3R

Sri Lanka faces substantial challenges in managing its Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), attributed to factors like population growth, urbanization, changing consumption patterns, and fast growth of industrial and service sectors. Alarmingly, only 37% of city and district centers in the country benefit from official MSW collection services. The use of...

Solid waste management is a critical issue that affects both the environment and public health, posing significant challenges to communities and governments worldwide. In Cambodia, like in many developing nations, effective solid waste management is a pressing concern due to rapid urbanization, population growth, and industrialization. The rise in...

The sustainability transition requires transformative systemic change, shifting away from mass production and consumption towards the dematerialization of production processes and maximizing the value and longevity of materials and products. Bold leadership is needed to move towards a new economic and social system that decouples economic...

This study summarises ADB’s Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) commitment, including the financial sustainability of MSW management and ADB’s engagement in MSW management in the developing member countries (DMCs) over the last 20 years from 2000 to 2020. The study is based on an ADB portfolio review, as well as meetings and interviews assisted by a...

One emerging issue in Padang City, Indonesia is waste management. In addition to a rise in population, modern lifestyles and tourism development have resulted in burgeoning waste generation, as well as more littering and burning of waste. This problem has exceeded the waste management capacity of the city. Consequently, the Batang Arau river, one...

Padang City, the capital of West Sumatra Province, has a population of 982,884 people as of 2021. A field study was carried out and showed that waste generation in the city reached 660.50 tonnes/day while the volume of waste disposed of at the Tempat Pemrosesan Akhir (TPA: final disposal site in Bahasa Indonesia) Aia Dingin in 2021 was 478 tonnes...

In recent years, marine plastic litter has been a critical policy issue, and action in an internationally harmonised manner is necessary to tackle this situation. Based on the G20 Implementation Framework for Actions on Marine Plastic Litter, voluntary country reporting has continued since 2019. Three reports with rich country and organisational...

This short essay discusses the national policy development in Japan moving from a society based on mass-production, mass-consumption, and mass-disposal towards establishing a Sound Material-Cycle Society (SMC). It looks at how Japan has successfully created a local resource efficiency and regional vitalisation based on a harmonised approach toward...

Microplastics (MPs) have been identified as an emerging soil pollutant and a global environmental concern. Scientists have recently paid attention to the contamination of soil by MPs as their detrimental impacts on soil systems are largely unknown. MPs are considered to be vectors for other soil contaminants, such as potentially toxic elements...

Pollution caused by the irresponsible disposal of plastics is a significant issue, particularly in developing countries like Sri Lanka. It is estimated that only 9% of all plastics ever produced globally have been recycled. However, not all plastics are equal in this equation, PET, in particular, stands out, given that they are 100% recyclable. Sri...