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Benefits of Sustainable Waste Management

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Benefits of Sustainable Waste Management

Sustainable waste management delivers lots of benefits!

  • reduced waste disposal costs (notably Landfill and Aggregates taxes)
  • reduced pressures on finite resources, such as virgin aggregates
  • reduced greenhouse gas emissions from landfill and incineration
  • reduced energy consumption from the manufacturing process
  • increased economic productivity
  • reduced requirement for additional landfill capacity
  • reduced nuisance created by odour and visual intrusion from landfill sites
  • improved corporate reporting and green credentials for business




Typical practice

typical

A - White goods and scrap

B - Textiles

C- The average household in Hertfordshire send 15kg of waste to landfill every week

D - Furniture

E - Paper and cardboard

F - Kitchen waste

G - Garden waste




Good practice

good

A - White goods and scrap

B - Textiles

C - The volume of waste sent to landfill from the average family home is reduced to 5kg per week

D - Furniture

E - Paper and cardboard

F - Purchase of food with reduced/no packaging

G - All kitchen and garden waste (other than meat, bones, etc) into compost bin or wormery - 30% of total waste volume


 

The key nuisance and environmental impacts of waste generation and disposal are: 

  • creation of methane and carbon dioxide from landfill which contributes to climate change
  • long distance transportation of waste in heavy goods vehicles
  • air pollution arising from waste transportation and waste decomposition in landfill
  • inefficient use of resources
  • the generation of nuisance odour, dust and noise. Plus the attraction of vermin to landfills.
  • toxicity - many types of waste generate toxic by-products when disposed of. Commonly occurring hazardous materials found in construction and demolition wastes include adhesives, asbestos materials, CFC refrigerants and foam, and treated timber