March 18 marks World Recycling Day, an annual event initiated in 2018 to recognise and celebrate the vital role of recycling in preserving natural resources and ensuring a sustainable future.
The day aims to highlight the importance of recycling raw materials, particularly in the context of limited natural resources, the circular economy and environmental protection.
This issue is especially significant in Poland, where only about 30 percent of waste is recycled, while over 9 million tonnes of food is wasted annually.
In 2019 alone, some 22 million tonnes of plastic ended up in soil, rivers and oceans, and plastic leakage is expected to double by 2060.
On World Recycling Day, experts warned that plastic bottles take between 100 and 1,000 years to decompose, cardboard boxes around six months, and electric batteries up to 2,000 years.
According to the World Bank report What a Waste 2.0, the world produces 2.01 billion tonnes of solid urban waste a year. At least 33 percent of this waste is not properly treated.
(ab/gs)
Click on the audio player above for a report by Agnieszka Bielawska.