Waste 101: What you need to know about the waste in your home (Week 4)
Here’s an overview on waste management. Follow the Waste 101 series to learn the basics of dealing with waste. This background knowledge will help you make eco-friendly decisions.
Amanda Drews
Or watch the video HERE.
In order to start living greener with the products we choose to buy, we need to think about what happens to those materials at the end of their lives. Before you purchase a product, take all these things into account.
- Where will the remainder of that product or its packaging go?
- Do I even have those options in the area where I live?
- Will it end up being used for something useful or just hang out in a landfill?
Wait! I’m getting ahead of myself!
All that deals with the waste left over when you’re finished using a product. Let’s take a step back to when you are first considering that want or need for a product.
In order to minimize your ecological footprint, you need to look at something called the WASTE MANAGEMENT HEIRARCHY PYRAMID.
Remember the good ol’ food pyramid? It’s changed over time but the concept is about the same. A base of lots of healthy foods daily on the bottom and the occasional sweets at the top. Well, flip that sucker upside-down and you’ve got the waste management hierarchy pyramid! It is a visual and expanded form of the phrase “Reduce, Reuse then Recycle.”
There are many different models but generally, you start at the top and work your way down. The goal is to eliminate or dispose of waste near the top. Occasionally, you may find yourself having to dispose of things near the bottom of the pyramid. You’ve got your minimalists and zero-wasters hanging out in the penthouse and the dude throwing his trash out the window of his truck driving across the bottom through the sludge.
Let’s take a peek at what each level means.
This is one I came up with to represent what I think is the best blend of models but if you want to look at something more official, you can check out the EPA’s Waste Management Hierarchy pyramid here.
Producer Responsibility: CONTINUAL Improvement of Product Design and Source Reduction
A simple way to put this would be “Reimagine.” Products should be designed and manufactured in the most efficient way while still meeting or exceeding ethical standards. This step should be never-ending; always adjusting and improving based on current and projected situations. As a consumer, you can make a difference by supporting companies that strive to make this a priority.
Reduce
Limiting the amount of products you consume. Or at least decreasing it by a bit. Examination of wants vs needs, as well as exploring alternatives to buying new is really important. Pre-cycling can help you with reducing the amount of things you buy. Use this video as a guide.
Reuse/ Closed Loop Systems
Reuse is using a product for the same purpose or for another purpose (upcycling). Closed loop systems reuse packaging to deliver the same product over and over. The initial cost is higher in order to create long lasting packaging but it can be used for a much longer time. We also need to consider the energy put into the production of a higher quality packaging, cleaning and transportation. Check out The Loop to learn about possibilities near you.
Recycle
Oh recycling… many people think you are the answer to everything. Don’t get me wrong. Recycling is great. We just often use it as an immediate solution to fall back on without considering the first few steps in the hierarchy. When we do recycle, we often do it incorrectly. That doesn’t mean we just trash everything and give up. But don’t just throw everything in the recycling bin and hope it gets sorted out right. We will learn about Wish-cycling and the Basic Rules of Recycling in order to recycle the correct way.
Recovery (organics and resource)
This is where you take components of something to be re-used. For example, food scraps going to a composting site in order to create soil to grow new plants. Some electronic equipment can get stripped down to recover the metals inside. Even treating wastewater could fit in here.
Landfill with Gas Recovery/Incineration
Even the most extreme zero-wasters will eventually have waste that isn’t reused, unless they are contributing to some cool waste art or something. Some landfills are able to capture the methane produced and use it as energy. Others produce energy by burning waste in incinerators. I lumped them together because it seems there are pros and cons to each and create quite the controversy on which one is greener.
Landfill
Your junk goes to the dump. It sits there until the end of time. Maybe not that long, but it is a really long time either way.
Unmanaged Waste
Unmanaged waste isn’t even in the pyramid because it is not controlled. It’s just out there in the environment polluting, degrading into microplastics and causing general chaos.
The whole Waste 101 series stems from my training as a master recycler and composter through Dakota County which uses The Master Recycler/ Composter Program Fall 2019 handbook and taught by Jenny Kedward. I encourage you to check out what your town or county offers for advanced learning and getting involved with your community.
- 1). See what your community has to offer as far as learning about waste. Take a tour of your recycling center or search community education to find a class to get hands on info. If nothing is available, reach out to community leaders.
- 2). Keep the waste management hierarchy pyramid in mind while making purchasing decisions AND product end of life decisions. Try to stick near the top!
