New Zealand has been named one of the most wasteful nations in the developed world.

The list, released by the World Bank, names New Zealand as the tenth most wasteful in terms of 'urban waste', or waste produced per capita by our city dwellers.

Kiwis produce over 3.6kg of waste per person every day, adding up to a shocking 734kg total annual haul of trash. This is a 20 percent increase from three years ago and five times the global daily average of 0.65kg.

The number one spot goes to Kuwait, with 5.7kg of waste produced per urban dwelling person every day.

The World Bank's current estimates paint a grim picture of our environmental future, saying that the amount of waste being produced is outstripping the rate of urbanisation.

By 2025 there will be approximately 1.4 billion people living in cities worldwide producing nearly 1.5kg of waste every day, nearly double the current global average.

On Tuesday, China banned imports of foreign waste, which puts strain on much of the developed world's waste management. They were estimated to import more than 7 million tonnes of plastic scrap annually for processing.

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