Waste Hierarchy
The waste hierarchy provides a sliding scale on the best ways to deal with our waste. The best option sits at the top of the scale and the least preferred option is at the bottom. As waste prevention sits at the top of the waste hierarchy, it is our number one priority for waste management policies. Waste prevention includes all activities that reduce the amount of waste entering the collected waste stream - for example:
- avoiding waste generation;
- reducing the quantity and hazardous nature of waste at source; and
- reusing products before they enter the waste stream.
The less waste we introduce into the waste stream, the less harm we inflict on our environment.
The majority of waste we dispose of goes to landfill. Landfilling not only takes up more and more valuable land space, it also causes air, water and soil pollution, discharging carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) into the atmosphere and chemicals and pesticides into the earth and groundwater. This in turn, is harmful to human health, as well as to plants and animals.
The environment is also affected when we replace the things that we throw away with new products. This is because energy and natural resources are needed to make new items.
The Waste Hierarchy
The waste hierarchy aims to encourage the management of waste materials in order to reduce the amount of waste materials produced, and to recover maximum value from the wastes that are produced. It is not applied as a strict hierarchy as many complex factors influence the optimal management for any given waste material. However, as a guide, it encourages the prevention of waste, followed by the reuse and refurbishment of goods, then value recovery through recycling and composting.
The next option is energy recovery, the process of creating energy in the form of electricity or heat from the prevention, reuse, recycling and recovery are collectively defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as waste minimisation. Finally, waste disposal should only be used when no option further up the hierarchy is possible.
