The waste may be liquid, solid, or sludge and contain chemicals, heavy metals, radiation, pathogens, or other materials. Nowadays, people are generating too much trash (every year a massive 2.12 billion tons) and usually cannot deal with it in a sustainable way. The amount of waste we produce and improper waste management affects the environment in multiple ways:

• Pollution of soil: Waste can leak hazardous chemicals into the soil and from there into our food.
• Air pollution: The burning of waste at landfills releases toxic substances into the air, including extremely poisoning dioxin.
• Pollution of oceans: 13 million tonnes of plastic end up in the world’s oceans each year. If we keep dumping plastic in the oceans, by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the sea.
• Pollution of groundwater: 280 billion tons of groundwater is being polluted every year - that’s 9000 tons every second.

Even though today no country fully handling the garbage issue, some nations are top performers in waste management. Here are three countries that have the best recycling strategies:

Germany

Germany has done a number of things right to get to this point. In 2005, Germany banned traditional garbage dumps replacing them with a much more sophisticated system. By 2022, they also aim to have decommissioned their remaining landfills and implement plans to utilized all the waste that is created and the energy produced by it.

Wales

The Welsh government in 2018 came up with a strategy of targeting recycling 80% of its municipal waste by 2035. The major efforts to reach this goal include analyzing the potential target for councils that will spearhead the recycling process, as well as finding alternative solutions to specific wastes like carbon. Wales has the best household waste recycling program in the UK; it comes third in the world. The Welsh government also announced a 4-week residual waste program to clean up borough households.

Singapore

The government has implemented the 3Rs (reduce, recycle, reuse) strategy to conduct an integrated solid waste management system. There are also waste-to-energy incineration plants that offer a great solution to the reduction of landfill waste. The 3Rs prevent the generation of waste and help the nation champion its Zero Waste policy.

But what individuals can we to reduce waste?

First of all, we should rethink our habits, needs, and basic requirements. Before buying something ask yourself "Do I really need this now?" Also, we need to refuse anything that will harm our environment. For instance, some of us reject using plastic bags and bottles, replacing them with reusable ones. Of course, it is important to reduce waste generation, it can be done by repairing, reusing, and sharing, so here we need to think of the ways to use a product to its fullest. Last but not least, research and develop new innovative ways to reuse unwanted materials and reduce the generation of them. 

Sources: https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/waste/global-waste-problem/story

https://greentumble.com/countries-with-the-most-sophisticated-waste-management/

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