Services, health and solid waste

Poor service provision and health

In many slums, residents lack:

• Clean, affordable water: they may buy water from vendors at higher prices per litre than piped supply, or use contaminated sources.
• Sanitation: shared or open latrines and open drains spread waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera, especially among young children.
• Electricity: illegal connections are dangerous; burning wood, charcoal or kerosene indoors causes household air pollution.

Effects: higher disease incidence, lower life expectancy, time lost collecting water (often by women and girls), missed school and work, and so lower incomes. Poor health and poverty reinforce each other.

Solid waste management

The World Bank's What a Waste database reports:

• 2.56 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste generated worldwide in 2022.
• 3.86 billion tonnes projected by 2050 under business as usual, a 50% increase.
• Collection rates of only 31% in sub-Saharan Africa and 67% in South Asia, where the vast majority of waste is openly dumped.
• About 18 million urban waste workers worldwide.
• Global costs of over US$250 billion a year, rising to US$426 billion by 2050.

The specification lists: illegal dumping (fly-tipping), landfill costs and environmental impacts, street collectors and recycling.

Landfill and informal recycling

Landfill problems (January 2024 mark scheme): wind-blown litter, noise from vehicles and compactors, smells, dust, traffic, unsightly waste, habitat loss, methane (a greenhouse gas), toxic leachate contaminating soil and water, and health risks to workers.

Street collectors (waste pickers) in developing cities collect, sort and sell recyclables. This provides income for very poor people and raises recycling rates cheaply, but the work is informal, unprotected and hazardous (cuts, toxic fumes, disease). Developed cities rely on formal kerbside collection and recycling, but still face landfill shortages, rising costs and exported waste.

Worked example

Using World Bank figures, calculate the increase in global municipal solid waste from 2022 to 2050 in billions of tonnes, and as a percentage.

1. Increase = 3.86 - 2.56 = 1.3 billion tonnes.
2. Percentage = 1.3 / 2.56 x 100 = 50.8%.

Answer: 1.3 billion tonnes, about 51% (the World Bank rounds this to 50%).

Check yourself

1. Global waste is projected to rise from 2.56 to 3.86 billion tonnes. Calculate the percentage increase. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.
   Show answer

   50.8 %. (3.86 - 2.56) / 2.56 x 100 = 50.8%.

2. Waste management costs are projected to rise from about US$250 billion to US$426 billion a year. By how many billion US$ is that?
   Show answer

   176 billion US$. 426 - 250 = 176.

3. Which is a problem caused by a landfill site that a photograph could show?
   • Ozone depletion
   • Wind-blown litter
   • Higher house prices in the city centre
   • Coral bleaching
   Show answer

   Wind-blown litter. Credited in the January 2024 mark scheme.

4. Why is methane from landfill an environmental concern?
   • It makes water drinkable
   • It is a type of litter
   • It is a greenhouse gas
   • It improves soil fertility
   Show answer

   It is a greenhouse gas. Rotting organic waste releases methane, which adds to global warming.

5. A benefit of informal waste pickers in a developing city is that they
   • raise recycling rates and earn an income
   • have full employment rights
   • work in safe conditions
   • pay high taxes
   Show answer

   raise recycling rates and earn an income. They recover recyclables cheaply, though the work is risky and unprotected.

6. Explain how a lack of sanitation in slums can reduce household incomes.
   Show answer

   Open drains and shared latrines spread waterborne diseases such as diarrhoea and cholera, so adults are too ill to work or must care for sick children, and money is spent on medicine, which reduces income.. Disease, missed work, lost or spent money.

Practise with instant feedback Print this lesson

Sources

• Pearson Edexcel International Advanced Subsidiary/Advanced Level in Geography specification, Issue 3 (September 2025)
• World Bank: What a Waste (Global Database)
• Pearson WGE02/01 mark scheme, January 2024

Last updated 8 November 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.