When: 30 March 2025
The International Day of Zero Waste, facilitated jointly by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), highlights the importance of bolstering waste management globally and the need to promote sustainable consumption and production patterns to address the waste pollution crisis.
Every year, humanity generates between 2.1 billion and 2.3 billion tonnes of municipal solid waste. Without urgent action, the annual waste generation will hit 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050.
Waste pollution threatens human health, costs the global economy hundreds of billions of dollars every year, and aggravates the triple planetary crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of nature, land and biodiversity loss, and the crisis of pollution and waste.
This year’s theme, Towards zero waste in fashion and textiles, focuses on the urgent need to take action to reduce the waste impact from the fashion and textile sector and promote sustainability and circularity.
Between 2000 and 2015, clothing production had doubled. Yet, it is estimated that 92 million tonnes of textile waste is generated worldwide each year. This is equivalent to a truckload of clothing being incinerated or sent to landfills every second. It is driven by the rapid rise in production and consumption within the textile sector, causing severe environmental, economic, and social issues, especially in the Global South.
Upstream solutions and a zero-waste approach are essential for tackling the waste pollution crisis while generating economic value. Achieving zero waste requires active contributions from governments, industry, and consumers.
Governments, businesses, and individuals must embrace zero waste to overcome the waste pollution crisis. UNEP and UN-Habitat call on stakeholders – including governments, civil society, businesses, academia, communities, women and youth – to participate in national, subnational, regional and local zero-waste initiatives.
To register your International Day of Zero Waste event, please visit the Events tab.
More information: https://www.un.org/en/observances/zero-waste-day
