The amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) around the globe has been soaring over the recent decades, as the result the urbanization in the global scale, especially the developing countries. According to the report from Frost & Sullivan, Global Municipal Solid Waste Management Services Market earned revenues of $160.52 billion in 2013, and this figure is expected to reach $296.86 billion by 2020.

As the data from the World Bank shows, today there are over 3 billion urban residents producing 1.3 billion tonnes of waste per person per year, compared to a decade ago – 2.9 billion urban residents producing 0.68 billion tonnes of waste per person per year. By the year 2025, these amounts will likely increase to 4.3 billion urban residents generating about 2.2 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste per capita per year.

The Map shows which countries produce the most waste per capita

When it comes to current daily waste generation by country, the biggest waste producers are small island nations including Trinidad & Tobago (14.40 kg/capita/day), Antigua and Barbuda (5.5kg) and St. Kitts and Nevis (5.45kg), Sri Lanka (5.10kg), Barbados (4.75kg), St Lucia (4.35kg) and the Solomon Islands (4.30kg). Guyana (5.33kg) and Kuwait (5.72kg) also scored highly, compared to worldwide average of 1.2kg per capital per day.

New Zealand (3.68kg), Ireland (3.58kg), Norway (2.80kg), Switzerland (2.61kg) and the United States (2.58kg) were the top five producers in the developed world. While the countries that produce the least amount of municipal solid waste are Ghana (0.09kg) and Uruguay (0.11kg).

*The World Bank defines municipal solid waste as including ‘non-hazardous waste generated in households, commercial and business establishments, institutions, and non-hazardous industrial process wastes, agricultural wastes and sewage sludge. In practice, specific definitions vary across jurisdictions.’

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