Reduce

The reduction of waste is thought to be the most important aspect of waste management. It involves avoiding, eliminating and reducing waste at its source, and is beneficial to the community as a whole. Technological developments and design improvements within the manufacturing industry can improve product lifetimes and reduce waste from raw materials. The use of packaging materials and energy may also be reduced. Improvements in office procedure in the commercial sector can decrease the use of paper and other consumables.

Re-use

Many products can be designed so that they can be used more than once, for example refillable bottles, retreaded tyres and wooden pallets. It is also possible for products to have secondary usages; old tyres can be used as boat fenders.

Recover

There are numerous ways in which the value of waste can be recovered:

Recycle

Recycling involves taking waste material and turning it into a usable material. Numerous material can be recycled, with the most common being paper, glass, metals and plastics.

Composting

This produces a valuable fertiliser, and hence reduces the need for artificial fertilisers. It also reduces pollutant emissions that would occur if the waste was disposed of in a landfill site. Although it is an environmentally friendly waste disposal method, only 0.5% of household waste is composted. The government plans to promote composting schemes within the community.

Energy from Waste

The recovery of energy from waste has a great deal of potential as it can provide heating schemes and electricity generation. This also gives waste disposal companies some income to pay for disposal as they can sell the electricity.