What is the Waste Hierarchy?

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FAadmin

REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE

If you don’t know the waste hierarchy, this is arguably the most important concept to be aware of.

The concept is very simple. It’s ranked in the order of importance of waste management.

  1. AVOID/REDUCE
  2. REUSE
  3. Recycle
  4. Dispose

(things like recover and treat is not relevant to most households)

People always talk about – oh we don’t have recycling at ‘so-and-so’, it’s terrible!

Reality is recycling is rather low on the hierarchy of waste management, and the most important part is AVOID/REDUCE waste in the first place.

Conceptually it’s simple – if you REDUCE the waste you produce, there is less waste to worry about!

Ref: https://www.dcceew.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/national-waste-policy-action-plan-2024.pdf

The list is endless once you start thinking in this mindset.

Recycling

Let’s talk a little bit more about recycling.

Once you delve deeper into this, you will see that it is arguably being pushed by various companies to greenwash their product.

Global recycling rates

  • Plastic <10%
    • Also note plastic degrades in quality every time it’s recycled, becoming inevitable junk even if you miraculously achieved 100% recycling rate
  • Glass 21%
  • E-waste 22%

Ref: https://thesustainableagency.com/blog/recycling-facts-and-statistics/#:~:text=1.,%2C%20only%209%25%20was%20recycled

Am I saying recycling is not important? No, of course not.

But it’s important to be realistic about recycling and also note its priority in the waste hierarchy.

And some materials are better suited to recycling than others!

  • Metal
    • They don’t degrade in quality and can be infinitely recycled
    • Globally aluminium has an recycling effective rate of 70%!
  • Paper

Recycling posters from WW2

Some posters that I found interesting in my travels.

Maybe it’s time to bring the war mentality back? Except this time it’s war on waste!

Dispose

You will often hear the phrase – oh it’s disposable so it’s ok.

It’s hard to understand this logic other than the fact that our culture is so ingrained with single use items.

Disposable has nothing to do with its environmental impact. Just means a product is for single use/limited use.

The other terminology you will hear being thrown around to justify if something can be used without remorse are – compostable & biodegradable.

Compostable, biodegradable

What is the difference between these terms?

Biodegradable
This is not necessarily a good thing, but we will expand on that soon.