Current and Future Prospects for Modern Solid Waste Management in the Developing Countries of East Asia

Today's media is filled with headlines about real and perceived financial meltdowns in Asia and the impacts on our stock portfolios. But the real, long term impacts will fall on the region's poor and the development process in general. From the standpoint of environmental management in the region, we are beginning to see some slackening in what was a brisk pace confronting a range of issues, including improvements in solid waste management. Many of these efforts have been temporarily shelved as funds are earmarked for social safety nets and financial reform. On the positive side, the quantities of residues produced, in particular industrial wastes, have abated somewhat as economic activities slow. Another example is reduced vehicle pollution on the one hand but increased illegal toxic waste dumping on the other. Nevertheless, solid waste management in many large urban areas such as Manila, Bangkok, Jakarta and large cities in China, have been in crisis for some time.