Main menu For students For teachers Explore our subjects Student events & courses

Explore

More for students
Sign in

Teaching Economics

Teaching activity

Data Starter: What happens to collected waste across the world?

Elizabeth Veal

9th June 2026

Share this content:

What was the share of municipal waste that was burnt or dumped in 2025 in selected countries?

Using the Our World in Data chart, do these calculation questions:

  1. What was the average percentage of waste that is left in open dumps in 2025 for Sri Lanka, Uganda, India, Nigeria and Indonesia?
  2. Compare the methods of municipal waste disposal in China and South Africa.

Download our suggested answers for this resource here

Sign in to download

or create a free account

Share this content:

Elizabeth Veal

Liz has taught Economics for over 25 years, including several years as Head of Economics at leading schools.

You might also like

Data Starter: Country shares of Men’s World Cup 2026 money

4th September 2026

Data Starter: Monthly salary in major cities, 2026

11th August 2026

Data Starter: UK international trade with EU and non-EU countries

14th July 2026

Data Starter: Emissions-weighted carbon price, 2025

9th July 2026

Data Starter: Tax revenue as a % of GDP, 2024 (OECD)

7th July 2026

Data Starter: The EU’s biggest trading-in-goods partners, Q1, 2026

3rd July 2026

Data Starter: UK business confidence 2021-2026

30th June 2026

Data Starter: UK GDP growth 2024-2026

26th June 2026