Solving the world’s waste problem with innovation

The Earth is drowning in waste. According to a 2024 United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) report, the world produces two billion tonnes of trash a year, an amount that, when packed into shipping containers and placed end-to-end, could wrap around the Earth’s equator 25 times. Already an alarming number, the report further projects that waste generation from households and small businesses is expected to rise to 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050.

“[T]he world urgently needs to shift to a zero waste approach, while improving waste management to prevent significant pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and negative impacts to human health,” said the report’s lead author Zoë Lenkiewicz. “Pollution from waste knows no borders, so it is in everyone’s interests to commit to…