Four billion tones is the amount of waste produced by the OECD countries (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) in the 1990s. Rising incomes and economic growth favoring consumption are booth factors likely to increase waste. For some twenty years industrialized countries have been collapsing under the weight of the these outward signs of wealth, which they seek to dispose of cleanly as best they can. European countries to take the management of its waste seriously. After ten years experience the picture is generally encouraging.