Waste minimisation

Waste minimisation is a process of elimination that involves reducing the amount of waste produced in society and helps to eliminate the generation of harmful and persistent wastes, supporting the efforts to promote a more sustainable society. Waste minimisation involves redesigning products and processes and/or changing societal patterns of consumption and production.

Principles of waste minimisation

Waste minimisation involves efforts to minimize resource and energy use during manufacture. For the same commercial output, usually the fewer materials are used, the less waste is produced. Waste minimisation usually requires knowledge of the production process, cradle-to-grave analysis (the tracking of materials from their extraction to their return to earth) and detailed knowledge of the composition of the waste.

Methods of waste minimisation

The basic method of waste minimisation is to produce less waste. This can be done through:

• Source reduction: This involves efforts to reduce waste at its source or to reduce hazardous components of waste.
• Recycling: This involves recovering materials for further use. It includes composting but not incineration or other forms of energy recovery.
• Energy recovery: This involves recovering energy from waste through a variety of processes (including combustion).
• Treatment: This involves altering the waste to make it less hazardous, safer for disposal, or more amenable for energy recovery.

Benefits of waste minimisation

Waste minimisation can provide a number of benefits, including:

• Reducing the amount of waste that needs to be treated and disposed of.
• Conserving resources.
• Reducing pollution.
• Saving energy.
• Reducing the demand for waste treatment and disposal facilities.
• Saving money by reducing the amount of waste that needs to be managed.

See also

• Waste hierarchy
• Waste management
• Sustainable development
• Environmental sustainability

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