Plastics are inexpensive, lightweight in nature, as well as durable materials that are conveniently molded into several items to be used in an array of uses. As a result, the generation of plastic materials is increasing through the years. Half of all plastics ever manufactured have been made in the last 15 years. Production has increased exponentially, from 2.3 million metric ton in 1950 to 448 million metric ton by 2015. Further, production is expected to double by 2050. Every year, about 8 million tons of plastic waste escapes into the oceans from coastal nations. Others end up choking landfills, drains, and rivers, where it is ingested by marine animals. The rest further leaches into soil and water, contaminating the natural environment with poisonous dioxins. Plastic pollution has become one of the most pressing environmental issues, as rapidly increasing production of disposable plastic products overwhelms the world’s ability to deal with them. Plastic pollution is most visible in developing Asian and African nations, where garbage collection systems are often inefficient or nonexistent. Even the developed nations continue to face the problem of collecting discarded plastics. A major issue confronting the community and government is waste disposal. A considerable amount of waste is generated when consumers procure and use products. The disposal of waste has become a serious problem due to the increase in the number of consumers and high waste generation.

According to the CXOs, the waste management sector is anticipated to witness intense competition. This is attributed to rise in concerns regarding waste generation. Competitive and efficient waste management in developing regions has resulted in lower prices for customers/consumers. In addition, the fact that the waste management sector is a highly regulated sector acts as a major challenge for new entrants. The growth of the market is driven by factors such as increase in generation of waste and rise in insect population. Most of the waste management companies are using insecticides in large quantities, which in turn is expected to fuel their demand. To prevent the transmission of diseases through flies, the waste management companies are using insecticides.

After the collection of waste, the traditional way of sorting the waste is by manual ways. But this is not considered to be efficient. Thus, the development of automated robot-based sorting systems was conceptualized in 2016. Furthermore, these systems have been improved using Artificial Intelligence(AI). But the development and adoption of these robotic waste sorting systems have been slow, as the municipalities highly depend on either dumping or landfills to get rid of their waste. This is evident from how late these robotic systems were introduced. The United States started testing the Robotic sorting systems in 2016. The adoption of robotic sorting systems is expected to explode in the coming years, due to the anti- dumping regulation imposed by China and the new landfill regulation imposed by each country.

The rising global demand for batteries is largely due to the rapid increase in portable consumer electronics including phones, laptops, camera, etc. Each year consumers dispose of billions of batteries, all containing toxic or corrosive materials. Some batteries contain toxic metals, such as cadmium and mercury, lead and lithium, which become hazardous waste and pose threats to health and the environment if improperly disposed.  Furthermore, production, transportation, and distribution of batteries consumes natural resources, thereby contributing to an accelerating depletion of natural resources. Although advent of rechargeable batteries has minimized this problem to greater extent, there still remains a large market share for primary batteries that poses huge threat for these resources. Environmentalists and organizations across the world has been showing a rising concern over the proper management of these battery wastes. European and North American countries are at the forefront for such initiatives, as these regions are among the early adopters of the Electric Vehicles and large-scale battery-based Energy Storage Systems (ESS).

北京时间 5 月 31 日凌晨，载人龙飞船从美国佛罗里达州肯尼迪航天中心成功 发射，这是人类历史上首次实现商业载人航天发射，标志着商业航天迈入新篇 章。全球航天迎来高密度发射黄金期，2018 年全球航天发射次数达 114 次， 同比增长 25 %，全球发射服务收入总计达 75 亿美元，其中商业发射产出带动 效应相明显，未来有望成为各国发展航天经济的重点。