Waste Atlas 2013 Report

Waste Atlas
2013
WASTE ATLAS 2
2013 Report
Steering Committee
Hermann Koller – Managing Director of ISWA
Markus Luecke – GIZ, SWEEP-Net Teamleader
Antonis Mavropoulos – CEO and founder of D-Waste
Surendra Shrestha – Director of International Environmental Technology Center, UNEP
Masuro Tanaka – SWAPI coordinator, Tokyo University
Nickolas J. Themelis – Professor of Chemical Metallurgy, Department of Earth and Environmental Engineering, Columbia
University, US
Scientific Committee
Jose Fernando Juca – Professor at UFPE, Recife Area, Brazil;
Stratos Kalogirou – President of WTERT Greece and also a member of the Board in WTERT/USA in Earth Engineering Center
of Columbia University;
Agamuthu Pariatamby – Editor-in-Chief of WM&R, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
Mario Russo – Coordinator Professor at Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo, Portugal;
Costas Velis – Lecturer in Resource Efficiency Systems, University of Leeds, UK;
Goran Vujic – Assistant Professor at the University of Novi Sad, Serbia.
WASTE ATLAS TEAM

Waste Atlas has been developed through coordinated efforts and contributions by almost a thousand people. However, most
of the work regarding the web interface and the data acquisition has been done by the permanent Waste Atlas Team, namely:
Ilianna Koukosia – GIS Expert

Ioannis Makris – Waste Atlas Developer
Alexandros Mavropoulos – Waste Atlas Project Manager
Antonis Mavropoulos – D-Waste Founder & CEO
Niki Mavropoulou – Data Analyst
Anthi Psalida – Data Analyst
Maria Tsakona – D-Waste Product Manager
E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

Waste Atlas
2013
Contributors
We would like to thank all the contributors for the data they provided. We would like to thank especially the following people
for their excellent contributions: Ranjith Annepu (India), Timothy Byrne (United Kingdom), Magda Correal (Colombia),Natālija
Cudečka-Puriņa (Latvia), Makoto Fujita (Japan), Joy Jadam (Lebanon), Ana Loureiro (Portugal), Liubov Melnikova (Russia), Ralf
Müller (Germany), Juan Antonio Munizaga (Chile), Iris Odenthal (Germany), Michiko Ota (Japan),Eva Ridick (Mongolia), Ricardo
Rollandi (Argentina), Atilio Savino (Argentina), Nickolas Themelis (USA), Jenny Westin (Sweden), Filipa Vaz (Portugal), Christos
Venetis (Greece), Claudio Vieira (Brazil).
Website: http://www.d-waste.com
E-mail: info@d-waste.com
Graphic design and layout: D-Waste Creative Department
Waste Atlas Partnership
ISSN: 2241 - 2484
LEGAL NOTICE
Contents copyright protected © D-WASTE.COM
Reproduction, photocopying, unauthorized selling or transmission by magnetic or electronic means of this publication in whole
or parts are strictly prohibited. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use must be previously granted
by D-Waste Environmental Consultants Ltd. Violation of copyright will result in legal action, including civil and/or criminal
penalties, and suspension of service.

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PREFACE
The Waste Atlas started as a simple, yet powerful idea. There is so much
data about waste management ‘hidden’ in the web: reports and scientific
publications. How about having it organised in a user-friendly, well-structured
and clearly presented way, able to provide meaningful information to those
who need it? A simple way would be to organize the gigabytes of data and the
hundreds of thousand documents around a map. Even better, extract the most
reliable data, give it a uniform shape format and upload it on a web map, so
that everyone always could access it. And why not provide free access to it and
ask everyone to contribute, because this is the only way to obtain unreported
information and to serve the need for continuous validation and updating.
The idea was simple, but the implementation was much more complex. It
took thousands of man-hours to develop the right software tools capable of
managing the data complexity, make it user-friendly, screen files and search
for the most reliable values, and identify the exact location of thousands of
facilities. Despite these challenges, the Waste Atlas is here, and with this report
we celebrate its first birthday.
During this first year, the Waste Atlas became a collaborative product of six organizations (ISWA, WtERT, SWEEP-Net, SWAPI,
University of Leeds, and D-Waste) and of nearly one thousand individuals. Despite their different backgrounds, all of them
share the same view of a sustainable waste management in need to be understood on a global scale. There is agreement in
that integrated waste management efforts currently lack in data sets and benchmarking tools required to fast improve things
on the ground. There is consensus on the urgent need to develop modern web and mobile applications that will serve the
waste management and recycling community.
Waste Atlas is already a unique information tool that aims to fill the aforementioned gaps and become a global reference for
waste management experts, decisions makers, municipalities, companies, students, researchers and the general public.
In less than a year, Waste Atlas has been shaped with data from 59,000 files and documents. Currently (August, 2013), Waste
Atlas hosts data for 162 countries, 1773 cities, 840 sanitary landfills, 697 waste to energy (WtE) plants, 100 mechanical-biological
treatment (MBT) facilities, 74 biological treatment facilities, and 46 of the world’s biggest dumpsites. The supporting software
has been advanced to include a suite of novel customised graphs, visualizations and data-reporting modes. Waste Atlas among
else provides unique global graphs that hint towards potential correlations of economic and social variables with key waste
management indicators.
This document is the ‘2013 Waste Atlas report’ and aims at presenting the first year's progress and the Waste Atlas database
outputs regarding the profiles of 162 countries. The most significant difficulties faced are described, as well as, the next steps
to be taken.
Waste Atlas has just started on its long way. Already widely recognized as a very useful tool, it will need much more work and
improvements to become more scientific, more representative and more interactive. We will keep working hard on these
three aspects, in close collaboration with our global partners and thousands of contributing individuals. As we keep uploading
and managing data, we do not forget to mark the new emerging questions that will bring forward new data demands, in a
perpetual cycle.
We do hope you will find this report useful and look forward to your comments and contributions.
Antonis Mavropoulos
D-Waste Founder & CEO

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KEY MESSAGES
Steering Committee
Markus Luecke, GIZ/SWEEP-Net Teamleader: David Newman, President of ISWA: ISWA is

SWEEP-Net as a regional network for integrated proud to be a partner of the Waste Atlas and
solid waste management in the Middle East and will contribute to its diffusion, the information
Northern African region highly welcomes and contained within it and its use as a tool for waste
supports Waste Atlas, since it provides essential planning. I think the essential point about the
and important information for all planners, decision Waste Atlas is this: it is a phenomenal tool for city
makers, potential investors and other stakeholders planners facing challenges in implementing waste
concerned with solid waste management and systems, so this goes for about half the world’s
the efficient management of natural resources. population today. But more than this, the Waste
The information provided is clear and – most Atlas provides a clear and easily consultable tool to
important - free accessible. This makes Waste Atlas understand where, how and which waste is treated
attractive especially for our partners in developing (or not) and in what form. It gives a quick insight
and emerging countries. Waste Atlas allows for into the state of development of many nations and
benchmarking and provides a platform where from this we can understand what an important
countries can present their state and pace of factor waste is today in ensuring sustainable
development in this important sector. SWEEP-Net development. The Waste Atlas changes the game
therefore is ready to contribute in making Waste in terms of the quality of information available in
Atlas a success. one source, and for this its developers and we, as
partners, should all be proud to offer this source,
free, to the world.

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KEY MESSAGES
Steering Committee
Surendra Shrestha, Director of IETC/UNEP: In Nickolas J. Themelis, Professor at Columbia

2012, the Rio+20 conference underscored that University and founder of Global WTERT
broad public participation and access to information Council: The Waste Atlas is an ambitious
is essential to promoting sustainable development. undertaking to manage the oceans of waste
The Waste Atlas is an initiative that provides access management data generated in different parts of
to information on waste management around the the world. After only one year of intensive effort,
world, supporting UNEP’s efforts to strengthen the this project is on its way to accomplish this goal.
science-policy interface and to promote integrated The Global WTERT Council wishes our colleague
solid waste management globally. Waste Atlas Antonis Mavropoulos, full success!
takes data from multiple sources and organizes and
structures it in a meaningful way. It is accessible to
everyone, everywhere, and even encourages people
to contribute information through crowdsourcing,
thus empowering the public to monitor
developments in their environment. As waste and its
impacts is one of the most daunting environmental
challenges in the 21st century, the Waste Atlas is an
important step towards a concrete contribution to
sustainable development.

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KEY MESSAGES
Agamuthu Pariatamby, Editor-in-Chief of WM&R, Mário Russo, Coordinator Professor at

University of Malaya: The Report looks great and Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo: The
exhibits data that is clear. The organization of the Waste Atlas is an interactive tool that was lacking
data is good and will appeal to professionals as well in the waste sector in any country, since it lets us
as waste managers. The approach of disseminating easily and for free to access several important data
the solid waste data in simple but colorful figures for planners, designers, managers, politicians and
will definitely capture the audience. I am delighted citizens interested in the issue of waste. It has the
to be a part of this important report which will form merit of providing a collection of standardized data
another very important source of information. in a single source. For millions of people it is the only
source with data that allow planning and design in
many countries, especially in Africa, Latin America
and Asia. I must stress that it is an interesting
tool for engineering students for their research
and academic works. All the “Waste Family” must
collaborate with Waste Atlas in order to improve the
data about waste sector in their countries.

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KEY MESSAGES
Costas Velis, Lecturer at University of Leeds: a world- Goran Vujic, Assistant Professor at the University
leading institution delivering research and education of Novi Sad: Waste Atlas is a very fast, reliable and
of global impact, is delighted to actively support the comprehensive visual tool for students who need
creation, operation and dissemination of Waste Atlas. to understand complexity of Global, but also Local-
We will contribute to the scientific robustness of this Regional Solid Waste Management. Using the big
ground-breaking initiative, and ensure that the wider
variety of data presented in Waste Atlas students
academic community and its beneficiaries, from
can understand the impacts that culture, GDP, social,
students to policy and decision makers will receive
maximum benefits. Introducing a practical tool such demography and other aspects have on Waste
as Waste Atlas is the result of ‘big think’ and has huge management. In future, academics and experts
disruptive potential: for the very first time, it enables all will have a great opportunity to work together on
stakeholders to obtain an overview of key solid waste predicting waste quantities and composition, with
and resource management facts, in a freely accessible, Waste Atlas to provide a good starting point. Waste
rapid, succinct, comprehensive and user-friendly prediction analysis is one of the examples that can
way. Flexible in scale, it goes from local to global. Its display how important and useful tool Waste Atlas
crowdsourcing feature empowers people in sharing can be for everyone, from students and professors
much needed information, making available otherwise to engineers, decision makers and authorities.
unobtainable, lay expertise, such as the location of
obscure dumpsites. Data quality is of paramount
importance and considerable effort is dedicated to
cross-check, validate and overcome any discrepancies.
Its potential as a source of previously unavailable
critical data, combined with completeness of coverage,
provides already a unique overview and benchmarking
opportunities. As a database, it opens new important
opportunities in developing novel insights, not least
on the fundamental interdependencies between
technologies, governance, and socioeconomic factors,
which lie at the heart of effective waste and resources
management. As the solid waste management
practitioners and other stakeholders get their hands
around Waste Atlas a new unprecedented level of
awareness could be soon achieved. As everything
radically new, teething issues will inevitably be present.
We invite you to join us and focus on the big picture,
heralding the arrival of Waste Atlas, a major leap
forward for the waste and resources community, an
absolutely timely and significant achievement.

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contents 9
INTRODUCTION 10
An Ocean of Data 10
WASTE ATLAS 12
Waste Atlas Concept 12

Input to, architecture and use of Waste Atlas 14
Functionality Already Available on Waste Atlas 15
Correlated Global Charts & Global WM Maps 20
Putting Waste Atlas in practice – Assessment of Current Situation 37
CONCLUSIONS & CHALLENGES 40

ANNEX I 41
ANNEX II 42

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INTRODUCTION 10
An Ocean of Data
Our era is characterized by an explosive growth in the amount of data available. Rapid technological evolution and development
has led to increased exchange of information. According to IBM (1), around 2.5 quintillion bytes (2.5 x 10(18) bytes) of data are
generated daily (2012), embedded in the physical world in devices such as computers and mobile phones, in the course of
creating and communicating data.
This tremendous rate of data generation results in vast amounts of data remaining unstructured on the web, making necessary
the use of search engines seeking for meaningful information. Around 80% of the data generated is in the unstructured and
form of presentation files, emails, audio and video files.
In the waste management sector there is also a great amount of data on the web that remains mostly unstructured. To illustrate,
Figure 1-1 presents the results that the Google search engine generated for several key words related to waste management,
on April 4, 2013. The magnitude of the results in Figure 1-1, demonstrates the massive amount of waste management data
available on the internet.
Google Results for WM related key words (accessed on 04/04/13)

600.000.000
512.000.000
500.000.000
407.000.000
400.000.000
342.000.000
300.000.000
202.000.000
200.000.000 187.000.000 186.000.000
113.000.000
100.000.000 86.700.000
57.100.000
-
Waste Waste Health Waste Waste to Energy Recycling Waste Waste Human Dump sites Waste Treatment
Environment Management Right
Figure 1-1: Google results for WM related key words
1 IBM (2012), “Understanding Big Data”. Available at:

http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/bigdata/
2 BASEX (2008), “Information Overload: Now $900 Billion – What is Your Organization’s Exposure?”. Available at:
http://www.basexblog.com/2008/12/19/information-overload-now-900-billion-what-is-your-organizations-exposure/

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There is a vital need for meaningful filtering, interpreting and guiding through this information ‘chaos’. Currently, the Google
search engine receives more than two million queries per minute (2), from users who seek useful and meaningful information.
At the same time, according to research by Basex (2), information overload costs the U.S. economy a minimum of $900 billion
per year in decreased employee productivity and innovation.
To those who use search engines for professional purposes and look for easily accessible yet reliable information, it becomes
obvious that there is a need for better, more selective and more efficient search engines. This need can be safely anticipated
to significantly grow in the future.
The challenge is both quantitative and qualitative. In quantitative terms, the challenge is to identify the most suitable results
amongst hundreds of thousands to hundreds of millions of available data, without spending disproportionately much time.
In qualitative terms, the ranking of the ‘search’ results is usually based on the popularity of the web pages and their relevance
with the ‘search’ terms. Nevertheless, neither popularity nor relevance is directly (if at all) linked to the reliability required for
professional and scientific purposes.
Another important limiting factor is the human capability to process and understand data. According to the economist Herbert
Simon, “A wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the
overabundance of information sources that might consume it.” To overcome this apparent or actual limit, several ways are
available to process, visualise and synthesise meaningful information from this unstructured initial data population. Data
management techniques are one of these ways, creating significant value by transforming data to information patterns.
Regarding the waste management and recycling sector, there is a growing recognition of the need for data sets of worldwide
coverage, which will allow all interested parties to benchmark and justify local decisions and policies in a more informed and
relationally justified manner. Waste Atlas aims to gather all such useful data in one place and provide tools for transforming
data into meaningful information, most helpful in decision making processes. To this, Waste Atlas combines advanced data
visualisation technologies with crowd-sourcing and experts reviews.

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WASTE ATLAS 12
Waste Atlas Concept
Waste Atlas is a crowd-sourcing, non commercial, free access map that visualises municipal solid waste management data
across the world for comparison and benchmarking purposes. The platform can be easily accessed through the web portal
www.atlas.d-waste.com and aims to transform the vast amount of data available into meaningful information and make it
available to everyone interested in waste and resource management.
Data collection and uploading is based on the contribution of global partners and numerous scientists, consultants, academics,
students and practitioners, from many countries and organizations. Data uploaded on Waste Atlas is cross-validated in the first
place with other data sets available from multiple sources to ensure its reliability and consistency. What is finally published is
what is considered as the most accurate. Specifically, each quantitative piece of information published is accompanied with
reference to its published source. However, even data with published sources may not be as accurate, reliable and up to date
as required; hence, all data is comprehensively evaluated before uploading. To this, the validity and publication date of the
accompanied source is also taken into account. The methodology used to produce the data is evaluated as well. Multiple or
comparable sources are actively sought and where available cross-checking is performed, e.g. taking time evolution or regional
(/country/city) features into account. Verified outliers or data of questionable quality are exempted from uploading. However,
all documents are kept in our database for future re-evaluation.

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Net, the Global WTERT (Waste to Energy and Technology) Council, GIZ/SWEEP-NET, SWAPI and the University of Leeds. Each
partner has its unique role in this alliance:
D-Waste (www.d-waste.com) is responsible to organize the project; to provide, develop, update, optimize and support
technically the Waste Atlas web tool; to receive, elaborate, examine and correct (if necessary) the data provided; to implement,
demonstrate and visualize the data provided; to bear the costs of data collection, acquisition and management and the
expenses of website management and hosting and its equivalent application; to promote the Waste Atlas web tool.
ISWA (http://www.iswa.org/) a global, independent and non-profit making association, working in the public interest to fulfil
its declared mission which is “To Promote and Develop Sustainable and Professional Waste Management Worldwide” provides
waste management data already available from its long established working groups and conferences’ proceedings and its
unique Knowledge Base project.
Global WTERT Council (www.wtert.org) is an academic-industry organization consisting of fourteen national groups; it brings
together engineers, scientists, and managers from universities, industry, and government with the objective of advancing
sustainable waste management worldwide.
GIZ/SWEEP-NET (http://www.sweep-net.org/) is a regional network which works on institutionally anchoring the principles of
sustainable and integrated solid waste management in Middle East - North Africa region countries and beyond, supports Waste
Atlas by providing waste management data on regional, city, or country level utilizing the network’s scientific and professional
resources.
SWAPI, the Society of Solid Waste Management Experts in Asia and Pacific Islands is an organization which is rapidly developed
at the Asian Pacific Region, where more than half of the global population is situated, promotes Waste Atlas at the Asian Pacific
and encourages its members to provide local waste management data.
University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk), a world-leading institution, delivering research and education of global impact, actively
supports the creation, operation and dissemination of Waste Atlas. Waste and resource management expertise within the
School of Civil Engineering, focusing on cross-disciplinary innovation for closing the materials loop and renewable energy
generation, will contribute to data provision, analysis and overall scientific robustness of Waste Atlas. University of Leeds will
ensure that the wider academic and research community and its beneficiaries, from students to policy- and decision-makers,
will feed into Waste Atlas and receive maximum benefits from it.
During the 1st Waste Atlas Workshop held on April 24, 2013, representatives from all the entities participating in the Waste
Atlas partnership declared the establishment of a steering and of a scientific committee. More specifically, it was decided that
role of the steering committee will be to coordinate - prioritize the activities related to Waste Atlas partnership and to indicate
future steps and targets for further development, whereas role of the scientific committee will be to ensure the scientific
and technical integrity and consistency of the project, its proper documentation and scientific support and its linkages with
research and academic institutes.

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Input to, architecture and use of Waste Atlas
So far, more than 5,000 unique users have used Waste Atlas from 122 different countries, almost 1,000 people use its demo
mobile app and more than 1,000 people have contributed with data. Currently, the database supporting Waste Atlas includes
more than 59,000 files and it is increasing day by day and at a fast pace.
Waste Atlas software is based on the MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture and is written using several programming
languages, including PHP, Html5, JavaScript and CSS3. The front-end (View) utilizes Google Maps JavaScript API v3 for the
presentation and projection of geographically-enabled data and Google Chart Tools for data visualization and chart rendering.
It also uses the JavaScript library, JQuery, for the user interface and layout of the application. The back-end (Model and
Controller) utilizes a powerful MySQL database for storing, organizing and retrieving data.
Waste Atlas design and layout aim at providing to its users a handy and easily-navigated web application. The functionality
provided by Waste Atlas includes:
• Searching, retrieving and displaying the available data on the map
• Geocoding, that is searching for addresses (such as “1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA”) or places and
display them on the map
• Distance Calculation between two or more items on the map
• Easy change of map type. Available types are RoadMap, Satellite, Hybrid and Terrain
• Street View ability where applicable
• Map Overview on the bottom right of the map to easily identify current position in high scales
• Automaticaly generated, up-to-date and print-ready Country Waste Profile for all available countries
Users can benefit from Waste Atlas functions by:
• Creating Customized Charts for comparison purposes
• Viewing unique Global Correlation Charts (see Section 2.3)
• Accessing global visualizations of specific waste management indicators (See Section 2.3)
• Obtaining information regarding the amount of data already uploaded on Waste Atlas
• Accessing data regarding current global waste management situation
• Submiting waste management data
More detailed information about Waste Atlas can be accessed through the Help tab of the application at
www.atlas.d-waste.com
Waste Atlas is also available as a mobile application available in Android and iOS markets. Use the
QR to download it from the App Store.

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Functionality Already Available on Waste Atlas
Waste Atlas focuses on municipal solid waste and provides data for countries, cities and waste management facilities. As
municipal waste is defined the waste mainly produced by households, including also similar waste generated from sources
such as commerce, offices and public institutions. The amount of municipal waste generated consists of waste collected by or
on behalf of municipal authorities and disposed of through the waste management system(3) . The waste composition adopted
in Waste Atlas includes the following streams: organic, paper/cardboard, metal, plastic, glass and others. In all cases, data on
Waste Atlas is presented in a way to facilitate users to compare conditions and situations.
Data for Countries

The data uploaded on Waste Atlas aims to provide the users with a better understanding of a country’s waste and resource
management in the context of its wider situation. Therefore, in addition to waste management data, the Waste Atlas also
provides economic, social, population and development indicators.
3
European Environment Agency, 2013, ‘Managing municipal solid waste — a review of achievements in 32 European countries’.
Available at: http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/managing-municipal-solid-waste

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The users can find information about waste generation per capita, municipal waste generation, environmental stress,
waste intensive consumption, collection coverage, recycling rate, unsound disposal and waste composition (See Annex II for
definitions). Other indicators available are: GNI per capita (PPP); access to improved sanitation facilities; access to improved
water source; population; population density; the percentage of urban population; and the Human Development Index (HDI).
Although many countries have data that is available and up to date, for several cases it was difficult to find an accurate and up
to date waste synthesis. Typical data quality challenges are:
a) In many scientific reports and articles writers adopt as waste composition of the country the waste composition of
the country’s capital, which is not always accurate. The same inaccurate extrapolation is done for waste generation
per capita rates too.
b) The different components of municipal waste (organics, paper, plastics, etc.) are not uniformly defined, creating
consistency problems.
c) The definition of municipal waste is not the same and it differs significantly in between countries. A very often
phenomenon was the integration of the C&D stream into the municipal one.
For challenge a), cross-checking with Waste

Atlas database data from multiple sources
was used as a means to adjust apparent
mistakes. For the challenges b) and c),
besides cross-checking with data from
similar conditions, basic statistical analysis
was used to identify data inconsistencies.
So far, data sets for 162 countries

are uploaded, covering 97% of global
population. Based on these datasets,
country profiles have been created and are
available. An example of a country profile
is given in Figure 2-1.
Figure 2-1: Portugal country profile on Waste Atlas

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Data for Cities

This layer includes data for 1773 cities from all over the world and more specifically information about overall municipal solid
waste generation and municipal solid waste generation per capita. For these two categories of data are provided to the users
it should be highlighted that an important inconsistency was made apparent while researching for data.
In many papers, referring to the same cities for similar periods, different waste generation per capita rates, different overall
waste generation and finally different populations were provided. In some cases, the three parameters did not match at all as
it was proven with elementary maths.
The problem is probably more generic and it is due to three factors.

a) The definition of a city is not always clear, especially when multiple municipalities and metropolitan areas are the
subjects of the analysis. Thus different populations may be associated with different waste quantities and resulting
in often biased or mutually inconsistent data points.
b) In many cases waste generation is assessed based on the waste collected or disposed of, leading to
underestimation of the involved metrics since they do not include (often informal) recycled quantities.
c) Different authors use different municipal waste definitions, resulting in different waste generation profiles.
An important challenge is the lack of concrete socioeconomic datasets at the city level that would have allowed the investigation
of potentially useful correlations between waste profiles and socioeconomic indicators.
Data for cities derives from the latest reliable source available in Waste Atlas database. Moreover, in some cases the city data
provided considers regional and metropolitan areas. Such problems will be dealt with Waste Atlas next steps.

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Data for Facilities

This group of data aims to provide to Waste Atlas’ users useful information about a range of solid waste treatment facilities.
More specifically, Waste Atlas hosts layers about sanitary landfills, waste to energy plants (WtE), mechanical and biological
treatment facilities (MBTs), biological treatment facilities (BTs) (See Annex II for definition) and dumpsites. It is mentioned that
the data is uploaded randomly, following the contributions received and the utilization of the multiple resources.
It should be noted that:

• The layer of Sanitary Landfills includes all the sites that fulfill certain environmental standards in order to be characterized
as sanitary landfills. However, there is a number of sites, which were proved not to fulfill the minimum requirements of
a sanitary landfill and for this reason they were not uploaded on Waste Atlas. In addition, limited number of controlled
landfills is uploaded on Waste Atlas, especially for developing countries, aiming to “assist” and highlight their efforts
to upgrade their uncontrolled dumpsites to sanitary landfills and generally to start applying safer forms of waste
management. In every case, these sites are indicated with a comment. On Waste Atlas, users can find data about the
status of a landfill, namely if it is active or not, the area it occupies, the amount of waste already disposed of in it, its
annual capacity as well as information about the population it serves.
• In the layer of Waste to Energy (WtE) only facilities that treat thermally the incoming waste and generate energy are
included. Although this categorization may be conflicting with others that include facilities of Anaerobic Digestion as
WtE, Waste Atlas adopted a categorization of facilities based on the type of treatment implemented. By applying the
WtE layer, users can access information regarding the type of the plant, namely if the technology applied is incineration,
pyrolysis or gasification, its start up year and its annual capacity.
• The MBT layer includes information about the type of the facility, its start up year and its annual capacity. Three major
types of MBT facilities have been identified so far; MBT-Compost; MBT-AD and MBT-RDF/SRF facilities, differentiatled on
the basis of the main biological reactor and the related main product of the plant.
• The BT layer includes facilities that receive only

feedstock or source segregated organic waste. In
this type of facilities only biological treatment takes
place, namely Composting and Anaerobic Digestion.
The information provided in this layer is the same
type of information as in MBT facilities.
• Even though dumpsites may not considered waste

facilities, given the existing situation in most places
of the developing world and the waste management
practices followed in most of these countries, it
was considered important to include dumpsites in
the waste facilities group, in order to have a better
perception of the current situation. Users can find
useful information about the status of the dumpsite,
the estimated amount of the waste included in them,
the waste concentration of them, namely how many
tons are included per hectare, and the estimated
number of informal waste pickers that work in them.

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So far, users can find data for:
• 840 sanitary landfills (SLs)
• 697 waste to energy facilities (WtE)
• 100 mechanical-biological treatment facilities (MBTs)
• 74 biological treatment facilities (BTs?)
• 46 of the world biggest dumpsites.
The most important problems faced during the mapping of facilities were the following.
a) The exact location was very difficult to be found for most of the facilities and it became possible only after extensive
research and specific contributions of organizations and local scientists.
b) The facilities' categorization was not always easy to be implemented and maybe there is a need for a different one.
c) Although the data available for dump sites is much more than is uploaded, there is a huge lack of reliable
information about them.
At this point and in order to avoid any confusion, it should be highlighted that the facilities data already uploaded on Waste
Atlas are not complete for each reported country; however, this is a primary effort to outline the waste management systems
in each of them. Even though in most countries of the developing world dumping is still the main practice of solid waste
management, scarce data exists even for the few good practices available. On the contrary, in rich and developed countries,
not only information was available, but in certain cases it was grouped and categorized as well. For this reason, it can be
observed that most of the operating WtE facilities in Europe and the United States have been uploaded on Waste Atlas,
whereas there is lack of information about facilities in Asia (excluding Japan) and in Africa.

Waste Atlas
2013
20
Correlated Global Charts & Global WM Maps
This part aims to present 9 global correlation charts and 8 global waste management maps (visualizations) that have been
created using the data already available on Waste Atlas. The graphs provided are outputs of the Waste Atlas database.
The innovative characteristic of the Global Graphs is that they correlate for the first time waste management indicators (such as
collection coverage or rate of unsound disposal) with other indicators, such as HDI and GNI per capita, for so many countries.
Moreover, visualizations make more obvious and highlight the differences existing over the world in many aspects of waste
management, suggesting the areas where research and studies should be conducted and funds should be allocated to
ameliorate current situation.
It should be noted that the global correlation charts present all the data found, including outliers. Even though a comment of
the trends outlined in these graphs would be constructive, all data collected needs further elaboration in order to come up
with safe conclusions. For this reason the scientific committee of Waste Atlas will take all the necessary actions required so as
to elaborate this data and to conclude to any outcomes. As for the global waste management maps, all data was uploaded.
Global waste management maps make more obvious the lack of data for certain areas of the world, such as the developing
countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Waste Atlas
2013
21
GLOBAL CORRELATION CHARTS

Waste Atlas
2013
22
Country legend
1−Albania 31−Chile 61−Grenada 91−Madagascar 123−Rwanda 152−United Arab
Emirates
2−Algeria 32−China 62−Guatemala 92−Malawi 124−Sao Tome
and Principe 153−United
3−Angola 33−Colombia 63−Guyana 93−Malaysia
Kingdom
125−Saudi Arabia
4−Antigua and 34−Comoros 64−Haiti 94−Maldives
154−United States
Barbuda 126−Senegal
35−Congo, Dem. 65−Honduras 95−Mali
155−Uruguay
5−Argentina Rep. 127−Serbia
66−Hong Kong 96−Malta
156−Uzbekistan
6−Armenia 36−Congo, Rep. SAR, China 128−Sierra Leone
97−Mauritania
157−Venezuela,
7−Australia 37−Costa Rica 67−Hungary 129−Singapore
98−Mauritius RB
8−Austria 38−Cote d'Ivoire 68−Iceland 130−Slovak
99−Mexico 158−Vietnam
Republic
9−Azerbaijan 39−Croatia 69−India
100−Moldova 159−West Bank
131−Slovenia
10−Bahrain 40−Cuba 70−Indonesia and Gaza
101−Mongolia
132−South Africa
11−Bangladesh 41−Cyprus 71−Iran, Islamic 160−Yemen, Rep.
102−Morocco
Rep. 133−Spain
12−Barbados 42−Czech 161−Zimbabwe
103−Mozambique
Republic 72−Ireland 134−Sri Lanka
13−Belarus
104−Myanmar
43−Denmark 73−Israel 135−St. Lucia
14−Belgium
105−Namibia
44−Dominica 74−Italy 136−Sudan
15−Belize
106−Nepal
45−Dominican 75−Jamaica 137−Suriname
16−Benin
Republic 107−Netherlands
76−Japan 138−Swaziland
17−Bhutan
46−Ecuador 108−Nicaragua
77−Jordan 139−Sweden
18−Bolivia
47−Egypt, Arab 109−Niger
78−Kazakhstan 140−Switzerland
19−Bosnia and Rep.
110−Nigeria
Herzegovina 79−Kenya 141−Syrian Arab
48−El Salvador
111−Norway Republic
20−Botswana 80−Korea, Rep.
49−Eritrea
112−Oman 142−Tajikistan
21−Brazil 81−Kuwait
50−Estonia
113−Pakistan 143−Tanzania
22−Brunei 82−Kyrgyz
51−Ethiopia
Darussalam Republic 114−Panama 144−Thailand
52−Fiji
23−Bulgaria 83−Lao PDR 115−Paraguay 145−Togo
53−Finland
24−Burkina Faso 84−Latvia 116−Peru 146−Trinidad and
54−France Tobago
25−Burundi 85−Lebanon 117−Philippines
55−Gabon 147−Tunisia
26−Cameroon 86−Lesotho 118−Poland
56−Gambia, The 148−Turkey
27−Canada 87−Lithuania 119−Portugal
57−Georgia 149-Turkmenistan
28−Cape Verde 88−Luxembourg 120−Qatar
58−Germany 150−Uganda
29−Central 89−Macao SAR, 121−Romania
African Republic 59−Ghana China 151−Ukraine
122−Russian
30−Chad 60−Greece 90−Macedonia, Federation
FYR

76 88 96 107
68
53 54 58
135 84 5 157 146 13 61 60 8 14 43 119
Collection Coverage vs Access to Improved Sanitation Facilities 33 140 130
100 98 31 42 15527 129
132 4 85 111 139
106 44 99 80 154 153
108 7
39 131
21 9 159 37 12
63 67
90
59 114 116 15 46 141
18 121 147
102 23
137 6 118 50 93 77
48
80 62 1
148 40 72
75
36 17 2
70 117 45
70
65
E-Mail : support@d-waste.com
110 104 127 19 57
60 115
113
69
3 32 144
50 143
128
24 95 25 100 47
150 20
40
160 134
Collection Coverage (%)

161
30 145
109
16
34 126 11
20 91
97
64 35
10
0
5 15 25 35 45 55 65 75 85 95
Access to Improved Sanitation Facilities (% of population with access)

2013
Waste Atlas
23
http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/
For countries' names refer to page 20
Collection Coverage vs GDP per Capita
13 135 61 84 146 130 42 96 119 60 6674 153 58 76 53 139 43 89 88
157 5 140 111
100 33 155 31 80
54 14 8 107
132 98 68 129 27
85 4 154
106 44 99 7
108 131
39
159 9 37 21 1267 10
63
90
59 141 15 114
18 46 116
102 147 121
23
6 77 93 118 22
48 137 50
80 62 148
1 40 72
75
17 36 2
70 45
70 117
65
110 57 19 127
60 115
113
69
3 32
143 144
50
128
25
24 95 100 47

150
40 20
160 134
161
30 145
109
16
126
11
20 91 34
97
64
35
10
0
2.20 2.70 3.20 3.70 4.20 4.70 5.20
Log10[GDP per Capita (current US $/yr)]

2013
Waste Atlas
24
Collection Coverage vs HDI 33
135 157 61 13 146 5 84 119 96130 58
76 139 107
153 42 74 531443 66 68 111
100 98 155 60
132 31 88 129 548 80 140 27
85 4 154
106 44 99 131 7
108 39
159 9 21 37 12 10 67
63
90
59 141 15 46 114
18 116 121
102 147
137 77 6 93 23 118 22
48
80 62 1 50
148 40 72
75
17 36 2
70 117 45
70
65
110 104 127

19 57
60 115
113
69
3 144
50 143 32
128
25 24 95 47 100
150
40 20
160 134

161
30 145
109
16
126
34 11
20 91
97
64
35
10
0
0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00
Human Development Index (HDI)

2013
Waste Atlas
25
Waste Generation per capita vs Household Final Consumption Expenditure per Capita
1,000
10 27
900
34
800 41
154
81 140
700 43 88
100 146
73 72
152
120 96 107 8 58
600 112 68
63 4
135 89 133 74 54 153
119 53
137 129
500 125 66 14 139 111
114 31
131 60
15 13 23 45 85 67
148 39
400 143
21 87 155
149 144 9020 93 5 98 80 76
115 44 9912 130
142 57 48 77 121 157 37 84 42
127 159 40 61 122 22 50
300
26
117 1116 118
108 83 210171 47 75132 78
95 64158 59 653210270 46 62
25 82136 151 147 33
16
35 69 36134 141
200 24 30 38 105 28 138 55
49 56 128 156 16018 9 52
29 11 97
145 92 91 113 86 126 3 6
79
Waste Generation per capita (kg/yr)

123 16151150
100
106
103
0
0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 25,000 30,000 35,000 40,000
Household Final Consumption Expenditure per Capita (current US $/yr)

2013
Waste Atlas
26
Organics vs GDP per Capita
100
90
80 48
66
11 46
30 159 99
101 40
70 52
147
160 103
134 2
15
32 33 91
60 17
141 115
47 121
18 116 155
96
Organics (%)
79 98
16 6 3 21
80 136 127 37 87100
64 1 5 31 133
50 26 71 144
105 94 7
84 60
135 61 125 67 120
126 113 158 62 114
72 39
89 22
161 151 23 157 85 112 76 27
57 74 14
40 130
148 50 153
10 41 107
119 8
117 54 53
12 77
68 43 140 111
30 83 154
118 69
73
20
102
129
10
0
2.8 3.3 3.8 4.3 4.8
GDP per Capita (Current US $) ($/year/capita)

2013
Waste Atlas
27
Paper/Cardboard vs GNI per Capita 53
40
76
157
35 57
111
72
30
125 154
10
43
112 68 74 27 107
101 114 84 73
41
25 63 12 80
7
71 8
66
37 119 133
15 155 148 39 118 140 129
54 153
20 60
61
62 22 120
50
17 14
96
Paper/Cardboard (%)
106 79
52 105 67
93 99
15 144 87
1 5
113 77 21 130
117
103 136 3 6 94 127 98
158 23
85 31 89
126 115 47 135 121
48 46
10 2 147 33
159 69 102
32 116
160 18 141 134
83 151
150 11 100
5 92 91 145 26
64 30 16
0
2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0
GNI per Capita (Current international $) ($/year/capita)

2013
Waste Atlas
28
25 64 1611 100 15 137 1
Unsound Disposal vs GNI per Capita
146 22
110
100 83
26 113 134
3 67
90
65
75 157 155
69 117 93
108 47
62 141 2
89
80
159
148
70 160 46
45
106 115
102
144
60
116
97
17
87
50
147
114
Unsound Disposal (%)

21
77 127
40
5
37
99 10
135 85
18 32
30 39
70
9
48
20 33 31 12
23
131
96 41
10
130
42 60 153 139 8 140

82 98 84 73 68 72 54 7 53 14 58 107 154 66 129
0 119 80 76 43
0 10,000 20,000 30,000 40,000 50,000 60,000 70,000
GNI per Capita, PPP (Current international $) ($/year/capita)

2013
Waste Atlas
29
Waste Generation per capita vs GDP per Capita
1,000
10
27
900
34
800
41
154
81 140
700 43 88
100 146
72
73 152
96 58 107 120
600 112 8
63 4 68
135 133 74 54 89
119 153
137 53
129
500 111
125 60 66 14 139
31
114
67 131
15 45 13 23 85 148 39
19
400 20 93 21 87155
143 149 144 98 5 80
90 76
115 77 44 99 122
142 48 121 12 130
57 127 37 157 118 42 22
61 84 50
159 40
300 26 116
117 101 1 46 75
64 83 47 102 70 132
95 108 71 2 94
59 65 32 33 78
136 160 134 62

82 158 141 151 147
35 25 16
161 17
92 1232456 126 69 36 138 105
200 109
2949 30 86 38 18 9
145 124 156 28 55
128 11 110 52
91 97113 6 3
51 150 106 79
100 103
0
2.20 2.70 3.20 3.70 4.20 4.70 5.20
Log10[GDP per Capita (current US $/yr)]

2013
Waste Atlas
30
1,000
Waste Generation per capita vs HDI
10
27
900
34
800
41
154
81 140
700 88 43
100 146
72
152 73
96 8 107
600 112 120 58
68
63 4
135 153 74
133 54
119 53
137
129
500 14 111
125 31 60 66 139
114
67 131
45 15 23 39
19 85 13
400 20 148 21 93 155 87
143 144 98 5 80
115 149 77 90 76
142 48 44
122 99 121
12 130
57 3761 127 118 22 42
157 40 84 50
159
300 26 116
64 83 117 101 46 75 1
95
102108 70 132 94 2 71
59 62 65 47 32 33 78
136 160 158 134 151
25 161 82 141 147
35 24 56 16 145 17
200 109 92 123 86 126 124 138 36 69 28 105 18 9
30 12829 49 104 156 55

38 110 11 52
150 97106 91 3 113 6
51 79
100 103
0
0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Human Development Index (HDI)

2013
Waste Atlas
31
Waste Atlas
2013
32
GLOBAL WASTE MANAGEMENT MAPS

Waste Atlas
2013
33

Waste Atlas
2013
34

Waste Atlas
2013
35

Waste Atlas
2013
36

Waste Atlas
2013
37
Putting Waste Atlas in practice – Assessment of Current Situation
Waste Atlas aims to gather useful information around solid waste management in one place. All this great amount of data
uploaded creates a huge potential that enables users to conduct easily comparisons between countries and cities of similar
size or wealth, as well as to make conclusions about waste management practices and trends.
This section presents the outcomes of a recent assessment about the current global solid waste generation, the average solid
waste generation per capita, as well as the average solid waste composition. Calculations were based on data for 162 countries
from all over the world, data that is already available on Waste Atlas and that covers 97% of the global population.
Making the necessary calculations, it was assessed that current solid waste generation is up to 1.84 billion tonnes, whereas
average solid waste generation is assessed to 271.7 kg/cap/year. Figure 2-2 presents the average global waste composition.
In addition to the abovementioned

outcomes, Table 2-1 summarizes
average figures from the data already
uploaded on Waste Atlas. More
specifically it provides info about the
average Waste Intensive Consumption,
the average Recycling Rate and the
Average Unsound Disposal rate. For
every indicator, the number of countries
Figure 2-2: Average global waste composition counted is also provided.
Table 2-1: Global Average Indicators
Indicators Quantity Units Number of countries

counted
Municipal Solid Waste Generation 1.84 1090t year-1 162
Municipal Solid Waste Generation per 271.7 Kg cap-1 year-1 162

capita
Collection Coverage 73.9 % 122
Recycling rate 16.0 % 91
Unsound disposal rate 38.0 % 96

Environmental Stress 14.9 t (km )2 -1
162
Waste Intensive Consumption 0.05 Kg $-1 155

Assessment of the current global situation is an example of the outcomes that may arise from the use of Waste Atlas, including
amongst others waste projections and benchmarking studies. For practical examples you can download Antonis Mavropoulos'
presentation in Lisbon GRAPESB conference from http://www.d-waste.com/presentations/utilizing-waste-atlas-detail.html#.
UlKa5oa9lgE

Waste Atlas
2013
38
162 Countries >1,700 Cities Users from 122 countries
97% of global MSW Full profile for More than 1,700 Waste 5,000 unique users
Generation 100 biggest cities Treatment Facilities 1,000 contributors
Uploaded data Density
Unique Visual Maps

Free
Global Correlation Graphs
Crowdsourced
Customized Charts Benchmarking
162
1,774
1,757
80
1167
955
145
Data
323
Countries
Cities
Facilities
May 2012 Dec 2012 Sep 2013

The biggest waste management database

Waste Atlas
2013
39

Waste Atlas
2013
CONCLUSIONS & CHALLENGES 40
The implementation of Waste Atlas was a substantial learning experience and several difficulties and challenges were
encountered during its first year. The most important conclusions and challenges are summarized below.
• The very positive critiques and the popularity of Waste Atlas with users and contributors demonstrated the necessity of such
a project and highlighted the need for more efforts that will shape the global picture of waste management and provide data
sets that will allow benchmarking.
• Waste Atlas aims to collect waste management data from all over the world in a single place and to visualize it spatially on
a map. For this reason, the data collected had to be edited, composed and converted into a uniform way that would facilitate
comparisons and benchmarking. In addition, exact location of facilities had to be identified, an action that in most cases
proved to be difficult and time consuming. Although humanity lives in “the big data” era, waste management seems still to
remain in the big “lack of data” era. This reflects the underestimation of waste management and recycling in the global political
agendas and it highlights the need for serious coordinated efforts to upgrade it.
• The collection of data in the first year of operation has highlighted the problem of data inconsistency and the lack of a global
methodology that will support global uniform data collection and interpretation. This issue is of high importance especially
for institutions, policy makers and financial authorities in country and city level, requiring coordinated actions to deal with it
efficiently.
• A year’s work has proved that combining crowdsourcing with dedicated expertise is a way to deal with the problems mentioned
above. The global waste management and recycling community should further focus on crowdsourcing activities as a means
to provide solutions to the lack of data that can be utilized for decision making procedures.
• Already a large amount of data has been collected and remains unpublished, waiting for further utilization and development.
The first year's experiences documented the need for a more concrete and consistent database development and for a more
broad scientific support in order to utilize the huge data sets in the best way.

Waste Atlas
2013
41
ANNEX I
Key References
A wide range of studies, scientific and technical papers and free access databases have been used for the upload of data
on Waste Atlas. As for socio-economic data, it was all taken from World’s Bank database, with the exception of HDI which is
an index established by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The following publications have been the main
contributions to the conceptualization and implementation of Waste Atlas.
1. Wilson DC, Rodic L, Scheinberg A, Velis CA and Alabaster G (2012) Comparative analysis of solid waste management in 20
cities. Waste Management & Research 30(3): 237-254. Available at: http://wmr.sagepub.com
2. Scheinberg A, Wilson DC and Rodic L (eds) (2010) Solid Waste Management in the world’s cities: Water and Sanitation in
the World’s Cities. Earthscan for UN-Habitat, London and Washington DC. Available at: http://www.unhabitat.org/pmss/
listItemDetails.aspx?publicationID=2918
3. Hoornweg D and Bhada-Tata P (2012) What a Waste – a Global Review of Solid Waste Management. World Bank, Washington,
DC, USA. Available at: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTURBANDEVELOPMENT/0,,contentMDK:23172
887~pagePK:210058~piPK:210062~theSitePK:337178,00.html
4. D-Waste (2012) Waste management for everyone. Available at: www.d-waste.com

Waste Atlas
2013
42
ANNEX II
Access to improved sanitation facilities refers to the percentage of the population with
at least adequate access to excreta disposal facilities that can effectively prevent human,
Access to improved
animal, and insect contact with excreta. Improved facilities range from simple but pro-
sanitation facilities
tected pit latrines to flush toilets with a sewerage connection. To be effective, facilities
must be correctly constructed and properly maintained
Access to an improved water source refers to the percentage of the population with
reasonable access to an adequate amount of water from an improved source, such as
Access to improved a household connection, public standpipe, borehole, protected well or spring, and rain-
water source water collection. Unimproved sources include vendors, tanker trucks, and unprotected
wells and springs. Reasonable access is defined as the availability of at least 20 litres a
person a day from a source within one kilometre of the dwelling
Biological treatment facilities are defined as the facilities that receive source segregated
Biological treatment
organic waste and within them only biological processes, such as composting and bio-
facilities
methanization – anaerobic digestion, take place
The amount of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) collected as a proportion of total MSW
Collection Coverage
generated
As Dumpsites are defined those sites used for the disposal of waste that do not fulfil
Dumpsites
certain environmental criteria
The amount of the municipal solid waste generated in a country divided by country’s
Environmental Stress
area, expressed in tonnes per square kilometre (tonnes/km2)
GDP per capita is gross domestic product divided by midyear population. GDP is the
sum of gross value added by all resident producers in the economy plus any product
GDP per capita taxes and minus any subsidies not included in the value of the products. It is calculated
without making deductions for depreciation of fabricated assets or for depletion and
degradation of natural resources. Data are in current U.S. dollars
GNI per capita based on purchasing power parity (PPP). PPP GNI is gross national in-
come (GNI) converted to international dollars using purchasing power parity rates. An
international dollar has the same purchasing power over GNI as a U.S. dollar has in the
GNI per capita, PPP United States. GNI is the sum of value added by all resident producers plus any product
taxes (less subsidies) not included in the valuation of output plus net receipts of primary
income (compensation of employees and property income) from abroad. Data are in
current international dollars
Household final consumption expenditure per capita is an indicator generated by
Household Final D-Waste by dividing the Household Final Consumption Expenditure of each country with
Consumption its total population. This indicator is used to correlate the waste generation patterns
Expenditure with the consumption patterns. Data for Final Household Consumption Expenditure per
capita are in U.S. dollars per person
Human Development A composite index measuring average achievement in three basic dimensions of human
Index (HDI) development—a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living
Mechanical Biologi- As Mechanical Biological Treatment facilities are defined the facilities that receive com-
cal Treatment (MBT) mingled waste, use mechanical separation to remove recyclables and the dry fraction,
facilities and use biological methods to treat the organic fraction
As Municipal Waste is defined as th e waste mainly produced by households, including
also similar waste generated from sources such as commerce, offices and public insti-
Municipal Solid Waste
tutions. The amount of municipal waste generated consists of waste collected by or on
behalf of municipal authorities and disposed of through the waste management system

Waste Atlas
2013
43
Population density is midyear population divided by land area in square kilometres.

Population is based on the de facto definition of population, which counts all residents
regardless of legal status or citizenship-except for refugees not permanently settled
Population density in the country of asylum, who are generally considered part of the population of their
country of origin. Land area is a country’s total area, excluding area under inland water
bodies, national claims to continental shelf, and exclusive economic zones. In most cas-
es the definition of inland water bodies includes major rivers and lakes
Population below $2 a day is the percentage of the population living on less than $2.00
Poverty headcount a day at 2005 international prices. As a result of revisions in PPP exchange rates, poverty
ratio at $2 a day (PPP) rates for individual countries cannot be compared with poverty rates reported in earlier
editions
The amount of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) recycled as a proportion of total MSW gen-
Recycling Rate
erated
As Sanitary Landfills are defined those sites used for the disposal of waste, that fulfil
Sanitary Landfill certain environmental criteria, including amongst others limited access to the site, cov-
er of waste with soil materials, leachate control, landfill gas control, etc
The percentage of total Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated that is disposed or burnt
Unsound Disposal
in controlled and uncontrolled dumpsites
Urban population refers to people living in urban areas as defined by national statistical
Urban population
offices. It is calculated using World Bank population estimates and urban ratios from the
(% of total)
United Nations World Urbanization Prospects
The detailed description of the material composition of the waste streams, using per-
Waste Composition centage of material types. The streams adopted in Waste Atlas are: organic, paper/card-
board, metal, plastic, glass and others
Waste Generation per
The average amount of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) generated annually per person
capita
Waste Intensive The amount of Municipal Solid Waste generated in a country per dollar of household
Consumption consumption expenditure
Waste to Energy (WtE) In Waste Atlas as Waste to Energy facilities are defined those facilities that treat thermal-
facilities ly the waste and generate either energy or steam or both

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Waste Atlas

WASTE ATLAS TEAM

Ilianna Koukosia – GIS Expert

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

Waste Atlas Partnership

ISSN: 2241 - 2484

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

Markus Luecke, GIZ/SWEEP-Net Teamleader: David Newman, President of ISWA: ISWA is

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

Surendra Shrestha, Director of IETC/UNEP: In Nickolas J. Themelis, Professor at Columbia

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

Agamuthu Pariatamby, Editor-in-Chief of WM&R, Mário Russo, Coordinator Professor at

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

Waste Atlas Concept 12

CONCLUSIONS & CHALLENGES 40

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

Google Results for WM related key words (accessed on 04/04/13)

Figure 1-1: Google results for WM related key words

1 IBM (2012), “Understanding Big Data”. Available at:

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

• Searching, retrieving and displaying the available data on the map

display them on the map

• Distance Calculation between two or more items on the map

• Street View ability where applicable

Users can benefit from Waste Atlas functions by:

• Creating Customized Charts for comparison purposes

• Viewing unique Global Correlation Charts (see Section 2.3)

• Accessing data regarding current global waste management situation

• Submiting waste management data

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

Data for Countries

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

per capita rates too.

For challenge a), cross-checking with Waste

So far, data sets for 162 countries

Figure 2-1: Portugal country profile on Waste Atlas

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

Data for Cities

The problem is probably more generic and it is due to three factors.

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

Data for Facilities

It should be noted that:

• The BT layer includes facilities that receive only

• Even though dumpsites may not considered waste

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

So far, users can find data for:

• 840 sanitary landfills (SLs)

• 697 waste to energy facilities (WtE)

• 100 mechanical-biological treatment facilities (MBTs)

• 74 biological treatment facilities (BTs?)

• 46 of the world biggest dumpsites.

research and specific contributions of organizations and local scientists.

information about them.

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

GLOBAL CORRELATION CHARTS

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/

E-Mail : support@d-waste.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com/