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Every year, the world generates more than two billion tonnes of trash.  Even against the backdrop of a global pandemic, there is much being bought and sold, things are used and discarded.

People tend to forget about the things they have thrown “away”– as though they cease to exist when we are finished using them. But material goods don’t just disappear, their environmental impact lingers.

Dumpsites produce methane as organic waste decomposes – particularly in the absence of oxygen. They are the third-largest source of human-generated methane – a greenhouse gas that is 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide and a major accelerator of climate change.

Landfills are no better. “Because they are deeper and designed to store more waste, oxygen is even less present and conditions are ideal for anaerobic decomposition,” explains Sandra Mazo-Nix, Waste Initiative Coordinator at the UN Environment Programme-hosted Climate and Clean Air Coalition.