The forgotten Sector in the Climate Change Debate, Brasilia, Brazil.

One sector, which is often forgotten in the debate on climate change, is the urban waste sector. The global waste sector produces, between 2–15 % of global anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions depending on the source. The amount of GHG emissions has grown steadily and is predicted to increase considerable in the forthcoming decades because of the increases in population and consumption. However, the GHG mitigation opportunities for this sector are huge, particularly in developing countries. Till today, the models and methods of calculating the emissions from the waste sector are in the best case vague and are often based on defective data. The waste sector inventories are calculated on models that value open landfills more than dumpsites. So efficient measurement of the real numbers is impossible especially in the global south. This indicates that the real emissions from the waste sector are much higher. It is important to capacitate the waste sector in these countries right now to facilitate them for quick development of an integrated waste management. This management begins by the efficient collecting and ends by using the vast possibilities of reuse, recycling or energetic use through incinerators. The picture taken is from the dumpsite Estrutural in Brasilia, Brazil. Brazil is right now reviewing their GHG-Inventory and forcing the inclusion of the climate change mitigation potentials of the waste sector into the national waste management plans as one of the first countries in Latin America. This is because most of the waste today is deposited in open landfills where nationwide 500.000 Catadores (Waste Pickers) separate the valuables from the non-reusable trash. So all actions taken to change the waste sector should include them to ensure that they can improve their situation.

How is Waste handled in your countries and how is the society as well as the government treating the ones working with waste?

#waste #GHG #climatechange #mitigation #sustainability #dumpsite#wastemanagement

#catadores #trash #weareclimatechange #cities#urbanmanagement #cityexplorations #brasilia

#brazil #southamerica