Expert conference "Will the world drown in waste? Strategies to avoid and recycle waste in the context of development policies" - Review

The City of Vienna draws attention to the chances and risks of waste management

Experts discussed current questions of waste management and recycling on occasion of this year's expert meeting on development policies at Vienna City Hall on 6 December 2011. Developing countries have also seen an increase in waste due to urbanisation and changing lifestyles. Waste is a serious health threat in these countries but at the same time also the only source of income for millions of people who recycle scrap metal and other material to earn their livelihood. 70 percent of the waste in developing countries is organic waste but the share of inorganic waste has been increasing. The poorest countries in the world produce approximately 600 gramme of waste per capita per day compared to the rich countries that produce double or three times the amount.

Ghana as destination for electronic waste

Mike Anane, an environmental journalist from Ghana, informed the interested participants at the expert meeting about the problem of illegal exports of electronic waste to Ghana. Old computers and hospital waste is dumped on open landfills where children search for and collect scrap material to sell it and earn some money. They are exposed to cadmium, lead and other toxic substances and often develop serious health problems. In his speech, Mike Anane called on those responsible to recycle e-waste in the countries of origin and stop dumping the burden on developing countries.

The waste collectors of Cape Town

The Chief Executive Office - European and International Affairs of the City of Vienna supports the project "Homeless not helpless" in Cape Town in the framework of its development cooperation programme. Homeless women collect waste and sell it to earn their livelihood in Cape Town. Social workers support them to escape the vicious cycle of poverty, unemployment, homelessness and violence. The women also produce small art objects from waste, which gives them an additional source of income.

Food waste

The speech by Martin Haiderer, the founder of "Wiener Tafel", got a great response from the audience. We all know that there is enough food in the world to end world hunger but in Europe alone people throw out more food than would be needed to guarantee a future without hunger. The figures are shocking when you think that people in Vienna throw out the same amount of bread that is consumed in Graz every day. A quarter of the food produced is dumped in the waste in Austria on a daily basis, which results in the fact that edible food worth 380 Euros is thrown out per capita in Austria every year. "Wiener Tafel" successfully collects and distributes food to help needy people.

The three R's of the environment

Experts from the Municipal Department 48 - Waste Management, Street Cleaning and Municipal Vehicle (MA 48), the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, and from the Austrian Ministry of the Environment all agreed that the responsible use of resources is the only way to tackle the global waste problem. We can all help to use resources responsibly by practicing the three R's - reduce, reuse, recycle.