In honor of International Environment Day - a few words about garbage: the amount of waste we produce is exacerbating the climate crisis; That's a fact. And when we throw on the environment - we harm ourselves, the animals and the entire planet
I remember myself as a small child, somewhere in the 70s - collecting garbage during annual trips. Even then I realized that a situation where bottles, bags and other waste pollute nature is very problematic.
Over the years, and the more I deal with environmental issues by virtue of my position at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as the special envoy for climate change and sustainability, I have grown to understand that the large amounts of waste we produce have extremely serious consequences. When the world celebrates International Environment Day (5.6) - this is a good opportunity to talk about the connection between our garbage and the climate crisis.
There is no such thing as natural garbage
Let's start with a fact that may sound surprising: in nature there is no such concept, "garbage"; In natural spaces, all waste is part of the life cycle and serves the flora and fauna. For example: the dung of the various animals nourishes the soil, the withered winter grass returns to the soil from which it came - and so on. Therefore, the terms "waste" and "garbage" are human inventions; These are by-products of the lifestyle we lead, of industrial production and of our consumption culture.
The data on the subject is not encouraging at all: In 2020 we produced about 2.24 billion tons of garbage, and according to the forecasts this amount will be almost doubled by 2050. This situation has a widespread effect on the climate crisis: greenhouse gases, mainly Methane - whose contribution to exacerbating the climate crisis is 28 times greater than that of the more common greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide (over a 100-year stay in the atmosphere) - are emitted from waste landfills and increase the greenhouse effect. How serious is the situation? The waste causes about 20 percent of all methane emissions in the world.
In addition, huge amounts of plastic that spill into the seas and oceans every day break down into microplastics and nanoplastics, reducing the plankton's ability to absorb carbon dioxide - thus exacerbating the climate crisis. Research shows that the bodies of too many marine animals already contain plastic.
To this day Approximately 7.4 billion tons of plastic waste have accumulated in the world, and in the absence of a change in trends - this figure is expected to rise to 40 billion tons by 2050. Moreover, even today this destructive material causes the emission of 6 percent of the world's greenhouse gases and by 2050 this figure will also double and even more so. What do we do about it? The global plastic recycling rate is 16-10 percent and about a third of the plastic produced in the world is for single-use purposes. In other words: too little.
What is our situation in this thicket of waste? Average Israelis produce every day 1.7 kilograms of waste - a figure that places us at the top of the waste producers per capita in the world. And of course we find the consequences on the sides of the roads, in the streams and in the open areas, as I saw as a small child - and as we all see to this day.
The future in the trash can? Be optimistic
So what can be done? At the international and national level, we must move to a circular economy where as few resources as possible are taken from the environment and the resulting pollution is correspondingly - in the smallest amount. For this purpose, regulation, incentives are required and above all: the assimilation of a deep and important principle according to which, along with every development of a product and its sale, the mechanism must be created to take care of its collection and recycling.
On a personal level, each and every one of us can contribute to reducing waste production: by reducing consumption, using reusable utensils, separating and recycling, preventing food loss, composting, and more. And, when you travel in nature or hang out at the seaside - just take the trash with you.
