Waste Mismanagement in Developing Countries: A Review of Global Issues
Department of Theoretical and Applied Sciences, University of Insubria, Via G.B. Vico 46, I-21100 Varese, Italy
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(6), 1060; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16061060
Received: 6 March 2019
/
Revised: 20 March 2019
/
Accepted: 22 March 2019
/
Published: 24 March 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hazardous Waste and Human Health)
Environmental contamination due to solid waste mismanagement is a global issue. Open dumping and open burning are the main implemented waste treatment and final disposal systems, mainly visible in low-income countries. This paper reviews the main impacts due to waste mismanagement in developing countries, focusing on environmental contamination and social issues. The activity of the informal sector in developing cities was also reviewed, focusing on the main health risks due to waste scavenging. Results reported that the environmental impacts are pervasive worldwide: marine litter, air, soil and water contamination, and the direct interaction of waste pickers with hazardous waste are the most important issues. Many reviews were published in the scientific literature about specific waste streams, in order to quantify its effect on the environment. This narrative literature review assessed global issues due to different waste fractions showing how several sources of pollution are affecting the environment, population health, and sustainable development. The results and case studies presented can be of reference for scholars and stakeholders for quantifying the comprehensive impacts and for planning integrated solid waste collection and treatment systems, for improving sustainability at a global level.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
environmental contamination; public health; solid waste management; sustainability; open dumping; informal recycling; open burning; sustainable development; hazardous waste; risk assessment
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Ferronato, N.; Torretta, V. Waste Mismanagement in Developing Countries: A Review of Global Issues. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 1060. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16061060
AMA Style
Ferronato N, Torretta V. Waste Mismanagement in Developing Countries: A Review of Global Issues. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019; 16(6):1060. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16061060
Chicago/Turabian StyleFerronato, Navarro, and Vincenzo Torretta. 2019. "Waste Mismanagement in Developing Countries: A Review of Global Issues" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 6: 1060. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16061060
Find Other Styles
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
