The solution could lie in new technologies and a change in social behaviour that reduces and even eliminates the need for landfills and incinerators. Here are some of the ways that companies, local authorities and start-ups around the world are tackling the problem.

Most rubbish ends up in a landfill or is chucked into the street to be washed away into rivers and oceans. In giant municipal dumps in countries such as India and Indonesia, informal "trash pickers", who live near or even on the mountains of rotting garbage, make a living from things they can sell.