Garbage Challenges in Developing Countries

Last Updated on Thu, 02 Apr 2020 | Waste Management

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The problems of waste management are different for the developing world. Because the economies of developing countries are usually not as robust as the economies of countries such as the United States, people in these poorer countries tend to buy fewer products with less packaging, and they produce less waste than Americans or residents of other industrialized nations. On the

: A child scavenges on a dump in Manila, in the Philippines. Many developing countries have problems disposing of wastes. As a result, garbage piles up and people scavenge through the trash to try to earn a living.

other hand, unlike developed nations, poorer countries in the developing world often have not developed adequate waste management policies or systems, trash collection services, or government institutions to properly manage their wastes. As the Web site Fabric of Nature explains:

Most developing countries don't have any organized means of controlling solid waste. Garbage is rarely even collected on a regular basis. Regulations vary from country to country and from town to town, and often a small bribe from an apprehended illegal trash dumper will trump enforcement of official regulations, anyway. Laws are often lax—burning of garbage and open dumping allowed. Frequently, a lack of funds prevents municipalities in such countries from ever being able to even create a proper waste management system, in the first place.

Then, the lack of status and poor salaries associated with the profession discourages qualified employees, so personnel rarely has the ability or the training to manage an effective system, even when one exists.37

The result in many cases is that garbage in developing countries tends to pile up in waterways and on land, creating serious health and environmental hazards. This problem of waste management is especially acute in countries with rapidly growing urban areas. As World Health Organization researcher Hisashi Ogawa notes, "The management of solid waste is becoming a major public health and environmental concern in urban areas of many developing countries."38

A Developing Country's Trash

"One of the surest signs that you're in a developing country is the trash beneath your feet."—Bryan Walsh, Time magazine's energy and climate writer.

Bryan Walsh, "Trash Problems in Paradise," Time, January 2, 2008. www.time.com/ time/world/article/0,8599,1701095,00.html.

One of the worst examples is the city of Manila, capital of the Philippines. There, residents generate 8,000 tons (7,982 metric tons) of garbage each day, but for years the government did not collect the garbage or educate the public about recycling or other waste reduction options. As a result, the city's garbage simply piled up at numerous dumps, which attracted flies, rats, and other vermin. The dumps also encouraged poor people to scavenge amongst the trash to earn a meager living. Some people even lived on the dumps in shanties amid fetid garbage, methane fumes, and various toxins. In 2000 one of the biggest dumps— a huge trash mountain called Payatas—collapsed after typhoon rains, destroying one of the shantytowns and killing 219 people. After the tragedy, the government cleaned up the site, but a new dump was opened next door that continues to provide the only source of income for many poor residents.

As poorer nations industrialize and become wealthier and more consumer oriented, garbage problems usually worsen. China, which has become an economic powerhouse in just the last decade, is the best example of this phenomenon. According to a 2005 World Bank report: "China recently surpassed the United States as the world's largest municipal solid waste (MSW) generator. In 2004 the urban areas of China generated about 190,000,000 tonnes of MSW and by 2030 this amount is projected to be at least 480,000,000 tonnes. No country has ever experienced as large, or as rapid, an increase in waste generation."39 Managing this rapid increase in garbage presents all kinds of major health, social, and environmental problems. Perhaps the worst impact in China is environmental deterioration so bad that Chinese people are regularly sickened by toxic pollutants entering the air, soil, and water. The World Bank has estimated that almost half a million Chinese people die prematurely each year from breathing in the polluted air and drinking the dirty water. Yet government efforts to address this pollution face enormous obstacles, as millions of Chinese demand their slice of the growing economic pie. As journalist David Stanway explains, "With hundreds of millions of urban residents enjoying the fruits of consumerism, the government is struggling to bring a sense of the environmental costs of breakneck economic growth. It has tried to rein in industrial polluters by cutting off credit, suspending licenses and jailing repeat offenders, but officials bemoan the failure of ordinary people to be green."40 Some Chinese leaders have even speculated that the environmental destruction may eventually halt China's economic progress.

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TIMOTEO
Why develop/countries face more problem in managing waste?

2 years ago
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alvisa
How garbage is collected and dumped in different countries?

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thorsten
WHY IS WASTE MANAGEMENT NOT A PROBLEM TO MORE DEVELOPED COUNTRIES?

2 years ago
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JAMES NEWCOMB
How much countries waste rubbish?

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duilio
What countries are suffered from garbage?

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hal longhole
Does trash come from third world countries?

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mirabella
How many countries face waste problems?

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stephan
How to recycling waste in a undeveloped area?

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beverly
How developed countries disposing waste?

2 years ago
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luwam
How does lack of education post as a challenge to waste management in a developing countries?

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mantissa
Which country have waste problems?

2 years ago
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esther
What contries have bad waste management?

2 years ago
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Columbus
How to calculate solid waste poor countries?

2 years ago
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arto
What are the challenges generated by poor waste disposal to the development of an area?

2 years ago
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Alexander
How much trash does a person in an underdeveolped country?

2 years ago
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ulrike
HOW BAD IS THE GARBAGE PROBLEM IN MANILA PHILIPPINES?

2 years ago
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Sabina
Which countries have solid waste problem?

1 year ago
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Faye
When did trash become a problem in third world countries?

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tuula toivonen
Why waste managemwnt is a problem in developing country?

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jarkko
Which country has the worst recycling problems?

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martin
How would the mass of trash differ if you live in a deceloping nation?

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Kerttu
How do third world. countries dispose of poop?

1 year ago
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miia
How poor is trash mamangament in the usa?

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MICHAEL LEE
Which countries produce more wastesdeveloped,developing or underdeveloped?

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Belisarius Oldbuck
What country is trash based on?

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eden
How to solve trash problem for poor country?

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heike
Which countries produces more waste developed; developing; undevloped?

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Tamara Peterson
How to treat solid waste in third countries?

1 year ago
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azzeza
How have countries tried to solve trash problems?

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chica
How under developed countries manage their waste?

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Flavus
What are the challenge of waste management in under develop countries?

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Prudenzio
How do developing countries push for recycling?

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nicolas mckenzie
How to manage waste in third world countries?

1 year ago
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KISANET
How do developing countries manage waste water?

1 year ago
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zula
Who has worst trash disposal in the world?

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viljo
How is waste is reused in the 3rd world countries?

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Delores
Which countries have low landfill management?

1 year ago
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ERIKA
Which countries would have the hardest problem dealing with solid waste disposal Why?

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Cornelia
How do some countries addressed proper waste disposal?

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FRE-QALSI
Why do countries trade in hazardous waste?

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graziella
Why 3rd world country trash goes in water?

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OUTI
What happens to rubbish generated in poorer countries?

1 year ago
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mattalic sandheaver
Why is waste disposal hard in developing countries cities?

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Elsa
How waste is managed by country the economist?

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teemu
Does other counties have pollution and waste managment problems?

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arsi hietam
How many countries use open dump for waste?

1 year ago
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josefiina
How to reduce trash in a developing country?

12 months ago
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Anne
What other poor cities have hazardous drinking water and waste problems?

12 months ago
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LEONORA
What causes poor waste management in developing countries?

11 months ago
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Emanuele
What country has the biggest waste problem?

11 months ago
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Lucie
What problems exist in the waste management WORLDWIDE?

11 months ago
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TEIGHAN
How does developed countries manage waste water from their respective houses?

11 months ago
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Isaias
How can we help developing countries with landfill issues?

11 months ago
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Italo
Who has the worst energy waste issues?

11 months ago
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Edvige
How many countries dont have waste management?

11 months ago
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simon
How is solid waste a greatest challenges facing developing countries?

11 months ago
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PATRYCJA
How to properly manage waste in a third world country?

10 months ago
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How do the develop countries dispose of their waste in many dishonorable ways?

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What country does not have proper garbage dump?

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What is the current challenge with waste disposal in the ocean?

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Why poor countries dont clean up?

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Why garbage heaps in third world?

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What countries has waste classification?

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Do people in your country care about waste classification?

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GRIFFO
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9 months ago
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How do many countries dispose of garbage?

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What about garbage problems in developing?

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8 months ago
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7 months ago
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7 months ago
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How does other country solve the waste?

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sven
How learning is affected by waste management in third world countries?

7 months ago
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How much do develop nations waste compared to undevelope nations?

7 months ago
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ermias
Where around the world is waste disposal a big problem in develpoing worlds?

6 months ago
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How to overcome improper garbage classication?

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HENRIIKKA
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muhammed
How do guiness cameroon manage their waste?

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michal
Is garbage a problem in america?

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miranda
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j kaufmann
Why is management of waste is still a problem in developing countriese?

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elena
What is the perspective of the pople of poor countries on the enviroment and recycling?

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KATJA
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Is poor garbage disposal an economic issue?

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How common is recycling in third world countries?

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erik
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amanuel
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