Two billion people lack access to basic municipal solid waste collection services. More than 90 percent of waste in low-income countries continues to be burned or openly dumped. Society’s most vulnerable are paying a high price: injury, illness, and loss of life from working in unsafe waste-picking conditions. The environment is also paying a high price, with our oceans choking on plastic waste, valuable land being contaminated by uncontrolled leachate, and methane from landfills and dumpsites adding to significant greenhouse gas emissions.
