The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) created the non-hazardous materials and waste management hierarchy with the understanding that a universal waste management approach may not be appropriate for handling all materials and waste streams under every circumstance.
The waste hierarchy establishes a ranking system for different waste management strategies based on their environmental preference, from most to least favorable. This hierarchy places a strong emphasis on the importance of reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting as fundamental components of sustainable materials management. By employing these strategies, greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change can be effectively reduced.
This article aims to present a comprehensive guide to the waste management hierarchy, highlighting its core principles and offering valuable insights for businesses seeking to adopt responsible and environmentally friendly waste management practices.
What Is Waste Management Hierarchy?
The waste management hierarchy serves as a road map for making decisions concerning solid waste management, personal or organizational. It’s all about figuring out the best method to handle waste, with prevention being the main focus. It’s a matter of reusing items, recycling what we can, recovering resources, and disposing of garbage as a last option.
It is a method of thinking about garbage that prioritizes the environment. You may have seen the solid waste management hierarchy portrayed as a five-tiered pyramid, with waste avoidance at the top.
What Are the 4 Waste Management Hierarchy Stages?
There are 4 stages of the waste management hierarchy: source reduction, recycling & composting, energy recovery and treatment & disposal. Let’s break down each stage and understand it in detail:
Source Reduction and Reuse
The most ecologically friendly waste reduction technique is source reduction, often known as waste prevention. It entails a variety of techniques, such as reusing or giving goods, decreasing packaging, purchasing in bulk, lowering toxicity, and rethinking products.
This approach is fundamental in industry, where practices like lightweight packaging, reuse, and remanufacturing are gaining popularity. You can actively assist source reduction by purchasing items that provide these qualities.
The advantages of reducing sources are numerous. It aids in minimizing greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change, conserving natural resources, preventing energy, reducing pollution, decreasing toxicity, and saving money for consumers and businesses.
Recycling & Composting
You might already know that recycling is the collection of objects that would otherwise be deemed waste. It is also the sorting and processing of those items into raw materials and remanufacturing them into new goods. As a consumer, you can help by purchasing items created from recycled materials.
Composting organic resources such as food scraps and yard clippings is also considered recycling. You can do composting in your residential or official premises. Recycling has various advantages – It aids in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the prevention of air and water contaminants, and the conservation of energy.
Recycling and composting are the most critical waste management hierarchy stages as they provide the industry with necessary raw materials, create jobs, and promote greener technology development. It’s a method to save resources for your children’s future and eliminate the demand for new landfills and combustors.
Energy Recovery
The conversion of non-recyclable waste materials into useful heat, power, or fuel is referred to as energy recovery from waste. Various techniques are implied to accomplish this recovery. Some of them are combustion, gasification, pyrolysis, anaerobic digestion, and landfill gas recovery.
It is also known as waste-to-energy (WtE). You can create renewable energy and cut carbon emissions by transforming non-recyclable garbage into power and heat. This helps reduce dependency on fossil-fuel-based energy sources while reducing methane gas output from landfills.
It should be noted that when the energy is recovered, around 10% of the waste volume remains as ash, which is usually disposed of in landfills.
Treatment and Disposal
The last step of the solid waste management hierarchy is disposal. However, before disposal, treatment procedures lower the amount and toxicity of trash. Physical treatments such as shredding, chemical treatments such as burning, and biological treatments such as anaerobic digesters are all prevalent.
Above all, Landfills are the most frequent garbage disposal method and play a significant role in waste management. Modern landfills are well-designed and controlled structures that adhere to state and federal standards. The EPA has developed nationwide criteria for municipal solid waste dumps.
These laws lead to the elimination of open dumps that do not fit standards. Modern landfills meet stringent design, operation, and closing standards. They can be a significant source of methane gas produced due to waste decomposition. It can be utilized to generate energy. Recreational uses of covered landfills include parks, golf courses, and ski slopes.
What Are the Benefits of Waste Management Hierarchy?
The implementation of a waste management hierarchy in the USA has proven to be beneficial for businesses. It helps them prevent and minimize waste, reducing costs and improving operational efficiency. It’s also great for the environment! By embracing reuse and recycling initiatives, businesses can enhance sustainability and conserve resources.
One of the most remarkable benefits of waste management hierarchy is that it promotes a circular economy model. And this is useful in encouraging businesses to adopt responsible waste management practices. Ultimately, the waste hierarchy is all about aligning with environmental goals and working towards a more sustainable future.
Has Your Company Embraced the Waste Hierarchy?
It’s a legal requirement for businesses to incorporate the solid waste management hierarchy into their waste management practices. By following this hierarchy, you ensure compliance with waste regulations. And you also save money for your company. How? Well, the waste hierarchy helps reduce the amount of garbage transported to landfills. And when less trash is being sent to landfills, your company pays less landfill tax. So it’s a win-win situation!
Compactor Management Company (former Northern California Compactors, Inc.) offers installation and support services for waste recycling equipment such as waste compactors, balers, shredders & conveyor systems. Established in 1981, it offers waste management solutions across the United States.
