Rather than managing waste after it is generated, source reduction changes the way products are made and used in order to decrease waste generation. Also, known as waste prevention, the EPA identifies source reduction as the design, manufac­ture, and use of products in a way that re­duces the quantity and toxicity of waste produced when the products reach the end of their useful lives.

The ultimate goal of source reduction is to decrease the amount and the toxic­ity of waste generated. Businesses, households, and state and local govern­ments can all play an active role in source reduction.

Businesses can manufacture products with packaging that is reduced in both volume and toxicity. They also can re­duce waste by altering their business practices (e.g., reusing packaging for shipping, making double-sided copies, maintaining

equipment to extend its useful life, using reusable envelopes, using recycled paper products and environment-friendly clean­ing products).

Waste prevention methods help create less waste in the first place, before recy­cling. If organizations take a good look at their recycling collection data, they are likely to see ways to reduce waste first through prevention, thereby decreasing purchasing costs and the amount of ma­terial that must be managed for recycling.

Waste prevention offers the greatest en­vironmental benefits and provides sub­stantial cost savings to organizations. Businesses can often modify their current practices to reduce the amounts of waste generated by changing the design, manu­facture, purchase, or use of materials or products.

Sample goals set by the EPA’s Waste-Wise program includes:

• Reducing office paper waste by imple­menting a formal policy to duplex all draft reports, and by making training manuals and personnel information available electronically;

• Improving product design to use less materials;

Redesigning packaging to eliminate ex­cess material while maintaining strength;

• Working with customers to design and implement a packaging return program;

• Switching to reusable transport containers;

• Purchasing products in bulk.

 

Reuse of products and packaging pro­longs the useful life of these materials, thus delaying final disposal or recycling. Reuse is the repair, refurbishing, wash­ing, or just simple recovery of worn or used products, appliances, furniture, and building materials for internal reuse.

Sample goals set by WasteWise part­ners in this area include:

• Reusing corrugated moving boxes internally;

• Reusing office furniture and supplies, such as interoffice envelopes and file folders;

• Using durable towels, tablecloths, nap­kins, dishes, cups, and glasses;

• Using incoming packaging materials foroutgoing shipments.

Organizations can donate products or materials to charities or nonprofits, or ex­change materials through a commercial materials exchange. Sample goals set by WasteWise partners in this area include:

• Donating unwanted supplies to local schools or nonprofit organizations;

• Donating cafeteria food scraps for use as animal feed;

• Advertising surplus and reusable items through a commercial materials ex­change;

• Donating excess building materials to lo-cal low-income housing developers.

 

Solid Waste Hierarchy

EPA has ranked the most environmen­tally sound strategies for managing solid waste. Source reduction (including reuse) is the most preferred method, followed by recycling and composting, and, lastly, disposal in combustion facilities and landfills.

Currently, in the United States, 32.5 percent is recovered and recycled or com­posted, 12.5 percent is burned at combus­tion facilities, and the remaining 55 percent is disposed of in landfills.

Source reduction can be a successful method of reducing waste generation. Practices such as grasscycling, backyard composting, two-sided copying of pa­per, and transport packaging reduction by industry have yielded substantial benefits through source reduction.

Source reduction has many environ­mental benefits. It prevents emissions of many greenhouse gases, reduces pollu­tants, saves energy, conserves resources, and reduces the need for new landfills and combustors.

Source reduction tops the hierarchy of waste reduction, because of its potential to reduce system costs, prevent pollu­tion, consume resources, and increase efficiency.

Source reduction programs are de­signed to reduce both the toxic con­stituents in products and quantities of waste generated. Source reduction is a front-end waste avoidance approach that includes strategies such as design­ing and manufacturing products and packaging with minimum volume and toxic content and with longer useful life.

Businesses, institutions, and citizens may also practice source reduction through selective buying and the reuse of products and materials.

Recycling (including composting) is the second step in the hierarchy. It in­volves collecting materials, reprocess-ing/remanufacturing, and using the resulting products. Recycling and com­posting can reduce the depletion of landfill space, save energy and natural resources, provide useful products, and provide economic benefits.

Waste combustion and land filling are at the bottom of the hierarchy. USEPA does not rank one of these options higher than the other, as both are viable compo­nents of an integrated system. Waste com­bustion reduces the bulk of municipal waste and can provide the added benefit of energy production.

State-of-the-art technologies developed in recent years have greatly reduced the adverse environmental impacts associated with incineration, and although waste combustion is not risk-free, many com­munities are relying on this waste man­agement alternative.

Land filling is necessary to manage non-recyclable and noncombustible wastes, and is the only actual waste “dis­posal” method. Modern landfills are more secure and have more elaborate pollution control and monitoring devices than earlier landfills. Environmental concerns at properly managed landfills are greatly reduced. Also, many new landfills are using methane recovery technologies to develop a marketable product. ❑

Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.