A Beginners Guide to Understanding Waste Management
Waste management in Perth consists of a lot more than just taking rubbish to the tip. In fact, waste management itself is effectively an umbrella term for the wide range of processes that are required from the first encounter to the final destination. This includes the initial collection, safe transportation, processing and collaboration with waste recycling companies, resource extraction, continual monitoring, and if necessary, safe disposal. These processes are all done with the utmost professionalism and withing legally mandated frameworks in order to ensure the health and wellbeing of our environment and community. It is essential that we all do our part and educate ourselves on the nature of waste management and how we can ultimately assist to make the whole operation as smooth and effective as possible.
Understanding the Fundamentals
There are numerous core concepts that help a newbie understand waste management ethos. Here are a few of the most common ones.
- Waste hierarchy
Not all ways to manage your waste are equally desirable. I’m sure you’ve heard the mantra of the 3R’s, aka Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. These three are strategically positioned in order to give you an idea of which action is most valuable and that is the reduction and limiting the amount of waste you produce in the first place. The second most important is reusing items as much as possible. Recycling is the last step (but still vitally important) as that falls broadly into the disposal portion of a product’s life.
- Product life cycle
The product life cycle consists of the steps that any products go through from their first conception and design to its eventual disposal. A product will go through a manufacturing process, distribution, purchase, and primary usage. Then it is expected to make its way through the waste hierarchy stages before its eventual “death” in the tip. The usefulness of understanding products in this way is due to that all stages are open to innovation and improvement and by targeting different aspects you can help increase the lifespan of a product and not just focus on the waste generation stage.
- Resource efficiency
Resource efficiency is heavily tied to the idea of sustainability. The idea posits that at the current rate of global growth, our current way of living, including our levels of production and consumption, is unsustainable. Resource efficiency entails a reduction in the impact that we cause to the environment by lowering our reliance on things that cannot be renewed and focusing on sustainable solutions.
Challenges to waste management
Unfortunately, waste recycling companies face many challenges from budget constraints, and improperly managed landfills to a lack of public understanding. Cities around the world are striving to help come up with new and innovative solutions to waste problems and waste recycling companies like ECO Resources are leading the way, helping Perth residents to appreciate their effect on the environment and to help minimize the amount of waste that is filling up our tips. It’s important to remember that companies like them need people like us to help join in this fight and work together for a more sustainable future.