Analysis of Correlation between Waste Accumulation and Countries Welfare Level

Abstract

The article considers the results of countries analysis by progressiveness degree of waste management based on the correlation between changes in the volume of waste accumulation and indicators of wealth. The author's novelty is systematization of quantitative and qualitative criteria for analysis and grouping of countries by the effectiveness of waste handling system. As a result of the comparative analysis, three groups of countries are presented: "Green" – European countries with a small population and high level of welfare, with an effective waste management system and a positive decoupling effect, but there is a problem of increasing the volume of waste per capita (Denmark, Sweden and Belgium). "Yellow" group consist of large European countries and Japan, where there is less waste per capita, a responsible approach to recycling and limiting plastic, but there is a problem of proportional growth in welfare and waste. "Red" group includes countries with a large population and problem of increasing the total waste volume, inefficient waste management and low level of recycling (China, USA and Russia). The study showed that the introduction of effective waste management (collection, recycling, waste culture) can be reduced the change index of personal waste and at the same time increase the change index of gross domestic product (per capita).