See key illustrative figures from major reports, papers, and resources regarding pollution and waste.

plastic bag icon greenhouse gases icon containers icon soil icon ewaste icon ocean icon fertilizer icon trash can icon wastewater icon air pollution icon

Sources

  • Cook, Ed; Ionkova, Kremena; Bhada-Tata, Perinaz; Yadav, Sonakshi; van Woerden, Frank. 2026. What a Waste 3.0: Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management Toward Circularity until 2050. Urban Development Series. Washington, DC: World Bank. DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-2309-1. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO

  • Cornelis P. Baldé, Ruediger Kuehr, Tales Yamamoto, Rosie McDonald, Elena D’Angelo, ShahanaAlthaf, Garam Bel, Otmar Deubzer, Elena Fernandez-Cubillo, Vanessa Forti, Vanessa Gray, SunilHerat, Shunichi Honda, Giulia Iattoni, Deepali S. Khetriwal, Vittoria Luda di Cortemiglia, YuliyaLobuntsova, Innocent Nnorom, Noémie Pralat, Michelle Wagner (2024). International Telecom-munication Union (ITU) and United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR). 2024.Global E-waste Monitor 2024. Geneva/Bonn.

  • FAO and UNEP. 2021. Global assessment of soil pollution - Summary for policy makers. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb4827en

  • Fuller, R., Landrigan, P. J., Balakrishnan, K., Bathan, G., Bose-O’Reilly, S., Brauer, M., Caravanos, J., Chiles, T., Cohen, A., Corra, L., Cropper, M., Ferraro, G., Hanna, J., Hanrahan, D., Hu, H., Hunter, D., Janata, G., Kupka, R., Lanphear, B., … Yan, C. (2022). Pollution and health: A progress update. The Lancet Planetary Health, 6(6), e535–e547. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00090-0

  • Health Effects Institute. 2024. State of Global Air 2024. Special Report. Boston, MA:Health Effects Institute.

  • Hicks, W. K., McKendree, J., Sutton, M. A., Cowan, N., German, R., Dore, C., Jones, L., Hawley, J., & Eldridge, H. (2022). A comprehensive approach to nitrogen in the UK. WWF-UK. Retrieved from https://www.wwf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-02/Finding_the_balance_report.pdf

  • Kaza, Silpa, Lisa Yao, Perinaz Bhada-Tata, and Frank Van Woerden. 2018. What a Waste 2.0: A Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management to 2050. Urban Development Series. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1329-0. License: Creative Commons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO

  • Scheringer, M., & Schulz, R. (2025). The state of the world’s chemical pollution. Annual Review of Environment and Resources, 50:6.1–6.28. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-environ-111523-102318

  • United Nations Environment Programme (2021). From Pollution to Solution: A global assessment of marine litter and plastic pollution. Nairobi.

  • United Nations Environment Programme (2024): Global Resources Outlook 2024: Bend the Trend – Pathways to a liveable planet as resource use spikes. International Resource Panel. Nairobi. https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/44901

  • United Nations Environment Programme (2024). Global Waste Management Outlook 2024: Beyond an age of waste – Turning rubbish into a resource. Nairobi. https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/44939

  • United Nations Environment Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2024. Global Nitrous Oxide Assessment. Nairobi. https://doi.org/10.59117/20.500.11822/46562

  • United Nations Environment Programme. (2019). Global chemicals outlook II: From legacies to innovative solutions: Implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

  • W.J. Brownlie, M.A. Sutton, K.V. Heal, D.S. Reay, B.M. Spears (eds.), (2022) Our Phosphorus Future. UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Edinburgh. doi: 10.13140/RG.2.2.17834.08645

Why And Pollution? To visualize its global impact:


fertilizer icon

Nutrient
Pollution

air pollution icon

Air
Pollution

wastewater icon

Freshwater
Pollution

containers icon

Chemical
Pollution

plastic shopping bag icon

Plastic
Pollution

ewaste icon

E-Waste

ocean icon

Marine
Pollution

soil icon

Soil
Pollution

greenhouse gases icon

Greenhouse
Gases

trash can icon

Solid
Waste