As outlined by SafetyCulture in their article, “The Hierarchy of Waste Management,” an effective waste management system prioritizes environmentally responsible waste handling methods to minimize environmental impact and maximize resource efficiency. This hierarchy ranks waste management strategies from most to least sustainable:
- Prevention – Reducing waste at the source by using fewer materials, reusing products, and minimizing unnecessary consumption.
- Reuse – Extending the life of materials through donation, repair, and repurposing, reducing the need for new production.
- Recycling – Transforming waste materials into new products, reducing dependency on virgin resources.
- Recovery – Extracting energy from non-recyclable waste through incineration with energy recovery, gasification, and anaerobic digestion.
- Disposal – The least preferred option, involving landfilling or incineration without energy recovery, used only when no other methods are viable.
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Article with all rights reserved, courtesy of SafetyCulture — https://safetyculture.com
