In San Francisco, everything we do has to be looked at through the lenses of three themes: economic recovery, health and equity. Substantial innovation is occurring in the waste sector, as many cities take steps towards a future without waste – prioritizing avoidance of waste generation, by creating sharing libraries and repair facilities, recovering resources through large-scale organics and food waste composting, and only disposing of residual wastes.Įmbracing a circular approach to materials management can boost innovation, job creation and lead to a much-needed decrease of the use of primary resources, taking responsibility for global impact of local waste management practices. When approached from a systems perspective, addressing waste management upstream can contribute to global emissions reductions of 15-20% by avoiding waste generation and diverting waste from disposal through recycling and treatment, and using the byproducts to offset resource extraction emissions or the utilization of carbon intensive materials like chemical fertilizers. This is a particularly urgent opportunity for Global South cities where the organics content of waste is highest, and action taken here will improve its economic development, reduce social and climate vulnerability, reduce operational and opportunity costs, while extending the operational lifetime of disposal sites. Because methane is a short-lived greenhouse gas, reducing its emissions would see impact within this generation. 97% of those emissions are in the form of methane, an extremely powerful greenhouse gas and climate forcer, emitted when organic waste breaks down in open dumps or landfills without gas collection. Waste disposal is responsible for 3-5% of the overall direct GHG emissions in cities and those are projected to increase from 1.12 billion tonnes today to 2.38 billion tonnes of CO 2e per year by 2050. Mismanaged waste is a source of air and water pollution, a vector for diseases, a cause of urban flooding, loss of value and material resources, and a significant source of GHG emissions. The World Bank estimates that 33% of the waste currently produced globally is not managed adequately and this share is projected to increase as generation increases. Waste generation is the fastest-growing environmental pollutant and is projected to reach 3.4 billion tonnes per year by 2050. 15 – 20 % reduction in emissions throughzero-waste strategies 3 About this sector