Managing waste in emerging markets – Hauke Engel, Martin Stuchtey, and Helga Vanthournout: “Economic growth in emerging economies is bringing prosperity, rising living standards, and overdue relief from poverty, but increased consumption typically increases resource use—especially the use of plastics—and waste production….the rapid surge in waste volumes since 2007 is straining waste-management systems in many developing countries, with negative effects in economic, health, and ecosystem terms. The Philippines is a case in point: it produces 2.7 million metric tons of plastic waste per year—600,000 metric tons in metro Manila alone. While the country has high waste-collection rates overall (84 percent nationwide), 17 percent of collected plastics is lost into the marine ecosystem after collection because of illegal dumping and poor landfill siting and operating practices. For uncollected plastics, the ocean-leakage rate is even higher, at 31 percent. The economic losses in tourism, fisheries, and healthcare are considerable. We estimate that each metric ton of uncollected mixed waste represents an average loss of approximately $375. As Inge Lardinois and Arnold van de Klundert wrote 20 years ago: “By almost any form of evaluation, solid waste management is a growing environmental and financial problem in developing countries. Despite significant efforts in the last decades, the majority of municipalities in the developing countries cannot manage the growing volume of waste produced in their cities.”