Waste management is a large environmental issue that has been a factor of climate change for a while. (Tiseo, Topic: Waste management in India) This is a problem that often goes unnoticed in wealthier countries due to being able to pay to have it taken care of. (Allan et al., Municipal Solid Waste Management in Asia and the Pacific Islands 2014) However, what we don’t see is the developing countries that get paid to take millions of tons of waste every year. (Lefton, 10 places on Earth with a giant trash problem 2020) The problem is, these developing countries don’t seem to have the resources to properly dispose of the waste so it often ends up in landfills, the ocean, and their forests. (Melville, The top 10 countries that dump the most plastic into the Ocean 2021) These landfills produce methane, which is one of the main causes of global warming. (Kumar et al., Challenges and opportunities associated with waste management in India ... 2017)

With plastics not being biodegradable, they often end up in our oceans and can turn into microplastics, which are now being looked at as a major health issue because we are consuming them every day without knowing it. (Law & Thomson, Microplastics in the Seas | Science 2014) The main area that is affected by these issues is Asia since that is a developing region and they produce more than half of plastics in the world. (Filiciotto & Rothenberg, Electrochemistry based CO2 Removal Technologies 2020) Along with that, South East Asia actually imports more plastic than anywhere else in the world. (Iacovidou & Ng, Malaysia versus waste 2020) This is making life for the residents of South East Asia not desirable and not safe. (Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Indonesia's waste management sector still going strong 2021)

Common Denominators: 

• Developed countries using developing countries to manage their waste in return for profit; China used to be the leading country in allowing waste imports from developed countries, in exchange for income. However, in 2018, China officially banned foreign waste imports, which led developed countries to look to South East Asia as a replacement. (Lefton, 10 places on Earth with a giant trash problem 2020)

• Not having the resources to keep up with population growth; With population growth, comes a higher rate of waste generation. Waste generation is affected by population density, economic status, level of commercial activity, culture, and location.  (Kumar et al., Challenges and opportunities associated with waste management in India ... 2017)

• Waste Dumps; Waste dumps produce methane which leads to air pollution- which is one of the leading causes of climate change. Methane can also create fires and explosions. These fires can also lead to many different types of respiratory issues, bacterial infections, allergies, asthma, etc. (Kumar et alChallenges and opportunities associated with waste management in India ... 2017)

• Politics/legislative/government Branches; (ex. Indonesia doesn’t enforce source segregation, even though they have the highest rate of MSW in South East Asia)

• Awareness/Attitudes; (ex. the residents of Sri Lanka see wild elephants as pests that invade their crops, so allowing them to eat from the landfills doesn’t seem like a major issue to them)