see plastics floating in our rivers, ocean, and lagoons,
littering our landscapes and affecting our health, and the future of billions of
children and youths.’
Idara, Nigeria6

The world’s plastic pollution problem

7
Plastic pollution is out of control and the poorest people and the ecosystems on which we all depend are
paying the price.
8
Plastic is everywhere. An estimated 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic has been produced since the 1950s.
9
That’s one tonne for each of us born within the same timeframe. Approximately 80 per cent has ended up in
10
landfills, the oceans, loose in the environment, or openly burnt. Less than a tenth has been recycled.

Around half the amount of plastic waste we produce globally is packaging material that is discarded after just
11
one use.

Production is on an upwards curve. While plastic has been manufactured since the early 20th century, its
recent growth has been phenomenal. Around half of the plastic ever manufactured was produced in the past
12 13
15 years, and the world is now producing over 400 million tonnes of plastic every year. The projections are
alarming: global plastic production is set to double over the next ten to fifteen years and this will inevitably
14
continue to outpace and overwhelm any waste management systems put in place.

Plastics growth is fastest in the countries least able to deal with it. Traditionally, plastic has been a relatively
small component of waste generated in low- and middle-income countries. But this is changing fast. The
plastic-dominated supply chain and packaging model – which originated in high-income countries – is being
expanded throughout the rest of the world. According to the World Bank, municipal solid waste in low- and
15
middle-income countries contains around 6.4 and 11 per cent respectively by weight of plastics although

6
The quotes provided at the beginning of each chapter are taken from Tearfund and WasteAid’s Survey on the impacts of plastic pollution on poverty, a
survey of development practitioners from across the globe. We have not used respondents’ real names.
7 In this report we focus mostly on single-use plastic packaging. We have deliberately chosen not to include the impacts of other plastics for example,
microplastic beads (such as those used in cosmetics) or microfibres (such as those released from synthetic clothing). While these undoubtedly add to
the plastic pollution crisis, particularly in the marine environment, the focus of this report is on the links between environmental harm and the harm
caused to people who are poor and vulnerable. Because of this, we have chosen to limit the scope of the report to plastic waste within municipal solid
waste, which is mostly caused by single-use plastic packaging.
8 Geyer R et al (2017) ‘Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made’, Science Advances 3 (7). http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/
e1700782
9 According to the Population Reference Bureau, 8,425,614,944 people were born between 1950 and 2017. https://www.prb.org/
howmanypeoplehaveeverlivedonearth
10 Geyer R et al (2017) ‘Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made’, Science Advances 3 (7). http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/3/7/
e1700782
11 UNEP (2018) Single-use plastics: a roadmap for sustainability. https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25496
12 Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development, p118. Washington, DC: World Bank.
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317
13 UNEP (2018) Single-use plastics: a roadmap for sustainability. https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25496
14 Ibid.
15 Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development, p30. Washington, DC: World Bank.
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317

12 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 16
other studies suggest a range more in the region of 10 to 20 per cent. These figures are significant because
of the low density of plastic packaging: plastic is a very lightweight material (in particular flexible packaging
such as bags and packets). For such a low density material to be contributing 10 to 20 per cent of the overall
weight of unmanaged waste, the proportion and volume of plastic items within the total waste is very high.

The increasing usage of single-use plastics in low- and middle-income countries is part of a bigger waste
crisis; the problem of escalating waste generation in many cities is compounded by inadequate or non-
existent waste management systems. People in high-income countries are shielded from the negative impact
of plastic pollution by regular bin collections. However, 2 billion people in low- or middle-income countries
don’t have access to properly regulated solid waste collection (bin collections) – all they can do with their
17
waste is burn it or dump it. A further one billion people don’t have controlled waste disposal (in other
18
words, their waste may be collected but it is then discarded somewhere unsafe). Waste is growing fastest in
sub‑Saharan Africa where the total quantity of waste generated is expected to increase by more than three
19
times by 2050.

According to the World Bank, in low-income countries about 93 per cent of waste is burned or discarded in
roads, open land, or waterways. This is in stark comparison to high-income countries, where only two per cent
20
of waste is dumped.

Things look extremely bleak if the world continues with business as usual.

Community member in the Coqueiral neighbourhood of Recife, Brazil, whose house regularly floods due to waste blocking the river and
more frequent rains. Photo: Moises Lucas Lopes da Silva/Tearfund

16 Miezah K et al (2015) ‘Municipal solid waste characterization and quantification as a measure towards effective waste management in Ghana’,
Waste Management, 46 (Dec 2015), pp15-27. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26421480
Zia A et al (2017) ‘Influence of income level and seasons on quantity and composition of municipal solid waste: a case study of the capital city of
Pakistan’, Sustainability, 9 (9), 1568. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/9/1568/pdf
17 UNEP/ISWA (2015) Global waste management outlook. http://web.unep.org/ourplanet/september-2015/unep-publications/global-waste-
management-outlook
18 Ibid.
19 Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development, p17. Washington, DC: World Bank.
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317
20 Ibid.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 13
 Not all plastic is problematic
It is important to acknowledge the benefits of some plastics. Plastic has played – and continues
to play – a vital role in ensuring access to modern medicine. It has enabled some communities
to access clean water. Plastic preserves and protects food, and so can play a role in reducing food
waste. It has facilitated the development of many of our domestic household appliances, and has
21
helped reduce energy costs by making products more lightweight.

However, in our non-circular economies, the pollution caused by so-called ‘disposable’, single-use
plastics is destroying the environment and harming health and livelihoods. The vast majority of
single-use plastic produced is completely unnecessary. While some plastic can theoretically be
recycled, such as PET (polyethylene terephthalate) which is used for soft drink bottles, even in a
high-income country such as the UK the capacity to recycle is far below the capacity that’s needed.
This means that the UK exports its recyclable plastic elsewhere. What’s more, many plastics used
today are not designed for recovery and recycling, such as sachets and films.

This report starts by describing the impacts of the plastic pollution crisis on the environment, public health,
and livelihoods, and then outlines the responsibilities of four key stakeholder groups. Actions are needed
that address the drivers of single-use plastic pollution both upstream (generation of plastic packaging) and
downstream (collection and management of plastic waste). Multinational consumer goods companies hold
major responsibility for the plastic waste crisis in low- and middle-income countries, driving the production
of single-use plastic packaging and doing little to collect and sustainably manage the waste they have
created. High-income country governments are also a key part of the problem. The economic systems
promoted and supported by these governments have provided an enabling environment that has allowed
MNCs’ polluting ‘throwaway’ business models to prosper. And their response to the crisis in low- and
middle‑income countries has been weak.

While MNCs and high-income governments hold primary responsibility, low- and middle-income country
governments, whose citizens are the most severely impacted by the crisis, also have an important role to
play. And finally we look at the role of citizens in holding companies and governments to account through
campaigning and living out the changes they are calling for through lifestyle and consumption changes.

21 See Eliminating avoidable plastic waste by 2042: a use-based approach to decision and policy making, Resources Futures and Nextek. Published at the
Resourcing the Future Conference, June 2018, https://bit.ly/2I6qFoU. This report helpfully categorises plastic according to the length of time a given
plastic item is used for its intended purpose.

14 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
CASE STUDY 1
Pakistan

Rubina* lives with her husband and three children in Islamabad, Pakistan. She works in three households,
cleaning, cooking and ironing before coming home to her own family. Her community faces huge challenges
because of a lack of solid waste management. The waste is simply thrown out on the edges of the community
and regularly set alight in an attempt to get rid of it. This causes a lot of respiratory problems and Rubina’s
son Javed, who has severe disabilities, is particularly prone. Rubina regularly has to take him by taxi to the
hospital because his breathing is so bad. ‘He has severe breathing problem,’ she says. ‘He feels pain because
of the smoke and has an allergy to the soil. I take him to the hospital where he has oxygen. Otherwise, I boil
water and the steam helps him.’

Her younger son (Tariq), aged four, has also suffered consequences from the rubbish. A year ago he was
playing near the rubbish when some other children picked up some sort of chemical waste and rubbed it on
his face, causing burns. He has also cut his hand on broken glass, requiring stitches. Rubina explains:
‘I came back from my job one day and he was sitting outside weeping. There was a harmful waste thrown
in the rubbish and his face was burnt by it. He was feeling a lot of pain and his lips were swollen. I took him
immediately to the hospital. I can’t tell you how much his face was burnt. It took him more than a whole
month to recover.’

* Names have been changed for privacy purposes.

Photo: Hazel Thompson/Tearfund

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 15
 PART 1
THE PROBLEM

1 WASTE, PLASTICS AND THE ENVIRONMENT

‘Plastic is mostly washed into the lake, affecting aquatic animals; and in soil,
causing erosion and land degradation.’
Isaac, Kenya

The plastic pollution crisis is having a huge impact on the natural environment. In this chapter, we explore
this in more depth. A large body of research has shown the impact of plastic pollution on the ocean, to which
mismanaged waste is a major contributor, and we address this first. But plastic pollution is also known to have
impacts on terrestrial wildlife, soils and freshwater systems, and both plastic production and plastic pollution
are contributing to climate change. We look at these impacts in turn.

1.1 The impact of plastic pollution on our oceans

Plastic pollution is threatening the health and future of our oceans and marine life. Of all the damage being
caused by the plastic crisis, this is the area that has received most recognition in recent years. In 2017, the
BBC’s Blue Planet II documentary series brought the enormity of the problem to the attention of millions.

The scale of ocean plastic pollution is frightening and plastic waste is a major contributor. Globally, some
22
8–12.7 million tonnes of mismanaged post-consumer plastic waste ends up in the oceans every year. Over
90 per cent of marine plastics come from land-based sources (rather than illegal waste dumping from boats
23
at sea or commercial fishing activity) including mismanaged dumps and landfills. And it is thought that
mismanaged municipal solid waste in developing countries accounts for 50–70 per cent by weight of plastics
24
entering the oceans.
25
Plastics have been accumulating in the marine environment over the past four decades. Once in the ocean,
plastic can travel thousands of miles, carried by ocean currents. It has been found in all marine habitats as
well as the most remote places on earth. Systems of strong ocean currents, known as ‘gyres’, concentrate
huge amounts of plastic debris in six so-called ‘garbage patches’ around the world, the largest one being in
26
the North Pacific. The gyres are not just circulating mounds of plastic, but in fact represent a dense smog of
microplastic particles throughout the water column.

22 Jambeck J et al (2015) ‘Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean’, Science, vol. 347 (6223), pp768–771. https://science.sciencemag.org/content/
347/6223/768
23 CIWM and WasteAid (2018) From the land to the sea: how better solid waste management can improve the lives of the world’s poorest and halve the
quantity of plastic entering the oceans. https://wasteaid.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/From-the-Land-to-the-Sea.pdf
24 Ibid.
25 Wright S et al (2013) ‘The physical impacts of microplastics on marine organisms: a review’, Environmental Bulletin, 178, pp483–492.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23545014
26 Van Sebille E et al (2012) ‘Origin, dynamics and evolution of ocean garbage patches from observed surface drifters’, IOP Science, Environmental
Research Letters, vol. 7 (4). https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/7/4/044040

16 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 Dead sea turtle among ocean plastic waste. Photo: iStock.com/Nevodka

The conditions of the marine environment cause plastic to break up into smaller and smaller pieces that are
27
easily ingested by marine animals, who can mistake them for food.

More than 180 species of marine animals including mammals, birds, fish and invertebrates have been found
28
to have ingested plastic. A study in the Polynesian island countries of the South Pacific assessed the plastic
29
ingestion by fish common in the diet of South Pacific island inhabitants. The study examined 932 specimens
from 34 commercial fish species across four South Pacific locations. Plastic was found in 33 of the 34 species.
A recent study of marine mammals washed up on Britain’s shores found microplastics in the guts of every
30
animal examined.

When animals ingest plastic serious problems can occur, such as choking, perforation of the gut, and even
starvation as a result of ‘pseudo-satiation’ (a false feeling of fullness). Eating small pieces of plastic known as
31
microplastics (less than 5mm in size) can also lead to reduced feeding, growth and reproduction.

A further, less visible but potentially devastating, impact of marine plastic pollution is the introduction of
hazardous substances into marine food chains. Plastic particles in the ocean, especially microplastics, are
known to release toxic chemicals, including additives such as bi-phenols. At the same time they attract and
concentrate environmental pollutants already in the seawater, such as pesticides. Plastics have been shown
32
to transfer these harmful substances to the animals that eat them, potentially concentrating and passing
33
toxins up the food chain from prey to predator. This poses risks of significantly higher concentrations of
pollutants in animals further up the food chain. The potential build-up of toxins in marine life also raises

27 UNEP (2015) Biodegradable plastics and marine litter: misconceptions, concerns and impacts on marine environments.
https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/7468
28 Nurdle Free Oceans, Reducing plastic pollution in our seas. https://www.nurdlehunt.org.uk/whats-the-problem/eaten-by-animals.html [accessed
21 March 2019]
29 Markic A et al (2018) ‘Double trouble in the South Pacific subtropical gyre: increased plastic ingestion by fish in the oceanic accumulation zone’,
Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol. 136, pp547–564. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30509840
30 Nelms S et al (2019) ‘Microplastics in marine mammals stranded around the British coast: ubiquitous but transitory?’, Scientific Reports, 9 (1075).
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-37428-3
31 Thiel M et al (2018) ‘Impacts of marine plastic pollution from continental coasts to subtropical gyres – fish, seabirds, and other vertebrates in the SE
Pacific’, Frontiers in Marine Science, 5 (238). DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2018.00238
32 Tanaka K et al (2013) ‘Accumulation of plastic-derived chemicals in tissues of seabirds ingesting marine plastics’, Marine pollution bulletin, 69 (1-2),
pp219–222. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23298431
33 Farrell P and Nelson K (2013) ‘Trophic level transfer of microplastic: Mytilus edulis (L.) to Carcinus maenas (L.)’, Environmental Pollution, 177, pp1–3.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23434827

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 17
 concerns about human health impacts, particularly for the 3 billion people who depend on the oceans as
34
their primary source of protein.

A range of marine species including whales, dolphins, turtles and birds face the added risk of becoming
entangled in larger plastic debris items such as discarded fishing nets, plastic bags or plastic six-pack rings
used for drinks packaging. A survey of entangled turtles showed that over 90 per cent died as a result of their
entanglement. The turtles that survived often experienced serious wounds from entanglement, which led to
35
maiming, amputation or choking. Others were forced to drag discarded rubbish or debris with them.

Plastic pollution has also been shown to have potentially far-reaching impacts on coral reefs. One study
assessed the influence of plastic waste on disease risk in 124,000 reef-building corals from 159 reefs in the
Asia-Pacific region. The likelihood of disease increases from 4 per cent to 89 per cent when corals are in
contact with plastic. This is due to plastic waste hosting and facilitating the proliferation of pathogens that are
36
known to trigger disease outbreaks.

In addition to the impacts of larger plastic items on corals’ susceptibility to disease, scientific experiments
have also demonstrated the potential impacts of microplastics that corals mistake for prey and can consume
at the same rate as their natural food. This is particularly concerning because ingested microplastics have
37
been discovered wrapped in the corals’ internal tissues, which could harm their health.

These impacts threaten the long-term viability of reef ecosystems including reef-based fisheries, which
are important for coastal communities. We discuss this impact on livelihoods in chapter 3. The scale of the
problem is alarming. An estimated 11.1 billion plastic items could be entangled on coral reefs across the Asia-
38
Pacific, with a projected increase of 40 per cent by 2025.

A plastic bag on a coral reef. Photo: iStock.com/Velvetfish

34 United Nations. https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/oceans [accessed March 2019]

35 University of Exeter (2017) ‘Marine turtles dying after becoming entangled in plastic rubbish’, Science Daily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/
releases/2017/12/171218154235.htm
36 Lamb J et al (2018) ‘Plastic waste associated with disease on coral reefs’, Science, 359 (6374), pp460–462. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/
sci/359/6374/460.full.pdf
37 Hall N et al (2015) ‘Microplastic ingestion by scleractinian corals’, Marine Biology, 162 (725). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-015-2619-7
38 Lamb J et al (2018) ‘Plastic waste associated with disease on coral reefs’, Science, 359 (6374), pp460–462. http://science.sciencemag.org/content/
sci/359/6374/460.full.pdf

18 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 1.2 The impact of plastic pollution on terrestrial and
freshwater biodiversity
Plastic pollution is also wreaking havoc on land as plastic litters fields, waterways, hedgerows and trees
across the globe. Some plastics are extremely persistent in the environment with studies suggesting that
39
certain plastics can take thousands of years to decompose in the environment. This contaminates soil
and water and poses significant ingestion, choking and entanglement hazards to wildlife on land, and in
freshwater systems as well as in the ocean. There is evidence suggesting that the impacts of microplastics on
40
freshwater animals can be as diverse and harmful as those for marine species. According to recent studies,
microplastics in terrestrial environments could affect animals that play a major role in key ecosystem
41
processes, such as soil organisms or plant pollinators. The transfer of plastic debris along food chains
42
has also been demonstrated for terrestrial systems, which could have implications for human health
(see chapter 2).

Plastic pollution in Guatemala. Photo: Juan Pablo Moreiras/Fauna & Flora International

43
It is estimated that one third of all plastic waste ends up in soils or freshwater. When plastic sits in water it
44
can release harmful chemicals, creating a liquid leachate that can drain into rivers, groundwater and soil.
45
This can cause a range of potentially harmful effects on the species that drink the water. The potential
impacts of this on human health are discussed in chapter 2.

39 UNEP (2018) Single-use plastics: a roadmap for sustainability, p12. https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25496

40 Eerkes-Medrano D et al (2015) ‘Microplastics in freshwater systems: a review of the emerging threats, identification of knowledge gaps and
prioritisation of research needs’, Water Research (75), pp63-82. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0043135415000858
41 Machado A et al (2018) ‘Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems’, Global Change Biology DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14020
42 Lwanga E et al (2017) ‘Field evidence for transfer of plastic debris along a terrestrial food chain’, Scientific Reports 7 (14071). https://www.nature.com/
articles/s41598-017-14588-2
43 Machado A et al (2018) ‘Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems’, Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14020
44 Akinbile C and Mohd S (2011) ‘Environmental Impact of leachate pollution on groundwater supplies in Akure, Nigeria’, International Journal of
Environmental Science and Development 2 (1), pp81–86. http://www.ijesd.org/papers/101-F10106.pdf. Cited in Kaza S et al (2018) What a Waste 2.0:
A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050, Urban Development. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317
45 Machado A et al (2018) ‘Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems’, Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14020

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 19
 1.3 The contribution of plastic pollution to climate change
As well as impacting directly upon biodiversity in our oceans and on land, plastic pollution is also contributing
to climate change, which in turn causes further harm to biodiversity and ecosystems.

Emissions from plastic production

46
Global plastic production emits 400 million tonnes of greenhouses gases each year. This is huge – more than
47
the UK’s total carbon footprint. If the growth of plastic production continues at the current rate, by 2050 the
48
plastic industry could account for 20 per cent of the world’s total oil consumption.

Emissions from plastic waste

The problem of emissions does not end once the plastic is produced. Plastic waste is also contributing to
climate change. Plastic comprises a growing proportion of solid waste; and according to the World Bank,
solid waste was responsible for 1.6 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions estimated for 2016 – about
five per cent of global emissions – and these figures are anticipated to increase to 2.6 billion tonnes by 2050
49
if no improvements are made in the sector.

However, the figure may be much higher as there are several sources of greenhouse gases not included in
assessments of emissions from waste.

A recent groundbreaking study has shown that plastic releases the greenhouse gases methane and ethylene
50
when exposed to sunlight. This is a previously unaccounted-for source of greenhouse gases and a source that
51
is expected to increase as more plastic is produced and accumulated in the environment.

Furthermore, emissions from open burning of waste are not included in most current emissions inventories.
Standard assessments consider the emissions from inadequate waste collection systems, disposal in open
dumps, and landfills without landfill gas collection systems, but not from open burning of waste, even though
52
these emissions are among the most significant in low- and middle-income countries.

Recent research shows that in several low-income countries these emissions far exceed all other sources of
53
carbon emissions combined, and are thus much more important than previously thought. For example, in
Comoros, Chad, Rwanda and the Solomon Islands the estimated CO2 emissions from open waste burning
54
range between three and four times higher than the reported anthropogenic CO2 emissions. In Mali and
55
Burundi, the figure is around five times higher.

46 Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2016) The New Plastics Economy. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/

EllenMacArthurFoundation_TheNewPlasticsEconomy_Pages.pdf
47 The UK’s total net CO2 emissions in 2017 was 367 million tonnes. Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (2018) 2017 UK
Greenhouse gas emissions, provisional figures. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/
file/695930/2017_Provisional_Emissions_statistics_2.pdf [accessed 21 March 2019]
48 World Economic Forum (2016) The New Plastics Economy: rethinking the future of plastics, cited in UNEP (2018) Single-use plastics: a roadmap for
sustainability. https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25496
49 Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development, p118. Washington, DC: World Bank.
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317
50 Royer S-J et al (2018) ‘Production of methane and ethylene from plastic in the environment’, PLoS ONE 13 (8). https://doi.org/10.1371/
journal.pone.0200574
51 Ibid.
52 Wiedinmyer C et al (2014) ‘Global emissions of trace gases, particulate matter, and hazardous air pollutants from open burning of domestic waste’,
Environmental Science and Technology, 48 (16), pp9523–9530. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25019173
53 Ibid. See the supplementary tables, Sheet S5. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/suppl/10.1021/es502250z [accessed 21 March 2019]
54 Ibid.
55 Mali 4.7; Burundi 5.2

20 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 2 WASTE, PLASTICS AND HEALTH

‘Plastic waste causes serious flooding, air pollution and disease.’

David, Cameroon

‘There are many health impacts [of mismanaged waste], especially for children.
Dengue fever, leishmaniasis, chikungunya, microcephaly, respiratory diseases, lots
of viruses. It’s much worse in flooded regions, where dirty water provides mosquito
breeding grounds. Rat urine also spreads disease: it’s a big crisis.’
Maria, Brazil

Plastic pollution is creating a growing public health emergency in many towns and cities around the world,
and the poorest and most vulnerable people are most at risk. The impacts of unmanaged waste on human
health have been less publicised than the environmental impacts, but they are equally devastating. At least
30 diseases can be associated with uncollected waste, of which plastic is a growing component. Several
56
of these diseases are primary causes of death and sickness in low- and middle-income countries. Indeed,
new research by Tearfund suggests that between 400,000 and 1 million people die each year in low- and
57
middle-income countries because of diseases related to mismanaged waste. At the upper end, that is one
person every 30 seconds.

In this chapter, we explore the health impacts of the plastic and waste crisis in more detail. We highlight five
core ways the health and lives of billions of poor and vulnerable people – particularly children – are put at risk
by mismanaged household waste. We also highlight a sixth potential health hazard, which is potentially huge,
but as yet little understood: the introduction of microplastics into the food chain.

Many communities in low- and middle-income countries have no safe way to manage their waste. Photo: Hazel Thompson/Tearfund

56 Brewer T (2018) Tearfund Literature Review on mismanaged solid waste and health impacts. Unpublished
57 See the Annex for the methodology behind this statistic.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 21
 A drainage channel blocked with plastic waste, Brazil. Photo: Moises Lucas Lopes da Silva/Tearfund

2.1 Health hazard: flooding caused by blocked waterways

and drains
Plastic pollution is notorious for blocking waterways and drains in low- and middle-income countries,
causing flooding. When combined with inadequate sanitation services, these floods can quickly lead to severe
outbreaks of cholera and other diarrhoeal diseases, as well as causing drowning and damage to property (with
knock-on health effects).
58
As long ago as 1988, vast tracts of Bangladesh were submerged by floods attributed to plastic waste.
59
Since then, areas of Uganda, West Africa and India have all had similar experiences. The damage caused by
such floods can be significant. For example in 2011, floods in Accra, Ghana, caused by blocked waterways,
60
damaged 17,000 homes and led to 100 cholera deaths.

In 2018, WasteAid, on behalf of Tearfund, carried out a survey of development practitioners from across
61
the globe, looking at the impacts of plastic pollution on poverty. Over 90 per cent of the development
practitioners surveyed said that waste had caused flooding in their area over the previous two years. Over half
(56 per cent) indicated that flooding caused by plastic was a serious problem in slums, with at least four or
five incidents per year where plastic was a factor.

2.2 Health hazard: breeding grounds for disease vectors

Plastic pollution provides disease-carrying flies, mosquitos and vermin with a variety of habitats and breeding
grounds, dramatically increasing their numbers in communities with unmanaged waste.

58 UNEP (2018) Single-use plastics: a roadmap for sustainability, p13. https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25496

59 Wilson DC et al (2013) ‘Integrated sustainable waste management in developing countries. Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers’,
Waste and Resource Management, 166 (2), pp52–68
60 Amoako C and Frimpong Boamah E (2015) ‘The three-dimensional causes of flooding in Accra, Ghana’, International Journal of Urban Sustainable
Development, 7 (1), pp109–129
61 Tearfund and WasteAid (2018) Survey on the impacts of plastic pollution on poverty

22 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 Mosquitoes are the most common disease vector across the Global South. One of the diseases carried by
mosquitoes is dengue, a severe, flu-like illness. It can develop into ‘severe dengue’, which is a leading cause of
62
serious illness and death among children in some Asian and Latin American countries. According to a World
Health Organisation (WHO) report, rain collecting in plastic food packaging is considered ‘notorious’ for the
63
breeding of dengue-carrying mosquitoes. These mosquitoes bite during the day, so mosquito nets offer
limited protection, and there is no treatment or vaccine. Preventing the mosquitoes from breeding is the main
way to reduce transmission of dengue and it’s estimated that improved water and/or waste management
64
could reduce the impacts of dengue by 95 per cent.

Flies also carry and transmit a number of diseases. Rubbish, including discarded plastic, is a major breeding
65
ground for flies, which transmit typhoid fever, dysentery, cholera, leprosy and tuberculosis, while rats and
66
other vermin spread rabies, leptospirosis, hanta virus, typhus and plague.

CASE STUDY 2
Meera

Meera lives in Islamabad, in Pakistan. She is 45 years old and has seven children aged between 2 and 16. Their
home is on the edge of the community and rubbish collects outside the home, providing a breeding ground
for mosquitoes. She has recently suffered from typhoid and dengue fever. She was ill for three months and the
medication she requires is very expensive, putting a lot of strain on the family income. She has suffered from
attacks of paralysis and is unable to work so the family is dependent on the income her husband and 16-year-
old son are able to bring in from their work as cleaners. Meera’s community is part of a new solid waste
management project supported by Tearfund – she hopes it will create a cleaner environment and eradicate
these preventable diseases.

Photo: Hazel Thompson/Tearfund

62 World Health Organisation (2018) Factsheet on dengue and severe dengue. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dengue-and-severe-
dengue [accessed 21 March 2019]
63 Prùss-Ustùn A et al (2016) Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks,
World Health Organisation
64 Ibid.
65 Keiding J (1986) The housefly – biology and control. Training and information guide (advanced level), chapter 6, Switzerland, Geneva: Division of Control
of Tropical Diseases, World Health Organization
66 Cointreau S (2006) Occupational and Environmental Health Issues of Solid Waste Management – Special Emphasis on Middle- and Lower-Income
Countries. Washington DC: The World Bank

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 2.3 Health hazard: increased diarrhoeal disease
67
According to the UN, living among uncollected waste doubles the incidence of diarrhoeal disease. In many
countries, it is common practice to dispose of child faeces as part of the household rubbish – either in plastic
68
bags or in disposable nappies. Faeces may also be in the environment through flooding caused by blocked
drains and waterways (as mentioned previously).

Nappies in discarded waste in Vanuatu, South Pacific. Photo: Nicole Garofano/WasteAid

Children playing in the piles of rubbish surrounding their houses, or on nearby waste ground or roadsides,
come into direct contact with faecal matter and are exposed to diarrhoeal diseases. Flies (which breed in
rubbish) also transmit diarrhoeal disease between faeces and uncovered food or drink. Diarrhoeal disease
69
is the second leading cause of death in children under five years old. Repeated episodes of diarrhoea can
be particularly damaging to young children, having long term consequences on their development through
70
increased malnutrition.

Faecal contamination of the environment also spreads intestinal worms such as hookworm. These are usually
picked up either by ingesting eggs or by walking barefoot over larvae in the soil, which means that children are
71
particularly at risk.

67 UN Habitat (2010) Solid Waste Management in the World’s Cities. https://unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/SolidWaste.pdf. Other studies
suggest even higher figures. For example, a study in Ethiopia found that diarrhoeal disease was more than three times as likely where waste was
not managed properly: Gebru T et al (2014) ‘Risk factors of diarrhoeal disease in under-five children among health extension model and non-model
families in Sheko district rural community, Southwest Ethiopia: comparative cross-sectional study’, BMC Public Health, 14, p395; and a study in
Brazil published by the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene found that exposure to waste in the environment quadrupled the incidence
of diarrhoea: Rego et al (2005) ‘Diarrhoea and garbage disposal in Salvador, Brazil’, Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene,
vol. 99 (1).
68 UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) data cited in Brewer T (2018) Tearfund Literature Review on mismanaged solid waste and health
impacts. Unpublished.
69 World Health Organisation (2017) Factsheet on diarrhoeal disease. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diarrhoeal-disease [accessed
21 March 2019]
70 Dangour A et al (2013) ‘Interventions to improve water quality and supply, sanitation and hygiene practices, and their effects on the nutritional status
of children’, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 8 (8). https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23904195
71 World Health Organisation (2018) Fact sheet on soil-transmitted helminth infections. http://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/soil-
transmitted-helminth-infections [accessed 21 March 2019]

24 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 2.4 Health hazard: air pollution through burning waste
Many people affected by a build-up of uncollected waste use burning as the only practicable means of
disposal. According to the World Health Organisation, tackling waste management is a central strategy to
72
reducing air pollution in the poorest cities. The health impacts are huge: ambient air pollution is responsible
73
for 3.7 million deaths a year, and recent estimates suggest that open burning could be responsible for as
74
much as a fifth of this death toll.

There is compelling evidence that plastic is a significant contributor to the hazards associated with burning
75
waste. Open burning of plastic waste releases black carbon, dioxins, furans, mercury and polychlorinated
biphenyls into the atmosphere. All of these are direct threats to human health. They increase the risk of
diseases such as heart disease and cancer, respiratory ailments such as asthma and emphysema, skin and
76
eye diseases, nausea and headaches and damage to the reproductive and nervous systems.

Research has shown that air pollution significantly increases the risk of premature birth and low birth
77
weight, leading to lifelong damage to health. Recent evidence has also shown that particles of air pollution
78
travel through pregnant women’s lungs and lodge in their placentas.

In Ethiopia, a study showed that children from slums with uncollected waste were six times more likely to
79
suffer from acute respiratory infections than those living where there were regular waste collections.

Toxic fumes are released from burning plastic, but many communities have no other options to get rid of their waste.
Photo: Hazel Thompson/Tearfund

72 World Health Organisation News Release, ‘Air pollution levels rising in many of the world’s poorest cities’, 12 May 2016. http://www.who.int/en/
news-room/detail/12-05-2016-air-pollution-levels-rising-in-many-of-the-world-s-poorest-cities [accessed 21 March 2019]
73 World Health Organisation (2014) ‘Burden of disease from ambient air pollution for 2012’. https://www.who.int/phe/health_topics/outdoorair/
databases/AAP_BoD_results_March2014.pdf [accessed 21 March 2019]
74 Wiedinmyer C et al (2014) ‘Global emissions of trace gases, particulate matter, and hazardous air pollutants from open burning of domestic waste’,
Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 48 (16), pp9523–9530. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25019173
75 Reyna-Bensusan N et al (2018) ‘Uncontrolled burning of solid waste by households in Mexico is a significant contributor to climate change in the
country’, Environmental Research, 163, pp280–288. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29482066
76 Verma R et al (2016) ‘Toxic Pollutants from plastic waste – a review’, Procedia Environmental Sciences, 35, pp701–708. https://www.sciencedirect.com/
science/article/pii/S187802961630158X
77 Smith R et al (2017) ‘Impact of London’s road traffic air and noise pollution on birth weight: retrospective population based cohort study’, BMJ, 2017
(359). https://www.bmj.com/content/359/bmj.j5299
78 Carrington D, ‘Air pollution particles found in mothers’ placentas’, The Guardian, 16 September 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/
2018/sep/16/air-pollution-particles-found-in-mothers-placentas
79 United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) (2008) State of the World’s Cities 2008/2009 HARMONIOUS CITIES. London:
Earthscan, p129. http://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/18333

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 2.5 Health hazard: landslides
Large uncontrolled dumpsites may also pose direct risks to life if attention is not given to slope stability. In
2017, landslides at waste dumps in Colombo, Sri Lanka; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Conakry, Guinea; and Delhi,
80
India accounted for more than 150 deaths. The most serious of these was the landslide at a dumpsite in
81
Ethiopia in March 2017, which killed 115 people. In February 2018, 16 people died when heavy rains triggered
82
a landslide in a dumpsite in Maputo, Mozambique.

2.6 Health hazard: polluting water and soil, and entering the
food chain
The hazard of plastic polluting marine life, freshwater and soils was discussed in chapter 1. Microplastics –
pieces of plastic smaller than five millimetres in length – are introduced into the environment both directly
(eg as microbeads from cosmetics) and indirectly via the degradation of larger pieces of plastic. These
microplastics disintegrate further into nanoplastics, which are less than 0.1 micrometre (one millionth of a
83
metre) in size. This ‘breaking down’ process has worrying impacts, as explained by scientists studying this
phenomenon: ‘Generally speaking, when plastic particles break down, they gain new physical and chemical
properties, increasing the risk that they will have a toxic effect on organisms. And the larger the number of
84
potentially affected species and ecological functions, the more likely it is that toxic effects will occur.’

As discussed in chapter 1, microplastic ingestion has the potential to introduce hazardous substances into
marine food chains. The impact of microplastics in soils, sediments and freshwater is less well understood
than ocean microplastics, but could have a long-term negative effect on such ecosystems. The results of the
little research done to-date in this area are concerning: fragments of plastic are present practically all over
the world and experiments have demonstrated their potential to trigger a range of adverse effects in species
85
studied under laboratory conditions.

Microplastics have already been detected not only in fish and seafood, but also in both tap and bottled water
86
and across a wide range of foods. The transfer of microplastics up the food chain has been demonstrated.
Microplastic is entering the food chain and being ingested by humans. The health impacts of this are as yet
87
unknown, but are the subject of several large-scale research programmes currently being undertaken.

80 Kaza S (2018) ‘Landslides, dumpsites and waste pickers’, World Bank Sustainable Cities blog. http://blogs.worldbank.org/sustainablecities/landslides-
dumpsites-and-waste-pickers [accessed 21 March 2019]
81 Maasho A, ‘Ethiopia trash dump landslide death toll rises to 115’, Reuters, 16 March 2017. https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-ethiopia-accident/
ethiopia-trash-dump-landslide-death-toll-rises-to-115-idUKKBN16N0ND [accessed 21 March 2019]
82 Swingler S, ‘Living and dying on a rubbish dump: the landfill collapse in Mozambique’, The Guardian, 26 February 2018.
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2018/feb/26/explosion-fatal-rubbish-landslide-mozambique-hulene-dump
[accessed 21 March 2019]
83 Machado A et al (2018) ‘Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems’, Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14020
84 Forschungsverbund Berlin, ‘An underestimated threat: land-based pollution with microplastics’, ScienceDaily, 5 February 2018.
www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/02/180205125728.htm
85 Machado A et al (2018) ‘Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems’, Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14020
86 Setälä O et al (2014) ‘Ingestion and transfer of microplastics in the plankton food web’, Environmental Pollution, 185, pp77–83.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24220023
87 See, for example, an Indonesian study into health risks of microplastics: Shukman D, ‘Indonesian study into health risks of microplastics’, BBC News,
8 May 2018. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-43913597 [accessed 21 March 2019]

26 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 3 WASTE, PLASTICS AND LIVELIHOODS

‘Plastic waste is ingested by domestic and wild animals.’

Ezekiel, Nigeria

As well as blighting our natural environment and harming human health, plastic pollution is also damaging
livelihoods and curtailing economic development in low- and middle-income countries. In this report we
have already noted the devastating effects of flooding caused by blocked drains, which often has significant
economic ramifications. Plastic waste also directly affects fishing, agriculture and tourism.

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that costs associated with ocean-based
consumer plastic pollution alone amount to 13 billion USD every year. This includes revenue losses to
88
fisheries, aquaculture, and marine tourism industries, in addition to the cost of cleaning up litter on beaches.

This field of research is still in its infancy, but it is already clear that plastic pollution in the ocean and on
land has a direct impact on the livelihoods of people who are poor. In this chapter we explore the impacts of
plastic pollution on livelihoods in three key sectors for many low- and middle-income countries: agriculture,
fisheries and tourism.

A beach covered in plastic waste, Bunaken Island in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo: Andrew Church/Fauna & Flora International

88 UNEP (2014) Valuing plastics: the business case for measuring, managing and disclosing plastic use in the consumer goods industry.
http://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/9238

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 27
 Waste management – a cost-effective strategy
A study focused on South-East Asia estimated the economic cost of uncollected household waste
89
that is burned, dumped, or discharged to waterways to be 375 USD/tonne. For the same region,
the World Bank estimated the integrated waste management costs for basic systems meeting good
international hygienic standards (including collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste)
90
to be 50–100 USD/tonne. Taking the mid-point of the estimated integrated waste management
costs (75 USD), this means the cost of uncollected household waste is five times that of the cost
of integrated waste management.

3.1 The impact of plastic pollution on agricultural livelihoods

When plastic litters hedgerows, fields and waterways, animals can mistake it for food and eat it. Studies
have found that up to a third of cattle and half of the goat population in the Global South have consumed
91
significant amounts of plastic. Research on abattoirs in Kenya shows that cows with plastics in their digestive
system are a daily occurrence. In one case, a slaughtered cow had 2.5kg of plastic waste in its digestive system
92
– about the same weight as a laptop. When plastic is swallowed by animals, it does not decompose in their
digestive tracts and cannot move though their guts. It leads to bloating, a host of adverse health effects
93
and eventually death by starvation. Alongside the evident suffering this causes the animals, this has dire
94
economic consequences for farmers.

A buffalo roams freely on a waste-covered river bank in Pakistan. Photo: Liaqat Gill/Pak Mission Society

89 McKinsey (2016) The Circular Economy: moving from theory to practice. McKinsey Centre for Business and Environment Special Edition. Cited in
Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development, p116. Washington, DC: World Bank.
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317
90 Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development, p18. Washington, DC: World Bank.
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317
91 Various sources, including Tiruneh R and Yesuwork H (2010) ‘Occurrence of rumen foreign bodies in sheep and goats slaughtered at the Addis Ababa
Municipality Abattoir’, Ethiopian Veterinary Journal, vol. 14 (1); and Mushongal et al (2015) ‘Investigations of foreign bodies in the fore-stomach of
cattle at Ngoma Slaughterhouse, Rwanda’, J. S. Afr. Vet. Assoc., vol. 86 (11) Pretoria. Cited in CIWM and WasteAid UK (2018) From the Land to the Sea:
how better solid waste management can improve the lives of the world’s poorest and halve the quantity of plastic entering the oceans.
92 UNEP (2017) ‘Free of plastic bags: how the menace of polythene bags has been handled in Kenya’. http://web.unep.org/ourplanet/december-2017/
articles/free-plastic-bags [accessed 21 March 2019]
93 UNEP/ISWA (2015) Global waste management outlook. http://web.unep.org/ourplanet/september-2015/unep-publications/global-waste-
management-outlook
94 Ramaswamy V and Sharma H (2012) ‘Plastic bags – threat to environment and cattle health: retrospective study from Gondar city in Ethiopia’, IIOAB
Journal – India 2 (1), pp7–12

28 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 CASE STUDY 3
Rwanda’s cows and the plastic bag ban

The route from Kigali to Eastern Province, Rwanda. Kigali is now considered by many to be the cleanest city in Africa.
Photo: Eleanor Bentall/Tearfund

Rwanda outlawed the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags in 2008. At the time, many people asked: ‘Is this
really necessary? Surely Rwanda has bigger and more important things to worry about?’ A few years before
that, though, farmers were losing their livestock to plastic bags at an alarming rate. Rivers, streams and drains
were blocked by plastic bags. Even farmers’ fields were choked by these bags.

I personally came face to face with the plastic bag menace in 2006. At that time, my mother owned six dairy
cows. One of the cows began to lose weight and became sickly. My mother called in a vet, but the cow got
worse. Within four weeks, four cows had died. When the vet performed an autopsy, it turned out they had
all eaten plastic bags. Sadly, this was not an isolated incident. Plastic bags were affecting the local economy
across Rwanda. People called urgently on the government to do something. There were discussions at all
levels, from community meetings to parliamentary debates. Eventually a law was passed banning plastic bags.

But first the country desperately needed to rid itself of the bags that were already littering it. Special clean-up
days were organised, and the results were shocking. There were mountains of plastic bags in virtually every
village. Burning them would have caused huge amounts of air pollution, but there was no way to dispose of
them. This needed a solution at government level.

The government invested in a plastic recycling plant through incentives to the private sector. The mountains of
plastic bags began to disappear from villages, transported to the new plant. Soon, other types of plastic waste
followed. Today, the country is virtually plastic-bag free. After the clean-up campaign, the government began
to enforce the ban throughout Rwanda, including at the borders. Plastic bags were confiscated, and users and
sellers were given heavy fines. Businesses were encouraged and supported to find alternatives. The ban went
far beyond just outlawing plastic bags: it created a sense of environmental responsibility among Rwandans.

This case study was written by Emmanuel Murangira, Tearfund’s Country Representative in Rwanda, and
95
first published in Tearfund’s magazine, Footsteps 107.

95 Tearfund (2019) Footsteps 107 – Waste, https://learn.tearfund.org/en/resources/publications/footsteps/footsteps_101-110/footsteps_107. For

more detailed analysis of Rwanda’s solid waste management and recycling systems, see Kabera T, Wilson D, Nishimwe H (2019) ‘Benchmarking
performance of solid waste management and recycling systems in East Africa: comparing Kigali Rwanda with other major cities’, Waste Management
and Research, 37 (1_suppl), pp58–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X18819752

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 29
 The impact of plastic and its lethal impact on animals is under-researched and underreported. Often there
96
are no official reports unless cattle deaths have medico-legal implications to settle compensation claims.
The impact of plastic pollution on agriculture is an area in desperate need of research.

3.2 The impact of plastic pollution on fishing livelihoods

The impacts of plastic pollution on marine ecosystems were described in chapter 1, and include the death of
marine life and potentially the decline in both diversity and population numbers of various species.

As many as 820 million people directly and indirectly rely on fisheries as a source of income to support
97
food security, so the human impact of these changes could be vast. Despite this, very little research has
been conducted to assess the impact of plastic pollution on fishing communities. As long ago as 1992, the
negative impacts of plastic pollution and marine debris on small-scale subsistence fishing communities and
98
livelihoods were documented in Indonesia. The study found that plastic waste impacted fishing activities
through propeller entanglements, damage to fishing gear and injuries to people. The most direct impact was
a decreased yield of fish caused by plastic pollution. But there were also indirect costs – increased expenditure
(for example for repairs or for medicine for an injury) or an increased amount of time spent on fishing or
fishing-related activities. The report also highlighted that for fisherfolk living at the subsistence level, even a
minor decrease in fishing yield can mean that they cannot provide for their own basic needs such as food.

Beach litter collected in Bali. Photo: David Leeke/Waste Aid

96 Gupta P (2018) ‘Chapter 4 Epidemiology of Animal Poisonings in Asia’, Veterinary Toxicology (Third Edition) Basic and Clinical Principles, pp57–69
97 Béné C et al (2015) ‘Feeding 9 billion by 2050 – putting fish back on the menu’, Food Security 7 (2), pp261–274, cited in IIED Briefing (December
2016) ‘A sustainable future for fisheries: how fiscal policy can be used to achieve SDG 14’. http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/17411IIED.pdf
98 Nash A (1992) ‘Impacts of marine debris on subsistence fishermen: an exploratory study’, Marine Pollution Bulletin, vol. 24 (3), pp150–156

30 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 More recently in 2018, a study in the state of Maharashtra, India, analysed the impacts of pollution, including
99
plastics, on the fish catch and livelihoods of marine fishermen. The study showed that destruction and
pollution of mangroves through chemicals, sewage, plastics and other debris are perceived to be impacting
fishing livelihoods. In an article in National Geographic in 2018, fishermen in the Arabian Sea reported
100
catching more plastic than fish when they cast out their nets.

Another emerging threat to both fishing communities and human health is the accumulation of microplastics
in fish stocks – discussed previously in chapter 1.

Most studies have focused on plastics in the marine environment; less research has been carried out on
plastics in freshwater ecosystems. Indeed, as of 2018, only 23 countries in the world had studied plastic
101
pollution in freshwater systems. This is particularly relevant for low- and middle-income countries where
open uncontrolled dumping leads to leachate polluting water sources. There is an urgent need for more
research (and action) to study the impact of plastic pollution on freshwater fisheries given the economic
importance and threats to human health.

3.3 The impact of plastic pollution on livelihoods related

to tourism
Many low- and middle-income countries rely on tourism as a crucial source of income, jobs and foreign
exchange. Plastic waste represents an existential threat to these businesses. For example, recent news
reports have focused on the extent of the plastic pollution crisis on the island of Bali, which is economically
102
dependent on tourism. There, a plastic deluge ‘ends up in unsightly mounds on Bali’s beaches, horrifying
103
tourists and environmentalists alike’.

Communities that depend on coral reef-related tourism may be particularly vulnerable to plastic pollution.
The impacts of plastic pollution on coral reefs was discussed in chapter 1. These in turn impact the
communities who rely on these reefs for their livelihoods.

According to UNEP, some 850 million people live within 100km of coral reefs and derive benefits from
104
them, with at least 275 million people depending directly on reefs for livelihoods and sustenance.
Coral reefs generate up to 1.25 million USD per hectare annually from tourism, coastal protection,
105
bioprospecting and fisheries. Communities that rely on coral reefs for livelihoods are located mostly in
small-island states, among many countries in the Coral Triangle and among coastal populations in low-
and middle-income countries.

99 Malakar K et al (2018) ‘Perceptions of multi-stresses impacting livelihoods of marine fishermen’, Marine Policy 97, pp18–26
100 National Geographic (2018) ‘How India’s fishermen turn ocean plastic into roads’. https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/05/fishermen-kerala-
india-recycle-plastic-pollution-culture
101 Blettler M et al (2018) ‘Freshwater plastic pollution: recognizing research biases and identifying knowledge gaps’, Water Research 143, pp416–424
102 Tourism’s contribution to the economy of Bali was 68.28 per cent in 2014 – Antara M, Sumarniasih M (2017) ‘Role of tourism in economy of Bali and
Indonesia’, Journal of Tourism and Hospitality Management, vol. 5 (2), pp34–44
103 For example Lamb K, ‘Plastic, plastic, plastic’: British diver films sea of rubbish off Bali, The Guardian, 6 March 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/
world/2018/mar/06/plastic-british-diver-films-sea-rubbish-bali-indonesia [accessed 21 March 2019]
104 UNEP, ‘Valuable but vulnerable’. http://coral.unep.ch/Coral_Reefs.html [accessed 21 March 2019]
105 Ibid.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 31
 4 PLASTIC POLLUTION AND THE
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS (SDGS)

‘There is just too much plastic!’

Nadira, Indonesia

The first part of this report has shown how far-reaching and serious the impacts of plastic pollution are on our
oceans and land and the ecosystems and wildlife they sustain; on the health of billions of the world’s poorest
and most vulnerable people; and on the livelihoods of millions more.

In 2015, all United Nations member states adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It provides
106
a ‘shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future’. It includes
the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are an urgent call for action by all countries.

Plastic pollution has a direct impact on more than half of the Goals.

Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Plastic pollution increases poverty and vulnerability through causing disasters such
as flooding, harming people’s health (and their ability to earn livelihoods), and
directly affecting livelihoods in agriculture, fishing and tourism.
For example, floods in Accra, Ghana, in 2011 caused by blocked waterways damaged
107
17,000 homes and led to 100 cholera deaths.

Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition

and promote sustainable agriculture
Plastic is polluting our soils, freshwater, oceans and forests, and threatening
biodiversity, on which the production of nutritious food depends.
Fisheries provide more than 3 billion people with 20 per cent of their protein
consumption. In West Africa, South Asia, South-East Asia and Small Island
108
Developing States (SIDS) fish account for 50–60 per cent of total dietary protein.

Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
Plastic causes flooding and the spread of waterborne diseases such as malaria,
dengue fever, dysentery and cholera. Burning plastic pollutes the air, increasing the
risk of diseases such as heart disease and cancer.
Between 400,000 and 1 million people die each year in low- and middle-income
countries because of diseases related to uncollected waste. At the upper end that is
109
one person every 30 seconds.

106 https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs
107 Amoako C, Frimpong Boamah E (2015) ‘The three-dimensional causes of flooding in Accra, Ghana’, International Journal of Urban Sustainable
Development, 7 (1), pp109–129
108 HLPE (2014) ‘Sustainable fisheries and aquaculture for food security and nutrition’, High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the
Committee on World Food Security, Rome. Cited in IIED Briefing (December 2016) A sustainable future for fisheries: how fiscal policy can be used to
achieve SDG 14. http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/17411IIED.pdf
109 See the Annex for the methodology behind this statistic.

32 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 Goal 6: Ensure availability and sustainable management
of water and sanitation for all
Plastic blocks drains and pollutes freshwater sources. Dumped waste and flooding
are also major drivers of unsanitary living conditions.
Living among plastic pollution and uncollected waste doubles the incidence of
110
diarrhoeal disease.

Goal 8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic

growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Plastic pollution is hampering livelihoods and economic growth.
Costs associated with ocean-based consumer plastic pollution alone amount to
13 billion USD every year – including revenue losses to fisheries, aquaculture, and
111
marine tourism industries, in addition to the cost of cleaning up litter on beaches.

Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive,

safe, resilient and sustainable
Many cities in low- and middle-income countries lack effective waste management
collection systems and so plastic pollutes the air, water and land in these cities.
Globally, 2 billion people lack waste collection, and a further 1 billion people lack
112
safe disposal of waste.

Goal 12: Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns

Global plastic production is completely unsustainable and plastics use is growing
fastest in countries where there is no prospect for safe disposal.
113
Plastic packaging accounts for nearly half of all plastic waste globally.

Goal 13: Take urgent action to combat climate change and

its impacts
Plastic production and pollution is contributing to climate change.
Global plastic production emits 400 million tonnes of greenhouse gases each
114 115
year  – more than the UK’s total carbon footprint.

110 UN Habitat (2010) Solid waste management in the world’s cities. https://unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/SolidWaste.pdf
111 UNEP (2014) Valuing plastics: the business case for measuring, managing and disclosing plastic use in the consumer goods industry.
https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/9238
112 UNEP/ISWA (2015) Global waste management outlook. http://web.unep.org/ourplanet/september-2015/unep-publications/global-waste-
management-outlook
113 UNEP (2018) Single-use plastics: a roadmap for sustainability. https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25496
114 Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2016) The New Plastics Economy. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/downloads/
EllenMacArthurFoundation_TheNewPlasticsEconomy_Pages.pdf
115 The UK’s total net CO2 emissions in 2017 was 367 million tonnes. Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (2018) 2017 UK Greenhouse
Gas Emissions, Provisional Figures. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/
695930/2017_Provisional_Emissions_statistics_2.pdf [accessed 21 March 2019]

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 33
 Goal 14: Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine
resources for sustainable development
Plastic is polluting the oceans and threatening marine biodiversity.
116
An estimated 8–12.7 million tonnes of plastic is entering the oceans every year.
117
There could be more plastic than fish in the ocean by 2050.

Goal 15: Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial

ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification,
and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
Plastic is polluting terrestrial ecosystems and threatening terrestrial biodiversity.
118
It is estimated that one third of all plastic waste ends up in soils or freshwater.

Goal 17: Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalise the

global partnership for sustainable development
Additional financial resources including Official Development Assistance (ODA) are
needed to tackle the plastic pollution crisis.
119
Currently only 0.3 per cent of ODA is spent on waste management.

We won’t meet the SDGs without tackling the plastic pollution crisis. As a global community, we are at a
crossroads. We can choose to ignore the evidence and carry on with our linear business models, churn out
more and more plastic because it’s cheap, fail to invest in circular models and sustainable waste management
systems and ignore the devastation being wreaked across the planet. If we choose this path, and plastic
production is allowed to continue to increase in line with predicted growth, it will completely overwhelm
even the waste management systems of high-income countries. Communities will continue to be engulfed
by mountains of plastic waste, our oceans will continue to fill up with plastic, and people and animals will
continue to suffer.

Or, the global community can act, while there is still time. In Part 2 of this report, we outline the action that
we believe is needed to tackle this crisis.

116 Jambeck J R et al (2015) ‘Plastic waste inputs from land into the ocean’, Science, 347 (6223), pp768–771.
https://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6223/768
117 World Economic Forum and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2016) The New Plastics Economy. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/
downloads/EllenMacArthurFoundation_TheNewPlasticsEconomy_Pages.pdf
118 Machado A et al (2018) ‘Microplastics as an emerging threat to terrestrial ecosystems’, Global Change Biology. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14020
119 Lerpiniere D et al (2014) Review of international development co-operation in solid waste management. Report prepared by University of Leeds and
formatted by D-Waste on behalf of ISWA Globalisation and Waste Management Task Force. Vienna: International Solid Waste Association.

34 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 PART 2
THE SOLUTION

5 WORKING WITH WASTE PICKERS

In many cities lacking formal waste collection and management systems, waste pickers play a vital role in
collecting, sorting and recycling waste. Informal waste recycling is a common livelihood for people who
are poor and living in urban areas in low- and middle-income countries. About one per cent of the urban
120
population (that’s more than 15 million people) earn their living in this way. In some places informal-
sector service providers are responsible for a significant percentage of waste collection. For example in
121
Lusaka, Zambia, this is over 30 per cent.

These groups can exhibit high levels of entrepreneurship, resilience and ingenuity. However, their work is
unregulated and waste pickers are often a vulnerable demographic – typically women, children, the elderly,
122
the unemployed, or migrants. They also face considerable challenges: unhealthy conditions, lack of social
security and health insurance, fluctuations in the price of recyclable materials, lack of educational and training
123
opportunities and strong social stigma.

Children working at a rubbish dump in Livingstone, Guatemala. Photo: Juan Pablo Moreiras/Fauna & Flora International

120 Medina M (2010) ‘Scrap and trade: scavenging myths,’ Our World, United Nations University, Tokyo, 15 March 2019. https://ourworld.unu.edu/en/
scavenging-from-waste. Cited in Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development,
p129. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317
121 UNEP/ISWA (2015) Global waste management outlook. http://web.unep.org/ourplanet/september-2015/unep-publications/global-waste-
management-outlook
122 Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development, p130. Washington, DC: World Bank.
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317
123 Ibid.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 35
 The work itself is also extremely hazardous. Waste pickers are particularly vulnerable to many of the health
impacts described in chapter 2, such as dysentery, diarrhoea and cholera. Sharp items such as broken glass or
needles pose a danger and open wounds are easily infected.

Waste pickers are often excluded from frameworks for waste management, even though their involvement
can improve the welfare and livelihoods of some of the poorest people in society and simultaneously reduce
costs for municipalities.

CASE STUDY 4
Waste picking in Bogotá, Colombia

Cecilia working at the La Pensilvanie collection centre, Bogotá, Colombia. Photo: Juan Arredondo/Getty Images Reportage

Cecilia Serrano is a waste picker in Bogotá, Colombia, working at the collection centre La Pensilvania,
which is managed by the Asociación de Recicladores de Bogotá (ARB), an organisation of waste pickers’
associations and cooperatives that advocates for waste pickers’ rights to access waste and to be contracted
for waste collection and recycling services. By sorting, compacting, and preparing materials for reuse by the
manufacturing industry, waste pickers play an important environmental and economic role in reducing the
demand for new raw materials.

There are many examples of successful partnerships with informal waste pickers. Extended Producer
Responsibility (EPR) initiatives in South Africa (see chapter 8) involve paying collectors for metal, plastic and
glass as well as supporting the development of cooperatives and small enterprises in collection and recycling.

The Brazilian Solid Waste Management Law (2010) provides one example, by obliging manufacturers and
distributors to give primacy to partnerships with cooperatives and other forms of waste picker associations
124
when establishing reverse logistics programmes. For example, community cooperative Vira-Lata provides

124 Fernandes A (2016) Closing the loop: the benefits of the circular economy for developing countries and emerging economies, EPEA Brasil, Tearfund and
NuReS (Núcleo de Redes de Suprimentos)

36 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 125
reverse logistics for several large MNCs, including Diageo, by collecting drinks bottles and returning
them to glass bottle producers. Their involvement is more cost-effective than the companies collecting the
126
bottles themselves.

In several countries, providing waste pickers with support has resulted in a dramatic expansion in waste
collection as well as improving their livelihoods, workplace safety and sense of dignity.

CASE STUDY 5
SWACH in Pune, India
127

The example of waste pickers organising to secure a contract and provide waste collection services in Pune,
India is a particularly positive one. In 2008, the poor state of solid waste management (SWM) in Pune
motivated a union of waste pickers (KPKKP) to create a workers’ cooperative, SWACH (Solid Waste Collection
and Handling) of which approximately 80 per cent are women. In 2008, SWACH signed a Memorandum of
Understanding with the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) to provide door-to-door collection services, a
128
form of pro-poor public-private partnership.

SWACH has helped provide sustainable livelihoods for more than 3,000 waste pickers in Pune. The formation
of the workers’ cooperative has demonstrated that door-to-door collection of waste and recyclables can be
achieved by building on the existing waste pickers’ activities. The service has helped to secure waste pickers’
access to valuable recyclables, improve their working conditions and income and improve their status in
society. SWACH has also established a school education programme.

SWACH illustrates an effective model for bridging the gap between informal waste pickers and municipal
waste management service needs. It has helped waste pickers transition from scavenging to service,
improving their working conditions and legitimising their work. SWACH has delivered significant financial
benefits to the city. It is estimated that the programme’s activities have saved the municipality approximately
129
7.9 million USD a year. However, it has faced challenges including efforts by the municipality to privatise
waste management service provision, requiring intense and on-going efforts to secure government buy-in and
130 131
support. And, at times, the local government has failed to honour commitments made.

Waste pickers should be supported (financially and technically) to organise together as associations and
cooperatives. There is a growing evidence base for ‘what works’ here – for example in Maputo, Mozambique,
the German government agency GIZ supported the registration and training of informal waste collectors. Half
of the poorer districts are now covered by these small businesses, giving an additional 500,000 people access
132
to waste disposal services.

In considering the solutions to the plastic pollution crisis, it is vital that all actors seeking to improve waste
management initiatives or frameworks treat waste pickers as a major stakeholder and seek to work in
partnership with them to create safe, dignified jobs.

125 Collecting end-of-life goods or packaging and returning it to the manufacturer or distributor.
126 Fernandes A (2016) Closing the loop: the benefits of the circular economy for developing countries and emerging economies, EPEA Brasil, Tearfund and
NuReS (Núcleo de Redes de Suprimentos)
127 This case study has been taken from: Lerpiniere D et al (2019) ‘Briefing paper: successful approaches to improving solid waste management in low
and middle income countries’, Tearfund.
128 WIEGO (2012) Integrating waste pickers into municipal solid waste management in Pune, India, WIEGO Policy Brief No. 8
129 Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317
130 GAIA (2012) On the road to Zero Waste – success and lessons from around the world. http://www.no-burn.org/wp-content/uploads/On‑the-Road-to-
Zero-Waste.pdf
131 SWACH outreach report, June 2018
132 Gower R and Schröder P (2016) Virtuous circle: how the circular economy can create jobs and save lives in low- and middle-income countries, Tearfund
and IDS; and Gunsilius E et al (2011) Recovering resources, creating opportunities: integrating the informal sector into solid waste management, GIZ on
behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development; and https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/15913.html

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 37
 6 MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES
AND PLASTIC POLLUTION

‘Brands are not doing anything to solve the problem with their packaging. It would
be great to make public the amount of plastic they are putting onto the market and
what they do to solve it.’
Sofia, Colombia

A small number of companies dominate the market in fast-moving consumer goods both in the UK and
overseas. For example, of the top 15 global brands in these sectors, four companies – Coca-Cola, PespiCo,
133
Nestlé and Unilever – own all but three. And they are pervasive in low- and middle-income countries.
134
Coca-Cola sells more drinks in South Africa than in the UK, and more in India than any country in Europe.
And these companies are always looking for new ways to expand in emerging markets: in India, for example,
trainee Unilever managers now spend a month living in a rural village to help them understand how to sell
135
their products there.

There are many problematic single-use plastics being distributed by MNCs in low- and middle-income
countries where there are inadequate or non-existent waste management systems. Here we highlight two
examples: sachets and PET bottles.

Lays chips top right, owned by PepsiCo and Everyday milk at the bottom, owned by Nestlé, in packaging collected by the Community
Recycling Centre in Islamabad, Pakistan. Photo: Hazel Thompson/Tearfund

133 Kantar World Panel (2018) ‘A global ranking of the most chosen consumer goods brands’. https://www.kantarworldpanel.com/brand-footprint-
ranking/#/download [accessed 21 March 2019]
134 Coca-Cola Company Annual Report 2017. https://www.coca-colacompany.com/company-reports [accessed 21 March 2019]
135 Mahajan V (2016) ‘How Unilever reaches rural consumers in emerging markets’, Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/12/how-unilever-
reaches-rural-consumers-in-emerging-markets

38 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 6.1 The ‘sachet economy’
The growing ‘sachet economy’ in many low- and middle-income countries is one of the most visible
– and harmful – examples of plastic expansion. Single-portion plastic sachets (made from a multi-
laminate material) are used for products as diverse as coffee and washing powder. They are a low-value,
currently non-recyclable item that are easier and cheaper to produce and transport than bottles with
tamper‑proof lids.

The uptake in some low- and middle-income countries has been huge. In India and South-East Asian
countries, sample-size sachets of food and non-food products are estimated to account for 95 per cent of
136
industry sales in terms of volume and 60 per cent in terms of value.

But while sachets may bring convenience, and – in some places – a level of affordability, they are a significant
contributor to the waste crisis in many poor contexts. In Tearfund and WasteAid’s survey on the impacts of
137
plastic pollution on poverty, plastic sachets were the most commonly identified item among mismanaged
solid waste. The scale of the problem is also apparent from waste audits. For example, in a waste and brand
audit carried out in the Philippines, a total of 54,260 pieces of plastic waste were collected, with most
138
products being sachets. The prolific use of sachets in many parts of Asia and Africa has been justified around
arguments of accessibility: many families are unable to afford standard sizes of new (often internationally
owned) branded products, so single-serve sachets are more accessible ways for them to access these
products. In some cases the cost per sachet is cheaper than larger packets, so it also drives richer people to
buy them in bulk, for example in India. However, in other countries, such as Indonesia, the long-term cost of
139
multiple sachets is considerably more than buying the full-sized item.

Non-recyclable plastic sachets are sold in huge quantities across many low- and middle-income countries.
Photo: Tom Price/Integral Alliance

136 Future Market Insights (2017) ‘Sachet packaging market: 1 ml – 2ml segment by pack size to nearly double in value terms over the forecast
period, global industry analysis 2012 – 2016 and opportunity assessment 2017 – 2027’. https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sachet-
packaging-market [accessed 21 March 2019]
137 Tearfund and WasteAid (2018) Survey on the impacts of plastic pollution on poverty
138 Greenpeace International press release, ‘Nestlé, Unilever, P&G among worst offenders for plastic pollution in Philippines in beach audit’,
22 September 2017. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/press-release/7621/nestle-unilever-pg-among-worst-offenders-for-plastic-pollution-
in-philippines-in-beach-audit [accessed 21 March 2019]
139 Singh R et al (2009) ‘Buying less, more often: an evaluation of sachet marketing strategy in an emerging market’, The Marketing Review, 9 (1), pp3–17

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 39
 Unilever – a key producer of sachets – describes the problem well: ‘Sachet waste, also known as multi-layer
flexible packaging, is a problem. There are hundreds of billions of sachets sold around the world every year
by many different companies – giving consumers a convenient way to buy anything from shampoo to food to
toothpaste – but currently, there isn’t a cost-effective way to recycle the leftover packaging. At best, the sachets
140
end up in landfill. At worst, they end up as litter in the streets, the waterways and the oceans.’ Companies
sometimes suggest that the alternative of refillable smaller size receptacles is open to abuse and mislabelling
at point of sale, and at least one company – also Unilever – is investigating the potential for recycling
141
sachets. However, in reality, sachets are not collected by anyone because they have low value and are
currently non-recyclable.

6.2 Plastic PET bottles

Another problematic item is the ubiquitous PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles, most commonly used
for soft drinks, including water. PET bottles make up the second largest category of plastic packaging used
142 143
globally. In 2015, global consumption reached 471 billion bottles, which if placed end to end would
144
stretch from Earth to Mars.

Unlike sachets, PET bottles are in theory recyclable. However, globally only 14 per cent of plastic packaging
145
(including PET bottles) is collected for recycling. Even where the capacity to recycle exists, such as in
the UK, recycling rates are shockingly low. The UK public uses 13 billion plastic bottles every year of which
only 7.5 billion are recycled. This means 5.5 billion plastic bottles in the UK alone are littered, landfilled or
146
incinerated annually.

In many low- and middle-income countries, the capacity to recycle PET (and other plastics) simply doesn’t
exist and so PET bottles add to the sea of plastic pollution overwhelming communities. In Tearfund and
WasteAid’s survey on the impacts of plastic pollution on poverty, plastic bottles were the second most
147
frequently identified item in mismanaged solid waste (after sachets). Among the bottles, carbonated drinks
were reported to be the most prevalent products. In Break Free From Plastic’s (BFFP) recent global waste and
brand audit, which involved 239 clean-ups in 42 countries on six continents and collected around 188,000
pieces of plastic pollution, PET was also the second most common plastic type found. Nearly 46,000 pieces of
148
PET plastic – almost a quarter of the total number – were recorded.

140 Unilever (2017) ‘CreaSolv®: a breakthrough recycling technology we want to share’. https://www.unilever.com/news/news-and-features/Feature-
article/2017/CreaSolv-a-breakthrough-waste-recycling-technology-that-we-want-to-share.html [accessed 21 March 2019]
141 Ibid.
142 Greenpeace, ‘Bottling it: the failure of major soft drinks companies to address ocean plastic pollution’. https://storage.googleapis.com/gpuk-static/
legacy/Bottling-It_FINAL.pdf [accessed 21 March 2019]
143 Gordon L and Downey R (2016) ‘Asia Pacific consolidates its position as global growth region for PET bottles’, Euromonitor International blog.
https://blog.euromonitor.com/asia-pacific-consolidates-its-position-as-headline-global-growth-region-for-pet-bottles [accessed 21 March 2019]
144 Based on the height of a Coca-Cola bottle which is 20.32cm. 450bn x 20.32cm comes to 90 million kilometres. The distance from the Earth to Mars
ranges from 56 million kms to 401 million kms.
145 Ellen MacArthur Foundation (2016) The New Plastics Economy: rethinking the future of plastics. https://www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org/assets/
downloads/EllenMacArthurFoundation_TheNewPlasticsEconomy_15-3-16.pdf
146 House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee (2017) Plastic bottles: turning back the plastic tide. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/
cm201719/cmselect/cmenvaud/339/339.pdf
147 Tearfund and WasteAid (2018) Survey on the impacts of plastic pollution on poverty
148 Break Free From Plastic Coalition (2018) The Brand Audit Report. https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/globalbrandauditreport2018

40 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 Why consumer goods companies?
It’s important to note that there are several other industries beyond consumer goods who bear
responsibility for the global waste crisis and where fundamental change is needed in business
models and practices. For example, maritime sources of marine litter comprise wastes from
the fisheries and shipping sectors (including cargo and leisure) and recreational activities.
Items include equipment from the fisheries sector (eg redundant nets) and wastes generated by
149
shipping activities. However, for the municipal solid waste that is swamping towns and cities
in low- and middle-income countries, consumer goods companies hold a significant part of the
blame. We focus on these companies within this report.

6.3 Using their influence for good or ill?

The dominant market position of the big multinationals allows enormous influence that could be used for
good, but at the moment, evidence suggests they are high on the list of plastic polluters. In recent waste
and brand audits in India and the Philippines, branded packaging from MNCs was the most commonly found
150
plastic waste. In BFFP’s global waste audit, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Nestlé were found to be the most
prolific plastic polluters. When BFFP looked specifically at single-use sachets – one of the most prevalent
151
forms of plastic – PepsiCo and Unilever topped the list.
152
Tearfund and WasteAid’s survey on the impacts of plastic pollution on poverty revealed a similar
pattern. Unilever and Coca-Cola were the foremost contributors. Half of all the waste identified was
produced by MNCs.

Over the decades, the big MNCs have moved away from reusable and recyclable packaging towards a
throwaway model. In the 1970s, Coca-Cola’s own research showed that no other packaging system could
match returnable glass bottles on energy efficiency and reducing waste and pollution, yet they have largely
153
abandoned this approach in favour of cheaper, throwaway plastic. Unilever pioneered the use of throwaway
154 155
laminate sachets, and now they sell 27 billion a year in India alone.

These products are pushed into countries with few or no waste collection systems. As a result, large
quantities of plastic waste end up blocking drains, producing toxic fumes in backyard bonfires, or finding
their way to the ocean.

149 Velis C, Lerpiniere D, Tsakona M (2017) How to prevent marine plastic litter – now! An ISWA facilitated partnership to prevent marine litter, with a global
call to action for investing in sustainable waste and resources management worldwide. Report prepared on behalf of the International Solid Waste
Association (ISWA). An output of ISWA Marine Litter Task Force, Vienna. http://marinelitter.iswa.org/marine-task-force-report-2017
150 GAIA (2018) Are businesses ready to beat plastic pollution? http://www.no-burn.org/wp-content/uploads/GAIA-Abridged-Report-4June18-2.pdf;
https://zerowaste.asia/wasteaudits/philippine-2018-waba-results
151 Break Free From Plastic Coalition (2018) The brand audit report. https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/globalbrandauditreport2018
152 Tearfund and WasteAid (2018) Survey on the impacts of plastic pollution on poverty
153 Elmore B, ‘Plastic bottles are a recycling disaster, Coca-Cola should have known better’, The Guardian, 2 May 2017. https://www.theguardian.com/
commentisfree/2017/may/02/plastic-bottles-coca-cola-recycling-coke [accessed 21 March 2019]
154 Mahajan V (2016) ‘How Unilever reaches rural consumers in emerging markets’, Harvard Business Review. https://hbr.org/2016/12/how-unilever-
reaches-rural-consumers-in-emerging-markets
155 Ibid.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 41
 Plastic waste litters river banks and open spaces around the globe. Photo: Hazel Thompson/Tearfund

6.4 Resisting regulation

Companies have taken some steps in the right direction. For example, Unilever removed microbeads from
156
their products in 2014 before governments (including the UK) introduced bans on products containing
them. Various companies have taken steps to increase the recycled content of their plastic products.

However, these steps are not commensurate with the huge scale of the problem. Much more ambitious
action is needed and yet some industry groups have resisted efforts to tighten plastic pollution legislation
such as EPR.

EPR emerged as a concept in Sweden in 1990 and is (usually) a government-led framework that requires
manufacturers and retailers to pay for the costs of managing their products at the end of their life. This
incentivises businesses to design and produce goods in ways that facilitate simple recycling or reuse. Deposit
Return Schemes, where producers make up the shortfall between the costs of the scheme and the amount
raised in unclaimed deposits are an example of this. Various efforts have been made by governments around
the world to introduce and strengthen EPR regimes over recent decades.

However, a 2018 investigation by the Daily Mail suggested that government-enforced action on plastics
pollution had been frustrated over the years by ‘Highly effective, and often secret lobbying campaigns by a
global network of corporations, including everyone from plastics producers to oil giants (whose products are used
157
to make plastic), to drinks firms, packaging suppliers, coffee and fast food chains, and supermarket giants’.
158
Research from the Corporate Europe Observatory paints a similar picture, showing that some industry
groups mounted a concerted campaign against stricter EU rules. In the 12 months preceding the publication
of the final ‘European strategy for plastics’ in January 2018, industry groups had 70 meetings with European

156 Unilever, Microplastics. https://www.unilever.com/sustainable-living/what-matters-to-you/micro-plastics.html [accessed 21 March 2019]

157 Adams G, ‘Revealed: how the plastic industry knew 50 years ago it was causing a pollution crisis and hid it from the world’, Mail Online, 5 January
2018. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5240389/Plastic-industry-hid-pollution-crisis-50-years.html [accessed 21 March 2019]
158 Corporate Europe Observatory (2018) ‘Plastics pressure: industry turns up the heat to avoid plastics regulation spurred by public demand’.
https://corporateeurope.org/power-lobbies/2018/11/plastic-pressure [accessed 21 March 2019]

42 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 159
Commission officials; by comparison charities had just 16 meetings. Plastics Europe alone employs eight
full-time equivalent lobbyists and spends more than 1.5 million euros a year on lobbying. Country officials
160
working on the dossier described the lobbying as ‘very intensive’.

Put together with other sources such as reports of a leaked letter from MNCs lobbying EU member states to
161
water down legislation aimed at tackling plastic pollution, leaked emails showing ‘disruptive/unfair’ EPR
162
identified as a ‘fight back’ lobbying priority by Coca-Cola, and freedom of information requests revealing
163
lobbying by the British Plastics Federation (BPF) that led to cuts in recycling targets, we see a picture where
elements of industry are working hard to resist regulation intended to help solve the plastics crisis.

6.5 Tentative steps in the right direction?

‘The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment’ was launched in October 2018 by the Ellen MacArthur
Foundation and UN Environment. It ‘unites over 250 businesses, governments, NGOs, universities, and other
164
organisations from around the world behind a common vision that addresses the issue at its root cause’,
with businesses and governments committing to a set of targets. These changes are a step forward, and may
represent a willingness for companies to use their global influence for good as long as commitments made
become much more ambitious and concrete, as promised. The problem is that these commitments are still
relatively weak, and tend to focus on recycling rather than reducing usage of single-use plastics. In the table
below, we analyse these commitments in more detail.
165
In January 2019, several fossil fuel companies, waste management firms and consumer goods companies
166
made a different set of promises as part of the ‘End Plastic Waste Alliance’. The Alliance has dedicated
a combined total of 1 billion USD over the next five years to develop better plastic recycling practices and
infrastructure around the world. However, the companies promise little that will tackle the actual source of
the problem and as was recently publicised (2019), the Alliance’s founding companies are among the world’s
167
biggest investors in new plastic production plants, which will deepen the world’s plastic pollution crisis.
The hypocrisy is astounding. As currently formulated, the End Plastic Waste Alliance will not ‘end plastic
168
waste’ and it has been labelled a greenwashing stunt by charities from around the world.

Far stronger action is needed. Multinationals bear a responsibility for the packaging they produce, particularly
in markets without waste collection systems (they are sometimes one of the few actors capable of providing
the necessary upfront investment to establish these systems). Unless they change course, they risk contributing
to an extremely bleak future where the ocean continues to be filled with plastic, communities are flooded with
dirty water from blocked rivers and burning plastic chokes the air. They can do better.

159 Corporate Europe Observatory (2018) ‘Plastic promises: industry seeking to avoid binging regulations’. https://corporateeurope.org/power-lobbies/
2018/05/plastic-promises [accessed 21 March 2019]
160 Corporate Europe Observatory (2018) ‘Plastics pressure: industry turns up the heat to avoid plastics regulation spurred by public demand’.
https://corporateeurope.org/power-lobbies/2018/11/plastic-pressure [accessed 21 March 2019]
161 Chapman B, ‘Coca-Cola, Pepsi and Nestlé attempt to water down new plastics laws, leaked letter reveals’, The Independent, 18 October 2018.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/coca-cola-pepsi-nestle-plastic-pollution-leaked-letter-water-down-laws-a8590916.html
[accessed 21 March 2019]
162 Pfister K, ‘New #CokeLeak: Coca-Cola’s Policy Priorities’, Medium, 18 October 2016. https://medium.com/cokeleak/new-email-leak-coca-cola-
policy-priorities-390eb1dfda82 [accessed 21 March 2019]
163 Rodionova Z, ‘Government cut recycling targets after lobbying from plastics industry’, The Independent, 17 February 2017.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/government-recycling-targets-cut-pressure-plastics-lobbying-industry-a7585501.html
[accessed 21 March 2019]
164 The New Plastics Economy Global Commitment. https://newplasticseconomy.org/assets/doc/global-commitment-download.pdf [accessed 21 March
2019]
165 Although not Coca-Cola, Unilever, PepsiCo or Nestlé.
166 End Plastic Waste Alliance. https://endplasticwaste.org
167 Laville S, ‘Founders of plastic waste alliance “investing billions in new plants”’, The Guardian, 21 January 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/
environment/2019/jan/21/founders-of-plastic-waste-alliance-investing-billions-in-new-plants [accessed 21 March 2019]
168 McDermid C (2019) ‘Dozens of companies launch US$1 billion bid to end plastic pollution in Asia but environmentalists dismiss it as ‘greenwashing’
stunt’, Break Free From Plastic blog. https://www.breakfreefromplastic.org/2019/02/13/companies-bid-end-plastic-pollution-asia-greenwashing-
stunt [accessed 21 March 2019]

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 43
 RECOMMENDATIONS

Multinational corporations should:

•• report, by 2020, on the number of units of single-use plastic products they use and sell
in each country

•• reduce this amount by half, country by country, by 2025, and instead use
environmentally sustainable delivery methods like refillable or reusable containers

•• recycle the single-use plastics they sell in low- and middle-income countries, ensuring
that by 2022 one is collected for every one sold, as part of adequate systems for
collection, re-use, recycling and composting in communities that currently lack
these systems169

•• restore dignity through working in partnership with waste pickers to create safe jobs.
Around the world, there are numerous examples of companies partnering with waste
pickers to establish collection and recycling systems that are good for society and
the environment.

•• reimagine the way their products are delivered. Innovate and explore business models
that won’t harm people, the earth or the ocean.

Their primary focus must be on low- and middle-income countries where waste
management systems are lacking, because this is where the worst effects of the plastics
crisis are being felt.

169 MNCs often argue that governments must be involved for collection systems to function effectively, but experience in South Africa demonstrates
that this is not the case. Effective industry-led EPR schemes have been established for tin cans, glass and PET by the relevant industries, dramatically
increasing collection rates – see chapter 8.

44 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 TABLE New industry-led initiatives to tackle plastic pollution

The End Plastic The New Plastics Economy

Waste Alliance Global Commitment Our analysis

REPORTING No commitment ‘All business and government While some companies have disclosed
signatories have signed up their global annual plastic footprint
to a clear set of 2025 targets in volumes as part of the Global
underpinned by shared Commitment, we need to urgently see
definitions, and will report on a country by country disclosure on the
progress annually to ensure number of units sold so that we can see
transparency and help drive the scale of the problem and progress
momentum.’ being made in low- and middle-income
countries. How do we know if companies
are reducing their single-use plastics if we
don’t know how much they are producing
and the steps they are taking to reduce
and/or recover the plastic they create?

REDUCING No commitment ‘take action to eliminate A promise to ‘take action’ is too vague, and
problematic or unnecessary ‘problematic or unnecessary’ is open to
plastic packaging by 2025’ interpretation. There are no specific targets
for how much plastic packaging will be
‘take action to move from
reduced. They have given themselves five
single-use towards reuse
years to start thinking about the problem,
models where relevant
rather than five years to eliminate the
by 2025’
problem. Tellingly, the Alliance grouping
make no commitments to reduce their
usage of single-use plastics.

RECYCLING ‘infrastructure development ‘100% of plastic packaging Without a baseline and measurable
to collect and manage waste to be reusable, recyclable, or targets the Alliance’s promise is utterly
and increase recycling’ compostable by 2025’ meaningless.
‘set an ambitious 2025 Making products recyclable is not
recycled content target across enough. There is very little capacity
all plastic packaging used’ to recycle plastic in many low- and
middle-income countries.
There is no detail on what collecting plastic
means and what responsibility companies
will take for making that happen.

RESTORING ‘education and engagement No commitment Education and engagement on what? It’s
of governments, businesses, important this doesn’t result in businesses
and communities to lobbying against action to reduce or ban
mobilize action’ single-use plastics.
‘clean up of concentrated There is no mention of working with waste
areas of plastic waste pickers. Ignoring potential partnerships
already in the environment, with waste pickers who already play an
particularly the major important role is inefficient and risks
conduits of waste, like rivers, sidelining already very vulnerable people.
that carry land-based plastic
waste to the sea’

REIMAGINING ‘innovation to advance and No commitment Innovation is vital, but we need a much
scale new technologies greater rethinking than indicated here.
that make recycling and We need ambitious targets that shift us
recovering plastics easier beyond single-use plastics.
and create value from all
post‑use plastics’

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 45
 7 HIGH-INCOME GOVERNMENTS,
DONORS AND PLASTIC POLLUTION

‘The whole island is basically a dump, there is not one location on the island that has
inhabitants, which isn’t polluted, as the island has no waste management system.’
Irene, Indonesia

High-income country governments are also a key part of the problem and therefore hold a significant amount
of responsibility in tackling the crisis.

7.1 Flawed, polluting models of economic growth

Plastic pollution is a consequence of the take-make-dispose model of economic development birthed and
exported by high-income countries. The unsustainable consumption and production models promoted and
supported by these governments have provided an enabling environment that has allowed business models
based on single-use plastic to prosper. And many high-income governments have done little to-date (for
example in the form of bans, regulations and laws) to combat the problem of plastic pollution.

Current economic models, with large subsidies given to the oil and gas sectors (virgin plastic is made from
crude oil and natural gas), depress the price of plastic – driving supply. The G7 alone shell out 100 billion USD
170
per year in subsidies to the production and use of coal, oil and gas.

Islamabad, Pakistan. The take-make-dispose model of economic development has been exported across the globe by high-income
countries. Photo: Hazel Thompson/Tearfund

170 Whitley S et al (2018) ‘G7 fossil fuel subsidy scorecard: tracking the phase-out of fiscal support and public finance for oil, gas and coal’, ODI
Briefing Papers. https://www.odi.org/publications/11131-g7-fossil-fuel-subsidy-scorecard

46 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 7.2 Export of plastic waste
Furthermore, many high-income countries – despite having waste management systems far more developed
than low- and middle-income countries – have exported their waste to poorer countries as a key strategy
to deal with domestic post-consumer waste. In 2017, Europe exported one-sixth of its plastic waste, largely
171
to Asia. In the UK, around 650,000 tonnes of waste plastic resins are exported each year and historically,
172
over half of these have been sent to China. In January 2018, China closed its borders to other countries’
recycling waste and since then the UK has exported plastic waste to Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Pakistan
and Turkey. Major concerns have been raised over inspections to ensure correct treatment of this waste in
those countries. A recent report by Greenpeace’s journalism team, Unearthed, disclosed that packaging from
everyday British products – exported as recycling – have been discarded at multiple illegal dump sites in
173
Malaysia. The UK’s Environment Agency (EA) has embarked on a major investigation into claims of fraud
174
and corruption, including allegations that exported UK plastic waste is not being recycled. At present, there
is no mechanism for source countries to be held accountable for the impacts of plastic waste exported for
recycling to other countries, particularly to countries less able to manage waste.

High-income countries must ensure that export of domestic waste from their nations is minimised,
and, where any residual plastic waste is exported, that appropriate recycling facilities are in place in the
receiving countries.

7.3 A weak response through aid

Low- and lower-middle-income countries now need support to resolve the crisis caused by these business
models. This is particularly important where businesses fail to act on their own and must be legally obliged to
act by government.

Unfortunately the rich world’s response has been largely weak. Just 0.3 per cent of Official Development
Assistance (ODA) is spent on solid waste management, according to a comprehensive analysis undertaken
175
in 2014. In 2017, just 0.024 per cent of UK ODA was spent on projects primarily aimed at waste
176
management/disposal. Historically, donors have also focused on ‘white elephant’ projects such as large
incinerators, which are ill-suited to the types of waste and regulatory environment present in most low- and
middle-income countries.

However, ODA in this area also represents a huge and largely untapped opportunity to accelerate progress
towards the SDGs, as explained in chapter 4. Moving to more circular waste systems has a direct impact on
over half of the Goals, including reducing pollution, improving health outcomes and creating livelihoods for
people living in poverty.

Increasing the volume of aid for waste management from 0.3 per cent to 3 per cent could allow all 2 billion
people currently without waste collection to be reached, simultaneously protecting the environment,
improving public health and creating jobs.

171 The Economist (2018) quoted in in Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, p117. Urban
Development. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317
172 National Audit Office (2018) The packaging recycling obligations, Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs and Environment Agency.
https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/The-packaging-recycling-obligations.pdf
173 Ross A (2018) ‘UK household plastics found in illegal dumps in Malaysia’, Greenpeace Unearthed. https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2018/10/21/uk-
household-plastics-found-in-illegal-dumps-in-malaysia
174 Laville S, ‘UK plastics recycling industry under investigation for fraud and corruption’, The Guardian, 19 October 2019. https://www.theguardian.com/
environment/2018/oct/18/uk-recycling-industry-under-investigation-for-and-corruption [accessed 21 March 2019]
175 Lerpiniere D et al (2014) Review of international development co-operation in solid waste management. Report prepared by University of Leeds and
formatted by D-Waste on behalf of ISWA Globalisation and Waste Management Task Force. Vienna: International Solid Waste Association.
176 Based on the data underlying DFID’s Statistics on International Development 2017. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-
international-development-2017. This is the percentage of projects categorised under OECD DAC code 14050 for ‘waste management / disposal’.
There may be elements of other projects that include waste management but are coded differently.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 47
 7.4 Aid quality – what works?
ODA should focus on building government capacity to reduce the generation of unnecessary single-use plastic
packaging through EPR, which is a central means of ensuring investment in recycling and waste collection, and
other legal and fiscal measures, and to extending waste collection and management services to all.

Reducing single-use plastics

Technical support and ODA can enable low- and middle-income governments to develop and adopt a range
of regulatory and fiscal interventions to reduce overall production and use of plastic materials. Many low-
and middle-income countries are already pressing ahead with measures like these, as described in the next
chapter. However, implementation often proves challenging and technical assistance can be invaluable.

Expanding waste management

ODA can also support the expansion and reform of waste management systems. Waste management is a
complex area involving multiple groups and requiring careful design – a tricky ask for over-stretched local
177
governments. In a recent study examining successful interventions in this area, Tearfund found that four of
the biggest challenges associated with reforming solid waste management (SWM) systems are:
1. governance
2. stakeholder engagement
3. financing
4. technology

A municipal waste dump in Brazil. Photo: Eleanor Bentall/Tearfund

177 Lerpiniere D et al (2019) ‘Briefing paper: successful approaches to solid waste management in low and middle income countries’, Tearfund

48 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 Using specific examples, we identified four keys to successful aid projects in this area:
1. Clarify the responsibilities of the different government agencies involved in solid waste management
and establish transparency and public accountability for agencies and contractors. For example,
institutional reform in Morocco produced impressive results: the economic performance of the municipal
solid waste sector greatly improved, arrears paid to contractors reduced by a fifth and more than 44
million USD in revenue was recovered through eco taxes. More than 1,000 jobs were created for waste
178
pickers and waste collection coverage increased from 32 per cent to 53 per cent.
2. Ensure all the right stakeholders are effectively engaged (government agencies, households, waste
pickers, contractors) and coordinated, with careful attention paid to what incentives are needed to
engage each actor effectively. For example, in Bo City, Sierra Leone, donor and NGO support led to
whole system reforms: leaders actively engaged a broad range of stakeholders and were subsequently able
to establish a waste collection system for over 70 per cent of the city’s population. This has significantly
reduced dumping, stimulated the development of local recycling businesses and contributed to a
significant drop in disease. In 2013, more than 500,000 cases of cholera, diarrhoea, malaria and other
water- and vector-borne diseases were recorded. In 2016, just 4,082 cases were recorded. It is likely that
this was caused by a range of factors, including improvements in sanitation, but it is understood that
179
improvements to waste management have played a key role.
3. Ensure financial sustainability through innovative approaches to user fees and a recognition that
some value can be generated from waste. For example, in 2007 the German government provided
technical assistance to the local government in Bayawan City in the Philippines, to improve the financial
180
sustainability of their waste management system. The local government implemented a Pay-As-You-
Throw (PAYT) scheme based on householders purchasing stickers for each 40-litre bag of residual (ie non-
recyclable) waste. The scheme is understood to have been accepted by the community and increased the
cost-recovery rate. Quantities of waste collected have also reduced as more materials are diverted via local
181
recyclers, extending the expected life of the city’s sanitary landfill site.
4. Invest in appropriate (often low) technology approaches and associated staff capacity building, with
a view to facilitating easy replication, scale-up and integration into existing systems. For example, the
Integrated Resources Recovery Centre’s (IRRC) model (a bottom-up, community-based approach carried
out in partnership with the local government), has been designed to be easily adaptable. Originating in
Bangladesh, it has subsequently been successfully piloted in Pakistan, Vietnam and Sri Lanka. UNESCAP
(United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) argues that its success is
due at least in part to its modular design, which makes it easy to expand, replicate and integrate with
182
existing facilities.
WasteAid and CIWM’s Making waste work toolkit provides simple and low-cost techniques for people to
183
address the waste problem in their own communities.

178 Independent Evaluation Group (2015) Implementation Completion Report Review. http://bit.ly/2DzgNlt
179 DFID (2017) Project Completion Review. http://bit.ly/2FNP4PD
180 BMZ (2012) Economic instruments for solid waste management, case study Bayawan, Philippines. https://www.giz.de/en/downloads/giz2012-en-
economic-instruments-philippines.pdf
181 Ibid.
182 EUESCAP (2017) Sustainable Development Benefits of Integrated Waste Management: Integrated Resource Recovery Centers. https://www.unescap.org/
sites/default/files/Sustainable%20Development%20Benefits%20of%20Waste%20Management.pdf
183 Lenkiewicz Z and Webster M (2017) Making waste work: a toolkit, WasteAid and CIWM. https://wasteaid.org/toolkit/making-waste-work

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 49
 CASE STUDY 6
Good practice in action

Rashid Hameed* is 51 years old and lives in one of the 34 informal settlements in Islamabad, Pakistan.
His community has no waste collection service, and rubbish is openly dumped and burned. Rashid explains:
‘Our slum is located on the bank of a stream, which is full of solid waste and is a breeding place for
mosquitoes, flies and rats. These cause diseases in our children and old people, and we spend a great
deal of money on their treatment. People living outside the slum discriminate against us because of our
unclean environment.’

Rashid’s situation might seem bleak, but a neighbouring area has been transformed through a community
recycling and waste management centre.

In this nearby community, the Dr Akhtar Hameed Khan Memorial Trust (AHKMT) introduced a transformative
approach to managing waste in 2014. AHKMT set up an Integrated Resource Recovery Centre (IRRC), which
allows 90 per cent of a community’s waste to be recycled. It provides a ‘triple win’ – it creates jobs, improves
residents’ health and protects the environment from open burning and dumping.

In this scheme, paid workers collect local households’ waste six days a week. They take it to the centre, where
staff sort the waste. They keep the organic waste and use it to make high-quality organic compost, which is
sold on to plant nurseries. The plastics, metals and other dry recyclables are sold to a local buyer. Only around
ten per cent of the waste cannot be recycled or composted, and this is disposed of at a municipal landfill.

The centre pays for its activities from the sale of recyclable materials and compost, and by charging a small
amount to each household for waste collection (approximately 200 PKR per month, or 2 USD). AHKMT
provided the start-up costs for the centre, but by its third year it was able to pay for its own running costs –
and make a profit. The IRRC currently serves 1,670 households and processes 1,000 tonnes of waste each year.

When starting a project such as the IRRC, it is important to make sure no harm is done to those already
working informally as waste pickers. Instead, the centre makes sure it employs existing local waste pickers
among its staff, providing them with safer and better-paid employment. The centre calls their waste workers
‘E-guards’ (Environment guards) and supplies them with a protective uniform, giving them dignity and respect
in the community.

‘Environment guards’ collect household waste and transport it to the IRRC in Islamabad. Photo: Hamid Ullah/AHKMT

50 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 Faraz Karim* is 45 years old and has been working at the IRRC for the past three years. His job is to separate
organic, recyclable and rejected waste. He earns 14,000 rupees per month (approximately 113 USD) from the
IRRC, and also gets health benefits through Social Security.

Before, he worked as a house servant and earned much less. He says: ‘After joining the IRRC, my life has
changed completely. My financial situation has improved, and I have learnt health and hygiene practices that
have improved my health and the health of my family. I have gained knowledge of solid waste management,
composting and recycling, which is very useful for me and my community. I am happy and satisfied as I am
playing a productive role in society.’

The IRRC model was first used in Bangladesh in 2007 by the NGO Waste Concern. Since then, it has been
introduced successfully in a number of East Asian countries. IRRCs are an effective solution in circumstances
where the government does not have the capacity to provide waste disposal services.

Tearfund’s partner Pak Mission Society (PMS) is adapting the IRRC model to serve poor communities. PMS
started one IRRC in Pakistan in 2018 and plans to introduce the model much more widely during 2019.

* Names have been changed to protect identities.

184
This case study was first published in Tearfund’s magazine, Footsteps 107.

7.5 Aid quality – what doesn’t work?

In addition to understanding what approaches work in terms of successful ODA support for the expansion and
reform of waste management systems, it’s also important to consider what does not work.

High-tech centralised approaches

Recent history shows many examples of high-tech, centralised interventions that failed to increase collection
rates and safe disposal. Waste management technologies need to be both appropriate and financially
sustainable under local conditions – as described on page 49.

A UN-Habitat report explains the need for local contextualisation of approaches: ‘For example, large waste-
compaction collection vehicles designed to collect low-density, high-volume wastes on broad suburban
streets built to withstand high axle-loading rates in Europe or North America are unlikely to be suitable for
use in a developing country city. There the vehicles have to be smaller, lighter and narrower to allow collecting
much denser wastes from narrow streets and transporting it over rutted roads going up and down steep hills –
even well-surfaced main roads tend to be designed for lower axle‑loading rates. In many cases, a small truck,
185
a tractor or even a donkey fits local collection needs, while a 20 tonne compactor truck does not.’

As the Global Waste Management Outlook argues, ‘The focus should be on delivery of basic service needs of
citizens; generating local business and employment opportunities; maximizing waste reduction (expenditure-
reducing) and reuse, recycling and recovery (income-generating) opportunities; and fostering a healthy
186
environment for the private sector to invest in.’

184 Tearfund (2019) Footsteps 107 – Waste, https://learn.tearfund.org/en/resources/publications/footsteps/footsteps_101-110/footsteps_107. For more

detailed analysis of Rwanda’s solid waste management and recycling systems, see Kabera T et al (2019) ‘Benchmarking performance of solid waste
management and recycling systems in East Africa: comparing Kigali Rwanda with other major cities’. Waste Management and Research, 37 (1_suppl),
pp58–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X18819752
185 UN-Habitat (2010) Solid waste management in the world’s cities. https://unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/SolidWaste.pdf
186 UNEP/ISWA (2015) Global waste management outlook. http://web.unep.org/ourplanet/september-2015/unep-publications/global-waste-
management-outlook

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 51
 CASE STUDY 7
Failed technical solutions in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Maintenance has ceased at this sanitary landfill site. There are no other sanitary landfill sites in DRC. Photo: Mike Webster/Waste Aid

Kinshasa, a city of some 12 million people, is the capital of DRC, one of the poorest countries in the world with
a per capita GDP in 2014 of just 479 USD.

Mike Webster, from WasteAid, travelled there in 2018: ‘Beyond the upscale central district of Gombe where
there is basic organisation for waste collection, you don’t have to travel far to see drainage channels thick
with plastic waste, large scale décharges pirates (open dumps) scattered across the city and open burning.
Meanwhile, the evidence of harm caused by poor waste management is widespread – 45 people died in floods
while I was there, with much of the blame placed by the local communities on blocked drainage channels.
This led to a cholera outbreak with, at the time of writing, around 500 cases and more than 30 fatalities.
And this is just the acute, direct effect. What about the long-term impact on the public health of those that
live with this every day – gastro-enteritic disease, respiratory illness and environmental enteropathy [a disease
of the intestine]?’

There have been efforts to address this – between 2007 and 2017, EU-funded programmes delivered
comprehensive waste collection and sanitation services in 9 of the 24 communes, building transfer stations,
supporting teams of sanitation workers and building DRC’s first ever sanitary landfill at Mpasa, on the edge
of Kinshasa. It cost 1 million USD per month to run and collected 11,000m3 of waste per week. The impact
was dramatic – flood zones decreased by 40 per cent and waterborne disease by 50 to 70 per cent, saving
thousands of lives.

However, it was handed over to the provincial government in August 2015. Since that time, the collections
have ceased, the transfer sites are dilapidated and overflowing with uncollected waste and the maintenance
of the sanitary landfill has ceased.

52 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 ‘I saw first-hand the failure of traditional approaches taken by the international community to improve waste
collection and disposal and the need for international waste managers to innovate to provide sustainable
waste services. To my mind, this shows the blind spot of the waste sector. We are very good at providing
quality technical solutions but are less good at considering how they will be financed and managed in the
long term. We need to think about new cost-recovery models, new partners that have an interest in cleaner,
healthier communities. Perhaps the private sector, perhaps faith groups, and perhaps working at a more
manageable scale than such large, city-wide municipal waste collections.’
187
This case study is adapted from a blog entry by Mike Webster, CEO and co-founder of WasteAid.

Incineration
Incineration is often branded as a type of ‘waste-to-energy’ approach but it is no magic bullet even though
it is being promoted as a solution in many low- and middle-income countries. For example, in Ethiopia, a
UK-based company called Cambridge Industries has been involved in building a large incinerator to deal with
Addis Ababa’s waste. It states that this is ‘Phase I of a wider rollout program to develop multiple waste-to-
188
energy plants across SSA’s [sub-Saharan Africa’s] major cities.’

Incineration is not appropriate for the types of waste found in most low- and middle-income countries.
A key parameter is the energy content of waste, the ‘lower calorific value’ (LCV). According to the German
government agency GIZ, in low- and middle-income countries the ‘LCV of unsorted MSW [Municipal Solid
Waste] is often below [the appropriate] threshold due to a dominant organic content with high moisture and
189
a significant level of inert waste fractions such as ash or sand’.

Even if it were appropriate for the types of waste generated, incineration would still be problematic in low-
190
and middle-income countries. The technology depends critically for its environmental safety on high levels
of emission control, to remove particulates, acid gases and products of incomplete combustion such as
dioxins from the exhaust gases. This can represent up to half of the capital costs and a significant proportion
of the operating costs. So a strong, independent environmental regulator is required, to ensure that the proper
technology is planned, installed and used routinely. The resulting fly-ash is classified as a hazardous waste,
which needs to be managed properly, again requiring a strong environmental regulator. Both the very high
investment and operating costs, and the institutional capacity required to ensure proper control, mean that
incineration should not be considered a cost-effective or safe solution for donors looking to spend ODA in the
poorest countries.

187 Webster M (2018) ‘Kin-la-Belle or Kin-la-poubelle? Open Waste Dumping in DRC’, ISWA blog. https://www.iswa.org/home/news/news-detail/article/
kin-la-belle-or-kin-la-poubelle/109 [accessed 21 March 2019]
188 Cambridge Industries, ‘Reppie Waste-to-Energy, Africa’s first’. http://cambridge-industries.com/#reppie-section
189 GIZ (2017) Waste-to-Energy options in municipal solid waste management, a guide for decision makers in developing and emerging countries, p21.
https://www.giz.de/en/downloads/GIZ_WasteToEnergy_Guidelines_2017.pdf
190 Boyd S and Schröder P (2017) Smokescreen, Tearfund

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 53
 RECOMMENDATIONS

High-income governments should:

•• phase out the use of fossil fuel subsidies, including fiscal support and public finance,
which help drive the increasing production of virgin plastic

•• increase the volume of aid for waste management from 0.3 per cent to 3 per cent,
which could allow all 2 billion people currently without waste collection to be
reached. ODA should focus on building government capacity to reduce the generation
of unnecessary single-use plastic packaging and to extending waste collection and
management services to all.

•• avoid investment in ‘white elephant’ projects in developing countries, such as

incineration, that threaten waste picker livelihoods, are not suited to waste streams
with high organic content and require high levels of institutional capacity to
manage effectively

•• prioritise technical assistance to low- and middle-income governments to:

– develop and implement legal and fiscal measures to ban or reduce unnecessary,
problematic, and non-recyclable plastic
– implement locally appropriate EPR schemes to ensure businesses benefiting from
single-use plastic contribute to its management
– improve waste management governance and the enabling environment for effective
waste management
– scale up contextually relevant community-based recycling approaches

•• ensure that export of domestic waste from their nations is minimised and, where any
residual plastic waste is exported, that appropriate recycling facilities are in place in
the receiving countries

•• support low- and middle-income countries to develop national strategies for plastics
and waste with goals and policy instruments for each area of the waste hierarchy,
including support for dedicated plastics action plans to prevent pollution and help
reduce the production of problematic, non-essential and nonrecyclable plastics

54 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 8 LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME GOVERNMENTS
AND PLASTIC POLLUTION

‘The plastic bag ban has had a good effect, but plastic water bottles still cause
flooding in cities.’
Anne, Kenya

‘A lack of recycling services means people dump waste indiscriminately.’

Solomon, Nigeria

Although the problem of plastic overuse originated in high-income countries, many of the solutions are being
pioneered in the Global South by the nations and communities most affected by this crisis. For example,
Bangladesh was the first country to introduce a nationwide ban on plastic bags – in 2002 – because their
crippling effect on drainage systems contributed to widespread flooding in the preceding decade (although
191
the ban remains poorly enforced). Now 25 African countries have similar national bans – more than the rest
192
of the world combined.

As more success stories emerge (see below), these solutions can be copied, adapted and improved around
the world.

However, the context in low- and middle-income countries is challenging. In low-income countries, over
193
90 per cent of waste is mismanaged, and most households don’t have access to waste collection. Waste
management is a heavy burden for local governments in these nations. According to the Global Waste
194
Management Outlook, the cost of collection alone is unaffordable in many places. Even at current levels of
waste collection, waste management typically comprises almost 20 per cent of municipal budgets in low-
195
income countries, compared with just 4 per cent in high-income countries.

Nevertheless, there are several examples of local governments innovating to pioneer low-cost, inclusive
solutions. In Kigali, Rwanda, a public–private partnership has achieved collection coverage of 88 per cent.
The model is based on exclusive franchises in 35 sectors being tendered every three years. Households pay
an affordable fee depending on their ability to pay (with a free service provided to the poorest category).
Ninety‑five per cent fee collection rates are achieved, partly through co-collection with charges for other
196
community services.

191 ‘In 1988, poor drainage resulting from plastic bag litter clogging drains contributed to devastating floods in Bangladesh, causing several
deaths as two-thirds of the country was submerged’, UNEP (2018) Single-use plastics: a roadmap for sustainability, p13.
https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25496
192 UNEP (2018) Single-use plastics: a roadmap for sustainability. https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25496
193 Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317
194 UNEP/ISWA (2015) Global waste management outlook. http://web.unep.org/ourplanet/september-2015/unep-publications/global-waste-
management-outlook
195 Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317
196 Kabera T et al (2019) ‘Benchmarking performance of solid waste management and recycling systems in East Africa: comparing Kigali Rwanda with
other major cities’, Waste Management and Research, 37 (1_suppl), pp58–72. https://doi.org/10.1177/0734242X18819752

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 55
 In the absence of integrated sustainable waste management, waste collects in streets and public spaces in low- and middle-income
countries. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo: Sam Hill/Tearfund

In Maputo, Mozambique, a rapid increase in collection rates was achieved by inviting small community-based
companies to provide waste collection in hard-to-reach areas, with collection fees staggered by income level.
The city now has a collection rate of 80 per cent, one of the highest in its income group and a ‘phenomenal
197
achievement’ according to the Global Waste Management Outlook.

In general, however, waste has been a low priority for governments in low- and middle-income countries.
Collection schemes are sometimes prioritised by local mayors and municipalities, but until recently the topic
rarely caught the eye of national governments. Perhaps one reason for low levels of international aid in this
area (see chapter 7) is that low-income governments are not requesting it.

This is problematic because although local governments are legally responsible for clearing up the rubbish
created by businesses and households, the policy levers that could reduce the flow of this rubbish are held
by national government. Put simply, local governments will find it easier to introduce collection schemes if
national governments introduce supportive legislation, for example by banning the worst types of rubbish,
making businesses responsible for more of the costs of EPR, and mapping out a framework for bringing
together all of the groups that need to be involved.

The situation is beginning to change and success stories are starting to emerge.

8.1 Limiting the worst forms of rubbish

Some of the most damaging forms of single-use plastic are unnecessary. It has been known, for at least
198 199
30 years, that plastic bags block drainage systems, and yet switching to reusable bags is relatively simple.
A growing number of countries have bans or taxes in place for single-use plastic bags, with many introduced
200
in the last three years.

197 UNEP/ISWA (2015) Global waste management outlook, see particularly box 5.6 and figure 3.9. http://web.unep.org/ourplanet/september-2015/
unep-publications/global-waste-management-outlook
198 UNEP (2018) Single-use plastics: a roadmap for sustainability, p13. https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25496
199 Although care must be taken to ensure that reusable bags themselves can be safely recycled at the end of their life.
200 For example in Kenya: Otieno B, ‘State plans incentives for non-plastic bag makers’, Business Daily, 26 August 2017. https://www.businessdailyafrica.com/
news/State-plans-incentives-nonplastic-bag-makers/539546-4072016-15p3i66z/index.html

56 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 According to Erik Solheim, former Head of UN Environment, ‘Rwanda, a pioneer in banning single-use plastic
201
bags, is now one of the cleanest nations on earth.’ And UNEP’s landmark paper on single-use plastics also
finds that ‘plastic bag bans, if properly planned and enforced, can effectively counter one of the causes of
202
plastic overuse’ (particularly when combined with measures to expand waste management and improve
incentives for producers, retailers and consumers).

It is still too early for a comprehensive assessment of the numerous recent bans and levies on plastic bags,
although for those countries with good monitoring data, 60 per cent saw a dramatic drop in bag usage in
203
the first year. The most common problems are lack of enforcement, incentives and lack of affordable
204
alternatives, and UNEP’s report includes a guide to implementing effective regulation in this area. There are
other pernicious plastics that governments could consider banning, such as polystyrene that is not recyclable.

Governments can also provide incentives for innovative product design that aims to reduce the plastic
content of products or improve recyclability, along with shifts to viable alternative, non-plastic materials
205
(while being aware of the negative impacts that some proposed alternatives may have); and they can
incentivise the use of reusable and refillable items (such as food containers and drinking bottles), through
awareness, subsidies for refillables and levies for non-reusable items through the supply chain.

Mixed plastic pollution – including plastic bags – in a storm drain, Bali. A growing number of countries have bans or taxes in place for
single-use plastic bags. Photo: Zoe Lenkiewicz/WasteAid

201 Foreword to UNEP (2018) Single-use plastics: a roadmap for sustainability. https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25496
202 UNEP (2018) Single-use plastics: a roadmap for sustainability. https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/25496
203 Ibid.
204 Ibid.
205 Rakowski S, ‘Fauna & Flora International backs call to ban “oxo-degradable” plastic packaging’, Fauna & Flora International News Release,
15 November 2017. https://www.fauna-flora.org/news/ffi-backs-call-to-ban-oxo-degradable-plastic-packaging

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 57
 Water sachets – a mixed blessing
In many low-income countries LDPE (low-density polyethylene) water sachets have provided
clean drinking water for people who otherwise couldn’t afford it. However, they too contribute to
plastic pollution. There is a paradox here, and there are no easy answers.

These sachets are different to the multi-laminate sachets discussed in chapter 6. They are made of
a single plastic – LDPE – which is in theory recyclable. They also tend to be manufactured and used
by national or regional firms, rather than MNCs. However, while they are in theory recyclable, the
capacity to recycle them simply doesn’t exist in many low-income contexts.

An immediate solution to this problem is for the LDPE sachets to be collected and recycled.
However, the obvious longer term – more economically and environmentally sustainable – solution
is for governments and donors to also increase investment in water, sanitation and hygiene
(WASH), which will mean people can access safe water without having to buy it in plastic sachets.

Water sachets such as these are ubiquitous in many low-and middle-income countries. Photo: Jack Wakefield/Tearfund

8.2 Working with business

Where businesses refuse to act on their own, government legislation will force their hand. A government-led
EPR framework that requires manufacturers and retailers to pay for the costs of managing their products at
the end of their life, means that it becomes in the interest of business to design and produce goods in ways
that facilitate simple recycling or reuse. The concept is well established in high-income countries, although it
has sometimes been resisted by industry (see chapter 6).

There are several notable success stories in developing countries. South Africa has three successful EPR
initiatives (for tin cans, glass and PET bottles), which were established voluntarily by industries in coordination
206
with the government (under the potential threat of legislation for glass and PET bottles if they failed to act).
In each case the major players in the supply chain have collaborated to establish and fund an organisation
that both supports recovery of recyclable materials (for example by paying a good price to collectors) and

206 UNEP/ISWA (2015) Global waste management outlook, p163–164. http://web.unep.org/ourplanet/september-2015/unep-publications/global-waste-

management-outlook

58 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 ensures a steady supply of high-quality recyclate for manufacturers. This approach has successfully increased
collection rates – putting South Africa in the top six countries globally for tin can collection, for example. It
207
has also spurred greater use of recyclate by business.

However, regulatory action by governments doesn’t excuse companies from taking the initiative themselves
to make voluntary changes to tackle the crisis. Often concurrent action is called for with all actors making the
changes they can.

One of the crucial differences between high- and middle- or low-income country contexts when it comes
208
to EPR is the existence of informal waste pickers, as the success of EPR often relies on their involvement.
209
This often reduces costs for business and government, and without it, a dual waste system undermines
the operation and objectives of EPR legislation (as occurred in India’s first attempt to introduce EPR for
210
electronic waste). Furthermore, tens of thousands of the most vulnerable adults and children earn a living
by collecting recyclable waste, and an inclusive approach provides them with an opportunity to increase their
dignity, improve their health and bolster their pay.

Liberia Mapesmoawe (left) and Justina Mokoena (right) are both waste pickers on the Boitshepi landfill in South Africa and members of
the growing Majakathatha Cooperative. Photo: Jonathan Torgovnik/Getty Images Reportage

Even in countries where establishing full EPR appears challenging, developing country governments can
require companies to publish data on the amount of plastic packaging they are distributing. This information is
rarely available at present, and it would help civil society and the media to hold business to account, thereby
creating additional incentives for producer responsibility.

207 Nahman A (2010) ‘Extended producer responsibility for packaging waste in South Africa: current approaches and lessons learned’, Resources,
Conservation and Recycling, vol. 54 (3)
208 Ibid.
209 Gower R and Schröder P (2016) Virtuous circle: how the circular economy can create jobs and save lives in low- and middle-income countries, Tearfund
and IDS
210 Lines K et al (2016) Green and inclusive? Recycling e-waste in China and India, IIED

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 59
 8.3 Setting up an inclusive framework for waste management
Waste management is a complex area that requires an integrated approach covering generation, collection,
sorting, recycling and safe disposal. It also affects multiple groups: producers, distributors, retailers,
households, the recycling industry, informal waste pickers and local government. Even for basic organisation
of waste collection, there are at least five stakeholder groups whose participation helps make an intervention
financially sustainable and socially accepted: households, informal waste pickers, local government,
producers and the recycling industry. As explained in chapter 5, waste pickers are often excluded, even though
their involvement can improve the welfare and livelihoods of some of the poorest people in society and
simultaneously reduce costs for municipalities.

This is a difficult area for local government. Their financial resources are stretched, and they often also lack
the time or technical expertise to negotiate suitable multi-stakeholder arrangements. For example in Brazil,
before 2007, municipalities had ‘no legal instruments to enable them to hire waste picker organisations to
perform waste collection… [while] these organisations had no means of meeting the legal requirements to
211
bid for formal government contracts’. This is common around the world.

National governments need to start by clarifying the role of municipalities, national environmental regulators
and other government agencies, and setting out measures to promote transparency and accountability.

It is also important that local governments are provided with the instruments and technical support required
to contract with waste pickers and engage with other stakeholders. (There is a growing evidence base for
212
policy in this area. ) This should be accompanied by a programme of financial and technical support for
waste pickers to organise together as associations and cooperatives (see chapter 5).

Finally, national governments can provide mechanisms for local communities to become involved in decision-
making about waste collection. In Brazil, legislation gives local people the right to sit in a ‘Local Environment
Council’, which allows them to participate in the formulation of public policy. These councils exist at the
national, state and municipal level and have been used effectively across the country.

These activities reinforce and complement national efforts to introduce EPR.

8.4 Accessing and mobilising funding

In addition to action in these three areas, low- and middle-income countries must work with donors to
allocate more funding to waste management. Low-cost innovative approaches are emerging – in some cases
these models can even pay for themselves after a few years. For example, in Pakistan, the collection and
recycling centre set up by AHKMT (described in chapter 7) was able to pay for its own running costs by its
third year of operation. However, all of these initiatives require some level of seed funding.

These four themes would ideally be combined into a national strategy for plastics and waste, which sets goals
and policy instruments for each area of the waste hierarchy (from preventing waste, through encouraging
repair, reuse and recycling, and including safe collection and disposal of what’s left). The ambition of this
strategy needs to be commensurate with available funds, but typical goals would include waste minimisation,
universal access to collection and environmentally sound management. UNEP’s Global Waste Management
Outlook provides detailed advice and guidance in this area.

Globally, the citizens of low- and middle-income countries are the most affected by the waste crisis. Their
governments have a crucial role to play in bringing the problem under control.

211 Fernandes A (2016) Closing the loop: the benefits of the circular economy for developing countries and emerging economies, EPEA Brasil, Tearfund and
NuReS (Núcleo de Redes de Suprimentos)
212 Gower R and Schröder P (2016) Virtuous circle: how the circular economy can create jobs and save lives in low- and middle-income countries, Tearfund
and IDS; Gunsilius E et al (2011) Recovering resources, creating opportunities: integrating the informal sector into solid waste management, GIZ on
behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

60 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 RECOMMENDATIONS

Low- and middle-income governments should:

•• set out a national strategy for plastics and waste, with goals and policy instruments for
each area of the waste hierarchy

•• limit the worst forms of single-use plastic and incentivise innovative product design that
reduces plastic use

•• work with business to ramp up their responsibility for collecting and processing the
waste they create (EPR), and require them to publish data on the amount of plastic
packaging they are distributing

•• set up an inclusive framework for waste management, which should:

– clarify the roles of government agencies, local government, businesses, and society,
and set out measures to promote transparency and accountability
– partner with informal waste pickers, providing the instruments and technical support
required for local government to contract with these groups and offering support for
waste pickers to organise together as associations and cooperatives
– include mechanisms for local communities to monitor and become involved in
waste collection

•• increase the political and financial resources available for waste management at both
municipal and national level and work with donors to allocate more funding to this area.
The focus should be on pioneering low-cost, inclusive solutions (as several nations are
already doing).

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 61
 9 THE ROLE OF CITIZENS

‘When extraordinary things are achieved against apparently impossible odds,

it’s often because of a shift in values and a civil society movement that pushes
for change.’
Tearfund 213

The public response to the Blue Planet II television series towards the end of 2017 is a masterclass on how
pressure from ordinary people can propel an issue up the policy agenda. Many people and organisations
are also demonstrating their own willingness to reduce their plastic footprint to show demand for a more
sustainable way of doing business.

While the lion’s share of responsibility lies firmly at the feet of the MNCs and high-income governments,
each person and community has a role to play in tackling the plastic pollution crisis. Indeed, as Tearfund has
observed: ‘When extraordinary things are achieved against apparently impossible odds, it’s often because of a
214
shift in values and a civil society movement that pushes for change.’

By taking campaign actions, such as writing to companies and MPs, calling for change, citizens can make a difference. Photo: Tearfund

213 Evans A and Gower R (2015) The restorative economy – completing our unfinished millennium jubilee, Tearfund, p19
214 Ibid.

62 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 9.1 Holding companies and governments to account
Individuals and communities around the world have played a huge role in recent years in bringing the
plastic pollution crisis to light and doing their bit to respond, whether that’s through reducing the amount
of single-use plastics bought, mobilising beach clean-ups or the inspiring examples of community-led waste
management such as those featured in chapter 8.

As we look towards the huge – but achievable – task of tackling this mammoth crisis, it is vital that ordinary
people continue to speak out and act. Citizens and consumers need to use their voices and actions to urge
governments and companies to make changes to their economies and business models that help people in
poverty and our planet to flourish. Both politicians and business bosses need to hear how important this issue
is to individuals and communities, and be held to account for the actions they take in response.

9.2 Lifestyle – reducing single-use plastics

While calling for governments and companies to act, there are increasing numbers of ways that individuals
and communities can live out the changes they are calling for. Consumers have often been forced into a linear,
disposable lifestyle, where companies encourage their audiences to buy for convenience, use things and then
throw them away. It can be hard to break out of this model – ‘ethical’ items are often marketed at a higher
price point, and for specialist products there may be no available alternative. However, becoming an ‘early-
adopter’ of a more sustainable approach creates pressure for new packaging models that make it easier for
others to follow a sustainable path in the future.

The recommendations listed on page 64 include some suggestions on how to reduce single-use plastic
consumption. When it comes to packaging, it is best to cut down on using disposable packaging altogether
rather than switching one type of packaging for another. For example, many businesses are switching from
215
plastic packaging and utensils to paper or wood. Unfortunately, single-use paper can have a higher carbon
footprint than plastic and climate change is still the greatest challenge the world faces, so one bad choice is
216
simply substituted for another!

Where single-use plastic is unavoidable it should be recycled (which means it must also be recyclable – not
all plastic packaging is). However, it’s important to stress that while recycling plastic is better than sending
it to landfill, it is by no means the panacea. Even in a high-income country such as the UK, the capacity to
recycle is already far below the capacity that’s needed (meaning the UK is exporting its recyclable plastic
elsewhere). By continuing to buy such products, the harmful business models and practices of the MNCs are
being sustained.
217
Some people think ‘alternative’ plastics (such as bio-plastics, biodegradable and compostable plastics) are
the answer, but research suggests that the alternative plastics currently available may be just as harmful to
218
the environment as conventional plastics. Increasing the use of plant-based alternatives (bio-based plastics)
will also be problematic if increasing amounts of land and resources are given over to their production.
Additionally, waste collection systems in the UK are not designed to collect and handle biodegradable or
compostable items. Unless special arrangements are made for them to be collected and composted at an
appropriate industrial facility, they will be sent to landfill where they won’t biodegrade and will contribute to
methane emissions like any other waste product.

215 Environment Agency (2011) Life cycle assessment of supermarket carrier bags: a review of the bags available in 2006.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/291023/scho0711buan-e-e.pdf
[accessed 21 March 2019]
216 Ibid.
217 A type of biodegradable plastic derived from biological substances rather than petroleum.
218 Masterson A (2018) ‘Biodegradable plastic bags may be major pollutants’, Cosmos Magazine. https://cosmosmagazine.com/geoscience/
biodegradable-plastic-bags-may-be-major-pollutants

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 63
 Making lifestyle changes to reduce the use of plastics is important so that, as concerned citizens, we live
the change we want to see. If it becomes a widespread movement it will also significantly reduce the
amount of plastic waste exported to low- and middle-income countries, as well as clean up the streets
and marine habitats and reduce the impact on climate change. By making these changes and talking about
it, the word can spread, changing social norms. This also opens up political space for governments and
multinational businesses to act so that the system itself changes and enables a society where it’s easy to
live without single-use plastic.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Citizens should:

•• hold companies and governments to account for their responsibilities in tackling the
plastic pollution crisis, starting by signing up to support Tearfund’s campaign asking
MNCs to take responsibility for the plastic they produce in developing countries –
www.tearfund.org/rubbishcampaign

•• write to their elected representative (in the UK via www.writetothem.com) telling them
their concerns regarding plastic waste, and asking them to take action

•• take part in community initiatives to tackle plastic waste, such as community litter
collections or local beach clean-ups

•• reduce usage of single-use plastics where possible, for example, by:

– using a reusable water bottle, reusable shopping bags and reusable cup when buying
hot drinks ‘on the go’
– cutting out non-essential items like cotton buds; glitter; plastic cups, plates and
cutlery; and plastic straws219
– buying groceries and toiletries with less or no packaging where possible eg loose
vegetables rather than those packaged in plastic; unwrapped soap etc220
– buying from ethical companies who are committed (genuinely) to reduce plastic use

219 The exception being people with particular disabilities that require the use of straws.
220 Bio-based, ‘biodegradable’ or compostable plastics are not a solution to the plastic pollution crisis as they mostly present similar risks to the
environment as conventional plastics and can propagate linear material flows that undermine the transition to a circular economy.

64 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 CONCLUSION
This report has set out the plastic pollution problem facing our world and its poorest people. It has
explained the damage being caused to our environment, our oceans and to the health and livelihoods
of poor communities. It has presented solutions: clear actions that need to be taken by those most
responsible for the problem – MNCs and high-income governments – as well as low- and middle-income
governments and individuals.

The challenge is complex and requires bold action, but it is not insurmountable.

As a global community we have no choice but to reimagine and transform our take-make-throw economy.
We need thriving, responsible businesses that deliver goods that customers need, in packaging models that
can be used again and again, not substituting one environmental bad choice for another. We need many more
visionary governments who promote and incentivise this approach through regulation and fiscal measures,
and we need donors (high-income country governments and global institutions) who will rapidly invest in
waste management solutions that work for people in poverty, create jobs and save lives. In just a couple of
years, many people’s eyes have been opened to the sheer irrationality of the single-use-plastic business model
for consumer goods, and many inspirational communities across the world have mobilised to demand better,
and clean up their beaches and streets. Change is coming, but we cannot be complacent: we must keep up the
pressure, there is no time to waste.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 65
 ANNEX:
EXPLAINING OUR STATISTICS
This report contains three new statistics and this annex explains how they were calculated.
•• Every 30 seconds the UK public throws away two double-decker busloads of plastic.
•• In low- and middle-income countries, a double-decker busload of plastic is burnt or dumped every second.
•• Each year between 400,000 and 1 million people die from diseases caused by rubbish. At the upper end,
that’s one person every 30 seconds.

UK plastic by the busload

According to the World Bank’s What a Waste report, the UK produces 32 million tonnes of Municipal
221
Solid Waste (MSW) a year. The World Bank estimates that plastic accounts for 13 per cent of MSW
in high‑income countries, therefore we calculate the amount of plastic within the UK’s MSW to be
approximately 4 million tonnes.

Converting the weight of mixed plastic waste to volume is not at all straightforward. Not least because
different types of plastics have different densities and therefore the conversion ratio differs between plastic
types. It also differs depending on whether the plastic waste has been crushed or not.

To convert the weight of the UK’s plastic waste to volume, we used the same ratio as that used by
222
the Everyday Plastic report. Note that this is based on plastic as it is thrown from the household, so
before being mechanically crushed. In this report, 35kg of uncrushed plastic waste was equivalent to
1.5m3. Therefore we calculate that 4 trillion kg of uncrushed plastic waste is equivalent to a volume of
approximately 180 million m3.

The dimensions for a London double-decker bus are…

Minimum aisle headroom

Overall length: Overall width:
at the centre line on
10m to 10.9m 2.5m to 2.55m
both decks: 1.83m

This gives a useable volume of 90m3.

Therefore it takes 2 million double-decker buses to transport the plastic waste thrown away by UK households
and businesses each year.

There are 525,600 minutes in a year, making this one bus every 16 seconds, or approximately 2 buses every
30 seconds.

221 Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317. This report defines Municipal Solid Waste as including ‘residential, commercial, and institutional waste’.
222 Webb D and Schneider J (2018) Everyday Plastic: what we throw away and where it goes. https://www.everydayplastic.org

66 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 Plastic in low- and middle-income countries by the busload
The World Bank’s What a Waste report also provide figures for total household waste by country-income
223
group, along with estimates of the percentage that is plastic and the percentage that is ‘mismanaged’.

‘Mismanaged’ means subject to open dumping or burning. Combining these figures allows us to estimate that
70 million tonnes of plastic are burnt or dumped in low- and middle-income countries each year.

As with the previous statistic, we use the Everyday Plastic report’s conversion factor for weight to volume, for
224
plastic waste. Although this is based on a UK waste sample, our understanding of plastic waste composition
across countries suggests that it is likely to be broadly similar globally. This results in a volume estimate of
3 billion m3 of mismanaged plastic waste in low- and middle-income countries each year.

This is equivalent to more than 33 million double-decker buses (see previous statistic). There are 31.5 million
seconds in a year, making this one bus a second.

Deaths resulting from waste each year

This is the most complicated of the three statistics.

As described in chapter 2 of the report, the links between waste and ill health are serious and multi-faceted.
For the purposes of the calculation, we focus on three channels:
•• Premature mortality from air pollution caused by open burning of waste (which is linked with stroke,
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ischaemic heart disease, lung cancer, lower respiratory infections
and neonatal preterm birth).
•• Diarrhoeal disease caused by blocked drains, flooding, and other insanitary conditions arising from
dumped waste.
•• Mosquito-borne disease including dengue and malaria caused by increased mosquito breeding grounds
arising from dumped waste and flooding.

There are other causes that we cannot calculate, including death by drowning, falling or wounding, and other
diseases such leptospirosis. We do mention these in chapter 2, but do not include them in our calculations.

In each case we produce an upper- and lower-bound estimate. Taken together, these provide a range of
approximately 400,000 to 1.1 million deaths annually (rounded to the nearest hundred thousand).

Premature mortality from air pollution

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) most recent analysis of deaths attributable to air pollution (focusing
225
on PM2.5 and other air pollution associated with it) suggests a figure of 4.2 million deaths a year in 2016.
226
In a landmark paper in 2014, Wiedinmyer et al produced estimates of the emissions caused by open
burning of waste. At a global level, Wiedinmyer estimated that open burning of waste created emissions
equivalent to 29 per cent of all previously known PM2.5 emissions (or to put it another way, 22 per cent of
227
a newly revised global total).

223 Kaza S et al (2018) What a waste 2.0: a global snapshot of solid waste management to 2050, Urban Development. Washington, DC: World Bank.
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30317. This report defines Municipal Solid Waste as including ‘residential, commercial, and institutional waste’.
224 Webb D, Schneider J (2018) Everyday Plastic: what we throw away and where it goes. https://www.everydayplastic.org
225 WHO (2018) Ambient outdoor air quality and health factsheet. https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ambient-(outdoor)-air-quality-
and-health
226 Wiedinmyer et al (2014) ‘Global emissions of trace gases, particulate matter, and hazardous air pollutants from open burning of domestic waste’,
Environ. Sci. Technol. 2014, p48. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25019173
227 According to WHO, 91 per cent of deaths from all sources of air pollution are in low- and middle-income countries, and according to Wiedinmyer’s
background data, 97 per cent of openly burnt waste is in these countries too, so we assume that all deaths related to open burning of waste occur in
low- and middle-income countries.

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 67
 There are reasons to believe that air pollution from open burning is more dangerous than other forms – notably
because these emissions are often produced in close proximity to human habitation (often in backyards in
informal settlements). However, some of the sources used for Wiedinmyer’s meta-analysis are relatively old
(from around 2010) and it is therefore possible that less waste is now being burned because of improvements
in waste collection in upper-middle income countries such as China. However, it is also true that waste
generation itself is increasing rapidly in these countries, which could offset improvements in waste collection.

Taking these factors into account, we calculate an upper-bound estimate of deaths arising from open burning
of waste equivalent to 22 per cent of WHO’s estimate, or 920,000 deaths a year.
228
As a lower-bound, we use an estimate provided by Kodros et al (2016). Kodros used Wiedinmyer’s figures to
inform a global model of air pollution and disease prevalence, in order to estimate the number of premature
229
adult deaths caused by PM2.5. His model and accompanying data is older than that used in the recent
230
WHO analysis (note that WHO’s estimate has trebled since its 2011 calculations), and he estimates that
open burning of waste gives rise to 270,000 premature deaths each year. He also notes that the spatial
resolution of his model is not fine enough to capture the full effect of emissions being co‑located with human
habitation: tests with a more detailed resolution for Asia suggest at least 25 per cent more mortalities. As a
result, he suggests that his estimate constitutes a lower-bound.

Kodros’ estimate only includes adult mortality, therefore we add estimates for mortality caused by lower
respiratory infections in children and neonatal pre-term birth. In order to estimate the role of burnt waste
in these deaths, we take the total number of deaths related to lower respiratory infections and neonatal
pre-term birth from the IHME Global Burden of Disease database and adjust this according to the proportion
231
that WHO judges to be related to ambient air pollution. We apportion these ‘air pollution related deaths’
232
between waste-collection and no-collection areas, inferring that the rate of death is slightly higher in no-
collection areas because of higher levels of air pollution. We then conservatively assume that 22 per cent of
deaths in no-collection areas are related to burning of waste. This suggests an additional 5,000 deaths.

Diarrhoeal disease
As stated in chapter 2, diarrhoeal disease is the second leading cause of mortality in children under five years
233
old, and dumped waste significantly increases its incidence. There are no conclusive studies in this area, but
many indicate a strong causal relationship: for example, according to UN Habitat, living among uncollected
234 235
waste doubles the incidence of diarrhoeal disease; a study in Ethiopia indicated that diarrhoeal disease
236
was three times as likely where waste wasn’t managed properly; a study in Nigeria suggested that blocked
drains double the incidence of diarrhoea, as does ‘waste creating breeding places for flies’; and a study in
237
Brazil (published by the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene) suggested that exposure to waste
in the environment could quadruple the incidence of diarrhoea.

However, it is statistically difficult to isolate the impact of waste management from other factors, particularly
since the affected communities often also lack access to clean drinking water, sanitation, medical help and
other essential services. As a corollary, recent trials providing access to water and sanitation have shown that

228 Kodros et al (2016) ‘Global burden of mortalities due to chronic exposure to ambient PM2.5 from open combustion of domestic waste’,
Environmental Research Letters, vol. 11 (12)
229 Cohen et al (2017) ‘Estimates and 25-year trends of the global burden of disease attributable to ambient air pollution: an analysis of data from the
Global Burden of Diseases Study 2015’, The Lancet, vol. 389 (10082), pp1907–1918. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(17)30505-6
230 WHO (2014) ‘Burden of disease from ambient air pollution for 2012’. https://www.who.int/phe/health_topics/outdoorair/databases/AAP_BoD_
results_March2014.pdf
231 Based on Prüss-Ustün A et al (2016) Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental
risks, World Health Organisation
232 Using data from UNEP/ISWA (2015) Global waste management outlook. http://web.unep.org/ourplanet/september-2015/unep-publications/global-
waste-management-outlook
233 Prüss-Ustün A (2016) Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks, World
Health Organisation
234 UN Habitat (2009) Solid Waste Management in the World’s Cities. https://unhabitat.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/SolidWaste.pdf
235 Gebru T, Taha M and Kassahun W (2014) ‘Risk factors of diarrhoeal disease in under-five children among health extension model and non-model
families in Sheko district rural community, Southwest Ethiopia: comparative cross-sectional study’, BMC Public Health, 14, 395
236 Oloruntoba E, Folarin T and Ayede A (2014) ‘Hygiene and sanitation risk factors of diarrhoeal disease among under-five children in Ibadan, Nigeria’,
African Health Studies, vol. 14 (4)
237 Rego R, Moraes L and Dourado I (2005) ‘Diarrhoea and garbage disposal in Salvador, Brazil’, Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and
Hygiene, vol. 99 (1)

68 NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE
 238
we do not see the great reductions in diarrhoea one might expect from comparable observational studies.
We therefore moderate the risk factor associated with lack of waste collection, as described below.

For our lower-bound estimate, we assume that diarrhoeal disease is 50 per cent more prevalent in areas
without waste collection (since waste collection is also a proxy for lack of access to other essential services).
We then suggest that introducing waste collection reduces diarrhoea in these areas by just eight per cent –
much lower than indicated by the studies on incidence mentioned above. (By way of comparison, provision
of improved sanitation (toilets) is generally held to reduce incidence of diarrhoea by a third, and handwashing
239
with soap by about half. ) These figures suggest that lack of waste collection is responsible for around
four per cent of all deaths caused by diarrhoea.

For our upper-bound estimate, we assume that diarrhoeal disease is twice as likely in areas without waste
collection and that introducing waste collection reduces mortality by 15 per cent – again much lower than
indicated by the studies on incidence. These figures suggest that lack of waste collection is responsible for
around nine per cent of all deaths from diarrhoea.

This produces a range of 67,000 to 141,000 deaths per year. It is worth emphasising again that a much higher
estimate could be produced if we relied solely on risk factors from observational studies, but we moderate
these as described above.

Mosquito-borne disease
240
Uncollected waste is notorious for providing breeding grounds for mosquitoes. The species that carry dengue
and malaria prefer clean water, meaning that rainwater caught in discarded plastic containers is of primary
concern. Both malaria and dengue are significant causes of premature mortality in developing countries.

For our statistics, we take WHO’s judgement for the proportion of total dengue and malaria deaths caused
241
by environmental factors (ie provision of breeding grounds) and apportion these deaths between waste-
242
collection and no-collection areas. We know that these diseases are more prevalent among those in
243
poverty (for example because of the quality of their housing ) and that lack of waste collection is also a
proxy for poverty.

Therefore, for our upper-bound estimate we assume that these (environmentally caused) deaths are 50 per cent
more prevalent in no-collection areas. We then further assume that providing waste management reduces
their incidence by a quarter. For our lower-bound estimate, we assume that these deaths are 35 per cent more
likely in no-collection areas and that providing waste management reduces their incidence by 15 per cent.
These calculations are performed separately for low-income, lower-middle income and upper‑middle income
countries to account for differences in waste collection coverage. This produces a range of 27,000 to 48,000
deaths per year.

238 Cairncross S et al (2010) ‘Water, sanitation and hygiene for the prevention of diarrhoea’. International Journal of Epidemiology, 39 (Suppl 1), pp193-205
239 Ibid.
240 Prüss-Ustün A et al (2016) ‘Preventing disease through healthy environments: a global assessment of the burden of disease from environmental risks’,
World Health Organisation
241 Ibid.
242 Using data from UNEP/ISWA (2015) Global waste management outlook. http://web.unep.org/ourplanet/september-2015/unep-publications/global-
waste-management-outlook
243 Teklehaimanot A and Mejia P (2008) Malaria and poverty, The Earth Institute at Columbia University

NO TIME TO WASTE: TACKLING THE PLASTIC POLLUTION CRISIS BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE 69
 ‘It is high time we turn our
attention fully to one of the
most pressing problems of today
– averting the plastic pollution
crisis – not only for the health of
our planet, but for the wellbeing
of people around the world.’

SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH

learn.tearfund.org
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T UK +44 (0) 20 3906 3906 E [email protected]

Registered office as above. Registered in England 994339. A company limited by guarantee.

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