Chongqing Engineering Research Center for Remote Sensing Big Data Application, Chongqing Key Laboratory of Karst Environment, School of Geographical Sciences, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Department of Geography and Environmental Science, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
J Epidemiol Community Health. 2018 Mar;72(3):237-243. doi: 10.1136/jech-2016-208597. Epub 2017 Dec 8.
With rapid population growth, especially in low-income and middle-income countries, the generation of waste is increasing at an unprecedented rate. For example, annual global waste arising from waste electrical and electronic equipment alone will have increased from 33.8 to 49.8 million tonnes between 2010 and 2018. Despite incineration and other waste treatment techniques, landfill still dominates waste disposal in low-income and middle-income countries. There is usually insufficient funding for adequate waste management in these countries and uptake of more advanced waste treatment technologies is poor. Without proper management, many landfills represent serious hazards as typified by the landslide in Shenzhen, China on 20 December 2015. In addition to formal waste recycling systems, approximately 15million people around the world are involved in informal waste recycling, mainly for plastics, metals, glass and paper. This review examines emerging public health challenges, in particular within low-income and middle-income countries, associated with the informal sector. While informal recyclers contribute to waste recycling and reuse, the relatively primitive techniques they employ, combined with improper management of secondary pollutants, exacerbate environmental pollution of air, soil and water. Even worse, insufficient occupational health measures expose informal waste workers to a range of pollutants, injuries, respiratory and dermatological problems, infections and other serious health issues that contribute to low life expectancy. Integration of the informal sector with its formal counterparts could improve waste management while addressing these serious health and livelihood issues. Progress in this direction has already been made notably in several Latin American countries where integrating the informal and formal sectors has had a positive influence on both waste management and poverty alleviation.
随着人口的快速增长，特别是在低收入和中等收入国家，垃圾的产生正以前所未有的速度增长。例如，仅 2010 年至 2018 年期间，全球每年产生的废弃电器电子产品就从 3380 万吨增加到 4980 万吨。尽管采用了焚烧和其他废物处理技术，但在低收入和中等收入国家，垃圾填埋仍然是垃圾处理的主要方式。这些国家通常没有足够的资金来进行适当的废物管理，对更先进的废物处理技术的采用也很差。如果没有适当的管理，许多垃圾填埋场都存在严重的危险，中国深圳 2015 年 12 月 20 日的滑坡就是一个典型例子。除了正规的废物回收系统外，全球约有 1500 万人参与非正规废物回收，主要是回收塑料、金属、玻璃和纸张。本文综述了非正规部门所带来的新出现的公共卫生挑战，特别是在低收入和中等收入国家。虽然非正规回收者为废物的回收和再利用做出了贡献，但他们采用的相对原始的技术，加上对二次污染物管理不善，加剧了空气、土壤和水的环境污染。更糟糕的是，非正规废物工人缺乏适当的职业健康措施，使他们接触到一系列污染物、伤害、呼吸和皮肤问题、感染和其他严重的健康问题，导致预期寿命缩短。将非正规部门与正规部门相结合，可以改善废物管理，同时解决这些严重的健康和生计问题。在这方面已经取得了一些进展，特别是在一些拉丁美洲国家，将非正规和正规部门相结合对废物管理和减贫都产生了积极的影响。
