Nearly a billion tons of waste are disposed of improperly every year and this is threatening the health and wellbeing of billions worldwide, a new study reports. The study looked at what happens to consumer goods and other products at the end of their useful life and concludes that urgent action is needed to address open burning of solid waste and ill-managed dumpsites. Image credit: Flickr / Fairphone The “Global Review on Safer End of Engineered Life” report showed that of all the municipal solid waste generated on Earth, a quarter — half a billion tons — is not collected, and a further 27% is mismanaged following collection. This means that close to a billion tonnes of waste risk polluting the natural environment every year.