Waste: The silent giant that could completely transform our economy

THERE is a silent giant among us - ever present, seldom seen, and rarely understood. That giant is waste. We may not talk about it at the dinner table or in boardrooms, but waste shapes our cities, our businesses, our climate, our budgets and indeed, our future.

- GAMUCHIRAI MUTEZO

Each of us generates it. Yet few pause to ask: what could this giant become if we engaged with it differently?

Drawing on my work in urban waste diversion and biogas systems - areas in which I have published internationally and applied within South African and African city context - I see waste not as a problem to be buried, but as a resource to be activated. In South Africa, waste generation is rising alongside rapid urbanisation. African landfills are projected to receive nearly 244 million tonnes annually by 2025, much of it organic and methane-rich.

This is no small environmental issue; it’s a massive missed opportunity.

Waste is not neutral. It reflects how we consume, how systems are designed, and how value flows or leaks, across supply chains. So, if you are a business leader evaluating supplier contracts, a CFO reviewing ESG risks, a procurement manager sourcing packaging, or an investor seeking impact, that growth in waste represents both risk and possibility.

Waste as a silent giant means it works in the background: default behaviours produce it, and only dramatic disruption brings it to light. But we don’t need spectacle, what we need is awareness. Awareness shifts decisions: packaging ambitions, operations, procurement, logistics. It seeds circular economy thinking.