WASTE MANAGEMENT

Waste management or waste disposal are all the actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes amongst other things collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste together with monitoring and regulation. It also encompasses the legal and regulatory framework that relates to waste management encompassing guidance on recycling.

Waste can take any form that is solid, liquid, or gas and each have different methods of disposal and management. Waste management normally deals with all types of waste whether it was created in forms that are industrial, biological, household, and special cases where it may pose a threat to human health. It is produced due to human activity such as when factories extract and process raw materials. Waste management is intended to reduce adverse effects of waste on health, the environment or aesthetics.

The waste pecking order refers to the "3 R's" reduce, reuse and recycle, which classifies waste management strategies according to their desirability in terms of waste minimization. The waste pecking order is the cornerstone of most waste minimization strategies. The aim of the waste pecking order is to extract the maximum practical benefits from products and to generate the minimum amount of end waste. The waste pecking order is represented as a pyramid because the basic premise is that policies should promote measures to prevent the generation of waste. The next step or preferred action is to seek alternative uses for the waste that has been generated i.e. by re-use. The next is recycling which includes composting. Following this step is material recovery and waste-to-energy. The final action is disposal, in landfills or through incineration without energy recovery. This last step is the final resort for waste which has not been prevented, diverted or recovered. The waste pecking order represents the progression of a product or material through the sequential stages of the pyramid of waste management. The pecking order represents the latter parts of the life-cycle for each product.