You might often wonder how quickly plastics, paper, or other types of waste pile up again at home. You ask yourself where it all comes from and whether we could be doing something differently. Even if you carefully sort your waste, even if you shop responsibly and think about unnecessary packaging or how an item was produced. Why is the packaging so big? Why are there two layers? What is it made of? How long will it last? Do I even need it?
Waste is an inseparable part of our lives, filled with purchases and things acquired without much restraint. A consumer’s perspective on waste is important and reminds us to start with ourselves. But it is only one of several perspectives. Waste is generated primarily elsewhere, outside our homes and apartments, though its production is driven by economic activity and consumer demand.
Municipal waste (including sorted waste and biowaste) makes up 15% of total waste production in the Czech Republic (2023), with unsorted mixed municipal waste at 9%. Far more comes from construction and demolition waste (44%) or industrial and other waste (41%). There is also room for improvement in waste utilisation: about half of all waste is recycled, but roughly 15% still ends up in landfills and only 4% is used for energy recovery.
So what would happen if there were no waste? The question is, in fact, meaningless – at least if we continue thinking about waste as we always have. Waste exists and will continue to exist; it won’t disappear, even if we bury it underground or burn it. And let’s be honest, none of us want it in plain sight – not in the form of landfills (which will soon disappear anyway, as landfilling will be banned from 2030 in the EU and the Czech Republic), nor in the form of facilities for processing waste, whether sorting plants, incinerators, or other operations.
With the landfill ban in place, pressure is growing to find new ways of handling waste, but clean new technologies take time to develop. Meanwhile, the amount of waste worldwide keeps increasing. Its growth is driven by several interconnected trends: population growth, economic growth and consumption (wealthier countries produce more waste, though no one wishes for lower living standards), urbanisation (cities generate more waste than rural areas), a consumerist lifestyle, and globalisation.
The world’s population has been growing rapidly for decades – and is projected to reach nearly 10 billion by the middle of the 21st century. Today, we already generate over 2 billion tonnes of waste annually. According to World Bank estimates, this figure will rise to 3.4 billion tonnes by 2050.
Still, there are also some positive trends helping to slow down waste growth or improve its utilisation: longer product lifespans, the reduction of single-use plastics, better sorting and recycling systems, new and smart technologies, and ESG initiatives. Innovations are emerging in turning waste into new materials and energy. Another strong trend is the shift towards a circular economy – replacing the traditional “make–use–discard” model with a “design–use–reuse” approach.