• 20 to 50 million metric tons of e-waste are disposed worldwide every year. | Related Megatrends: Natural resources; Consumerism; Technology; Security
• The amount of global e-waste in 2014 reached 41.8 million tonnes; 32% of it discarded by only two countries: USA and China. In addition to potentially recyclable materials (rarely reused), the e-waste also contains substantial amounts of health-threatening toxins such as mercury, cadmium, chromium, and ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons. | Related Megatrends: Natural resources; Consumerism; Technology; Security
• Of the 78 million tonnes of plastic produced annually, only 14% is collected for recycling, while 40% ends up in lanfields, 32% of it is "leaked" into the environment and another 14% gets incinerated or into energy recovery.
• Some 8 million metric tonnes of plastic are added yearly to the already estimated 150 million metric tons that are currently in the marine environments. 
• The wax moth larva might help biodegrading polyethylene, the highly pollutant plastic waste. 
  | Related Megatrends: Consumerism; Technology
• Bangalore, India's Silicon Valley, might become “unliveable” in a few years, due to pollution. Unsustainable urbanisation caused a decline of 88% in the city’s vegetation between 1973 and 2016, while water bodies declined by 85% between 2000 and 2014. If the present trend continues, over the next 3 years, the built-up area in Bangalore is expected to increase from 77% to 93%, with a vegetation cover of a mere 3%. The city's e-waste is estimated at 20,000 tonnes per year. | Related Megatrends: Urbanisation; Consumerism; Technology; Security
• China needs to invest an estimated $254 billion by 2020 to support the construction of green buildings and retrofit existing ones, in order to reduce the energy and carbon footprint of Chinese cities and meet the country's Paris Climate Agreement targets. | Related Megatrends: Urbanisation; Geopower; Natural resources; Technology
• Some 12 million tonnes of plastic are entering our oceans each year. If current trends continue, there could be more plastics (by weight) than fish in the ocean by 2050. | Related Megatrends: Consumerism; Natural resources;
• Since cities consume close to 66% of the world’s energy and account for more than 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions, they play an important role in tackling climate change. | Related Megatrends: Natural resources; Consumerism; Inequalities

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