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[00:00.44] The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said in a report on Wednesday that public waste creation will greatly increase by 2050.

[00:17.16] The rise will cause hundreds of billions of dollars of damage through biodiversity loss, climate change, and deadly pollution, UNEP reports.

[00:32.04] UNEP’s Global Waste Management Outlook 2024 says worldwide waste creation would greatly increase unless governments take urgent preventative measures.

[00:49.84] The world’s fastest-growing economies will drive much of the increase in waste.

[00:59.13] These include some countries in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that are already struggling to deal with current public waste levels.

[01:11.62] The report predicts municipal solid waste generation will grow from 2.3 billion tonnes in 2023 to 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050.

[01:43.23] UNEP projected the yearly cost of waste treatment by the middle of the century would rise to $640 billion worldwide.

[01:44.29] That represents a more than 75 percent increase from 2020.

[01:52.52] That year, the world produced an estimated 2.1 billion tonnes of public solid waste, which excludes industrial waste.

[02:04.48] Damage caused by the growing waste would account for about $443 billion of the total cost.

[02:15.90] The report, called Beyond an Age of Waste: Turning Rubbish into a Resource, was released during the U.N. Environment Assembly in Kenya this week.

[02:31.04] The writers argue that humanity has “moved backwards” over the past ten years.

[02:39.54] They say humans are creating more waste, more pollution, and more climate changing gases.

[02:48.57] Waste prevention measures and improved waste treatment could reduce those costs, the report said.

[02:59.20] But it notes, there are major barriers to such reforms, including weak enforcement systems.

[03:09.55] Negotiators are working toward a treaty to deal with the especially damaging and dangerous pollution from plastics.

[03:19.65] They are beginning a fourth round of talks in April.

[03:25.49] UNEP Executive Director Inger Andersen said she is hopeful they will complete the agreement by the end of this year.

[03:37.18] Environmentalists and fossil fuel producers continue to disagree about the terms of the agreement.

[03:47.01] They especially dispute whether the deal should center on reducing plastics production or increasing recycling and re-use.

[03:59.23] "There is an interest, and especially among the countries that are producing raw polymer, but as I keep telling them, this is not an anti-plastic treaty," Andersen told Reuters, noting there would still be a need for plastics in vehicles and medical equipment.

[04:22.88] Raw polymers are used in the creation of plastic materials.

[04:29.52] Andersen said she hopes no delegations would work to block progress on the treaty, but instead “find a way forward that actually takes into account the fact that we are drowning in plastic."