The Waste Hierarchy

THE WASTE HIERARCHY

By Anton Antonio

January 19, 2016

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle are three great and doable ways that can eliminate all forms of waste and protect our environment… or, at least, minimize solid waste.  Waste, and whatever way we choose to manage it, affects our country’s and the world’s environment… it is not “us” per se, but “all of us”.  And the environment is everything around us including air, water, land, flora and fauna, and even man-made things.  If left unchecked, waste and garbage can and will eventually overrun our planet.

Unthinkable amounts of waste and garbage, from a consumption-driven and overpopulated society ushered in the concept of systematic waste management.  To promote such movement, the phrase “reduce, reuse and recycle” was introduced.  This phrase or slogan is a constant reminder to us (consumers) to take definitive actions to minimize the impact of the waste we create.  The 3R’s is also called “the waste hierarchy”.  Reducing waste as much as possible for today, reusing waste whenever possible for today and recycling waste into useable goods for tomorrow are the prime considerations in this concept.

Here is a researched material on the 3R’s…

“Reduce, reuse and recycle (R3) are the three essential components of environmentally-responsible consumer behaviour.  R3 is sometimes called the waste hierarchy.  Here’s how that hierarchy might apply to computers:

·         The concept behind the first R, reduce, is that you should limit the number of purchases that you make in the first place.  So, for example, you might limit your household to a single computer.

·         The concept behind the second R, reuse, is that you should reuse items as much as possible before replacing them.  For example, it generally makes more environmental sense to update your computer rather than get rid of it and buy a new one.  However, if you do replace your computer, you should ensure that it, or its components, are reused.  Many charitable organizations welcome donations of second-hand computers.

·         The concept behind the third R, recycle, is that you should ensure that items or their components are put to some new purpose as much as possible.  If your computer is not fit for reuse as is, you can donate it to one of several organizations, such as StRUT (Students Recycling Used Technology), which will refurbish it or recycle its components.” (TechTarget.com)

There is a lot of environmental sense in reducing, reusing and recycling… the waste hierarchy.

Thoughts to promote positive action…

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REFERENCE:

WhatIs.TechTarget.com, (2016).  “Reduce Reuse Recycle”.  Retrieved on January 19, 2016 from http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/Reduce-reuse-recycle-R3