What does waste prevention look like?
At a philosophical level, waste prevention is about decoupling resource consumption from happiness. It's about making fewer things, more efficiently, and choosing fewer things and using them more efficiently. In practice it combines a mix of policy, practical measures and behavioural changes. Beyond Recycling can help you with all of these.
Here are just a few examples. There are plenty more!
Practical behaviour change tools
- Providing information and raising awareness about choosing durable, reused, reusable, repairable, upgradeable, less-packaged, and fewer goods.
- Discouraging disposal of reusable items.
- Moving from products to services.
- Introducing waste prevention into education.
Practical measures
- Developing lighter weight and reusable products and packaging.
- Shifting from using virgin materials to recycled materials.
- Developing local exchanges, freecycle groups, etc.
- Improving collection methods and services for large, reusable items.
- Reducing unwanted mail.
- Improving reuse facilities at recycling centres.
- Establishing skills training for refurbishment.
- Encouraging prevention or composting of commercial organic waste.
Strategic measures
- Increasing producer responsibility.
- Forging links between local authorities, manufacturers and retailers and others, and encouraging retailers, authorities and third sector organisations to work together.
- Breaking down barriers between end-of pipe waste management and beginning of pipe solutions.
- Breaking down the conceptual barriers between commercial and municipal waste.
- Learning from experience in other areas and countries.