Tearfund have launched a report, titled No Time to Waste, which you can read here. It highlights the human impact of waste around the world, offering some scary statistics and some aspirational asks, which could change the lives and outcomes of millions of people, as well as reducing the impact of waste on the environment.
Two billion people around the world – one in four – are living without a basic waste management system. A further one billion people don’t have controlled waste disposal – their waste might be collected but it is discarded somewhere unsafe. There are waste mountains growing every day in the world’s poorest communities. This is polluting the water and making the air toxic. Mismanaged waste – waste that is openly dumped or burned – is causing up to a million deaths every year. That’s one person every 30 seconds.
For every person born since the 1950s, one tonne of plastic has been produced, and less than a tenth of this has been recycled. This huge increase in the production and distribution of single-use plastics, and its expansion to countries lacking the capacity to collect, manage and recycle waste is the crux of the issue. In many low-income countries, open burning of waste surpasses all other sources of carbon emissions combined. Every second, a double-decker busload of plastic waste is burned or dumped in developing countries.
Ireland has a vital role to play in the fight against plastic. Every hour, Ireland creates enough plastic waste to cover the surface of three football pitches. Lucky for us, we don’t have to see it on a football pitch. Our waste management systems have the effect of “out of sight, out of mind.”
Ireland declared a climate and biodiversity emergency recently, following a UN report on climate change. If we are to truly engage in climate action, we must address our plastic production, consumption, and waste.
The campaign associated with the No Time to Waste report is asking governments, donors and companies to break the link between waste, plastics and poverty. This means slowing the flow of harmful waste, and working with communities to ensure their access to waste collection. Humanity faces an environmental and health crisis caused by waste. The time to act is now.
Come along to Tearfund’s film screening on Wednesday the 12th of June in Bewley’s. They will be showing Before the Flood, a National Geographic film about our changing climate. There will be a lively discussion over tea and biscuits afterwards, and they will offer you some practical ways you can reduce your plastic waste. Register for the event here!
Keep an eye on Tearfund Ireland’s emails and website to find out how you and your church can get involved in their waste-focused campaign in the coming months.
For further information contact Niamh Daly at [email protected] 01 878 3200 and 087 245 1169.
Tearfund Ireland is a Christian relief and development agency working through a global network of churches to help eradicate poverty. Tearfund Ireland is a member of Dóchas, the Irish Association of Non-Governmental Development Organisations. It is a meeting place and a leading voice for organisations that want Ireland to be a world leader in efforts to bring about global justice.