The global waste problem must finally be addressed by everyone

Marcos Buser, Geologist and waste specialist, initiator and member of the 5RSt-Ursanne Foundation for Circular Economy (www.5rstursanne.ch)

06.08.2025. Is the waste problem really that worrying today? Yes, it is. But there are ways of dealing with it.

A ranking for waste “sinners”?

On July 22 2025, a guest commentary by physicist Walter Rüegg appeared in the «Neue Zürcher Zeitung» under the title «The advantage of radioactivity – nuclear waste is considered toxic waste par excellence. A comparison allows for a more sober assessment. » In it, Rüegg compares the danger and toxicity of nuclear waste with that of the renewable energy industry. He uses the example of copper demand from mines. Much of the information presented in his guest article is correct and worth considering. However, the problem with this article lies elsewhere. Rüegg’s positional approach to determining what is actually worse does not do justice to the real problems posed by our civilization’s waste. After all, such a comparison could just as easily have included lead, a heavy metal that is used or is intended to be used as a coolant in modern fourth-generation nuclear reactors. The balance sheet would then look very different. To understand the catastrophic situation we find ourselves in today with regard to waste, we do not need a ranking of “sinful” pollutants or a competition for technological superiority. In view of this deluge of waste, the question of what is more toxic, worse, or “more evil” is only of secondary importance. It would be much more important to be able to better recognize and understand the big picture of the waste problem. Only this can enable us to halt the serious development of the poisoning of our world by civilization waste and to look for long-term solutions for detoxifying our environment. Let’s take a closer look at this using three problem areas.

The universality and complexity of the phenomenon

The first problem is the almost unmanageable flood of waste and the resulting diversity of substances and mixtures of substances. This demonstrates the universal nature of this phenomenon. To this day, the technological, energy, and resource performance of modern societies is directly reflected in the amount of waste they produce and the wide range of pollutants they use. From climate-damaging gases and toxic cocktails of pollutants in groundwater to solid toxic waste. And last but not least the space debris! Our products have long since ceased to consist of individual groups of materials, such as wood, natural textiles, or rubber in the past. Today’s consumer products are complex technological structures made up of interlocking components. These find their way into a wide variety of environmental areas via many different paths. This means that they are no longer accessible for recycling, which would allow us to return these substances to the production cycle in a profitable manner. Waste has become a terribly complex thing. It is intricately composed and distributed all over the earth, even in its most remote corners. Our environment has degenerated into the “Cloaca Maxima” of the global consumer economy. Humans have actually managed to completely destroy their habitat within two generations… And we are still a long way from reaching the end of the acceleration spiral. It continues unabated. The flood of waste has already surpassed the dimensions of natural sedimentation processes. The fact that even beautiful vacation beaches now resemble plastic dumps that have to be cleaned up on summer days and whose sand consists of up to 70%—what else?—of various plastics seems Kafkaesque. The toxicity of such waste dumps and mixtures is constantly increasing.

From the brain to the Mariana Trench: shift to micro-pollutant cocktails

We have known this since Rachel Carson’s days of “Silent Spring,” i.e., for over 70 years: Pollutants are effective even in the smallest quantities when they are distributed and diluted in the environment through industrial processes. Our well-informed society should already be aware of the micro- and nano-plastic fibers in our brains. It is already suspected that these could also promote neurodegenerative disorders and diseases.[1]

Less attention than the plastic particles in human organs is given to the flood of microplastics pouring into the oceans, reaching depths of 11,000 meters in the Mariana Trench. It contains everything that humans have ever touched. Urban sewage systems also contain all kinds of thin liquid pollutants which, mixed with human excrement, combine all the products and consumer goods used in households, from degreasers and sprays to cosmetics and cleaning agents to medicines and drugs. From there, they enter the surface water and groundwater via wastewater treatment plants. And from all these «soups», tiny organisms fish out the trace substances, concentrate them, and ultimately bring them back to the table via the food chain. A true circular economy of pollutants. Everything neatly distributed and reconcentrated. The problem is that these finely distributed cocktails of pollutants are difficult, if not impossible, to treat. And the list of these cocktails is getting longer and longer and richer in substances. In addition, microbial degradation or conversion of the waste materials into toxic daughter products occurs, often with the formation of metabolites (metabolic breakdown products). And there is no remedy for this.

Long-term damage

Added to this are the long-term effects. When it comes to climate, for example, we talk about long-term damage. And rightly so. Heat records are being broken one after the other. Tuvalu is sinking into the Pacific. Slopes are collapsing in the mountains. Permafrost is thawing and releasing gases. As far as man-made contributions are concerned, the main culprits – CO₂, methane, and others – come mainly from combustion processes. Chlorofluorocarbons used as refrigerants and propellants complete the list and are responsible for the depletion of the ozone layer that protects the Earth. The large quantities of gases released into the air ensure that the effects – whether climate change or ozone depletion – are long-lasting and will continue to have an impact for generations to come. The situation is no better when it comes to the miracle substances of organic chemistry. Many of these synthetic compounds, discovered and produced in chemistry laboratories, have wonderful properties: as coolants, refrigerants, solvents, insecticides, fungicides, etc. The downside is that the environment is not adapted to these new substances. It does not know them. Synthetic organic substances are therefore often extremely toxic to living organisms and are both particularly harmful to health and a threat to biodiversity. They hardly break down at all, and if they do, it is only very slowly. This persistence of pollutants means that once they are released into nature, they remain in the environment for hundreds and thousands of years. When they are broken down, the aforementioned metabolites, some of which are toxic, are produced. And so it goes on and on with all the possible man-made pollutants, including radioactive waste, which can remain active for hundreds of thousands of years or more. The footprint of the flood of waste is therefore not only broad and deep, it is also extremely long.

What now?

What can we learn from this list? First of all, that we, the living, and our entire environment are affected by this development. It is a huge experiment of autoimmunization with all kinds of pollutants, initiated by ourselves, which is running out of control. No one can defend themselves against it. Humanity can no longer turn back. We are trapped in the actions of the past that determine our future. Definitely and inevitably. If you add all this up, you would think there would be an outcry throughout society. But far from it. People are aware of the poisoning and are concerned, but they continue to live and consume as before. What else can they do? Individuals cannot change much, at least that is what they believe. And, in the words of the German novelist Hans Fallada, one can only ask oneself: “Little man, what now?”

How long should this model continue? And what can realistically be changed? These are fundamental questions we must ask ourselves today. Given that hardly anyone wants to give up the pleasant aspects of consumption.

In any case, it is definitely time to clean up. To clean up this waste drama that past generations have caused, that we are continuing as largely helpless victims, and that we are increasingly passing on to future generations as perpetrators. There is a great deal of knowledge about where action should and can be taken. The recipes are actually clear. Nothing revolutionary, just far-sighted instructions for action and hard work. A fundamental restructuring of our economy. More effective laws. Economic incentives and sanctions. Avoiding toxins. Substituting toxic pollutants, even banning substances or certain mixtures of substances. Circular economy. Recovering materials through new technologies. More expensive and longer-lasting products. Recycling. Setting up treatment cascades. Export bans, for example on clothing to South America or Africa. Structural adjustments, including in supervision. Money is needed. A lot of money for all the legacy issues of the past. An enormous challenge. But something is happening: a development is underway.

Shift the focus from waste to production

Above all, we need to rethink the world of waste. The production logic must be fundamentally rethought and changed. Not from product to waste, but from waste back to product. Society needs to be made aware of the issue. The waste problem must finally be brought to the forefront of people’s minds. Among the old and the young alike. Across all cultural boundaries. Only then can we succeed in cleaning out the Augean stables. It will take time. Two, maybe three generations or more. But we owe this not only to our children and descendants, but also to the animal and plant world that is affected by this deluge of toxins. A “ranking of evil” will definitely not get us anywhere. We need a new start for society that takes into account the complexity of the issue of waste.

[1] Infosperber 16. July 2025: «Plastik in Hoden, Plazentas und Hirnen».