Waste Management

38% of global waste (810 million tonnes per year) is ‘uncontrolled’ (UNEP 2024), which meaning it is openly dumped or burned instead of being safely collected and treated. About 14% of people burn their waste at home because collection services are unreliable or unaffordable, and this figure reaches 41% in some regions such as East Africa.

The challenge is growing. As consumption patterns change and the population of urban areas increases, quantities of municipal waste are increasing rapidly. Without transformative action, the quantity of waste dumped or burned is predicted to nearly double to 1.57 billion tonnes per year by 2050.

Poor waste management is not only an environmental threat—it is a massive missed economic opportunity. When waste is burned or dumped, valuable materials such as plastics, metals, and organics are destroyed. In Africa alone, recyclable materials are worth an estimated USD 8 billion per year (UNEP, 2018) , yet much of this potential is lost. Mismanagement also prevents cities from creating new jobs in recycling, composting, and circular-economy industries. Transforming waste systems requires upfront investment, but better waste handling leads to long-term savings, healthier communities, and more resilient urban environments.

Open Waste Burning contributes to 6-7% of global black carbon emissions (and 8% of global PM2.5 emissions) (Gómez-Sanabria et al., 2022) .

Municipal solid waste and wastewater is the third largest (20%) and fastest growing source of anthropogenic methane emissions globally.

Open Waste Burning-related PM2.5 exposure contributes to an estimated 270,000 premature deaths annually (Kodros et al. 2016)

The global cost of waste (mis)management (including hidden costs of pollution, health burden, and climate change) rises to USD 361 billion (UNEP 2024).

Solutions and multiple benefits

Waste management is connected to complex systems of resource flows and transport logistics. This requires integrated planning at all local and national levels to implement locally tailored solutions.

The most immediate action to reduce the impacts of waste management on air quality is to eliminate the open burning of waste. This requires providing households and businesses with real alternatives, starting with reliable, affordable, and frequent waste collection. At the same time, cities must upgrade sorting, recycling, and safe disposal to prevent burning at dumpsites, where unmanaged fires or spontaneous combustion often occur.

Improved management of waste (especially organic waste) through source separation, composting, anaerobic digestion, and improved landfill design and operation, also delivers major benefits through methane mitigation. Reducing methane emissions can bring fast results in terms of reducing near-term warming, in addition to reducing ground-level ozone formation, thus improving public health and agricultural productivity.

Improved waste management can also bring increased economic value from recovered waste, and boost employment (including for informal workers, who can benefit from safer working conditions).

AQMx Sectoral Guidance: Eliminating Open Waste Burning

The AQMx Sectoral Guidance provides practical, action-oriented instructions for implementing proven policies and measures that reduce air pollutants and short-lived climate pollutants. Each guidance package breaks down what to do, how to do it, and what capacities are needed at national and local levels to deliver results. It brings together the best available knowledge from partner organizations—including data, tools, models, and technical resources—into a single, easy-to-use reference point. This one-stop-shop approach helps governments avoid duplication and quickly identify solutions that work.

The guidance is designed to meet the needs of air quality managers, national and local authorities, and sectoral agencies working to cut pollution while supporting development goals. It responds directly to common implementation barriers, offering clear steps, practical examples, and links to further support.