Waste disposal best practices help to alleviate the waste burden currently produced across the globe. Sustainable waste management practices are excellent at reducing waste and greenhouse gas emissions.
We all know that waste management should be done correctly. The challenge is that it can be a tedious, often boring process.
Additionally, many waste materials require a specialised waste disposal method. Hazardous wastes, for instance, require safe waste management practices.
However, there are many habits that individuals and businesses can adopt to better their waste disposal habits.
This includes reducing, reusing, recycling, and recovering as much as possible. A good rule of thumb for waste management is that the less waste that ends up in landfills, the better.
We’ve compiled a list of 10 waste disposal best practices that both individuals and companies can adopt.
Following our guidelines can help to create a better, more environmentally friendly world. This safeguards future generations from the worries of climate change and greenhouse gases.
1. Prevent Waste from being Created
Prevention is the best way to reduce waste. But what do we mean by this? Surely, if it were as simple as this, everyone would be doing so.
This speaks to a significant hurdle that needs to be overcome.
Waste prevention involves managing overall waste generation. Proper management at the product creation stage should involve creating less so that fewer items end up at landfill disposal sites.
Clever manufacturing tactics should eliminate waste before a product is produced.
But there’s more that can be done. Businesses and schools can reduce the amount of paper they use by going paperless. This will decrease disposal costs and the amount of waste generated.
While this would entail a significant systemic shift, it would help prevent waste from being formed in the first place.
2. Reduce the Amount of Waste Overall
Like waste prevention, this tactic looks at minimising current waste generation.
It’s also both simple and complex.
However, many businesses have begun to adopt reduction techniques. Shops, for instance, can ban the sale of plastic shopping bags or encourage shoppers to bring reusable bags.
This reduces the demand for single-use plastic bags, which take roughly 1000 years to biodegrade! This waste reduction tactic also lowers greenhouse gas emissions.
Business owners and managers should consider how much waste can be reduced in their current operations. Waste Audits are a great way to do this.
3. Reuse As Much as Possible!
Much of the waste that ends up in landfills does not need to. Many products have a far greater life than most humans are aware of. Sustainable waste management practices seek to extend these life cycles.
Let’s look at the single-use plastic bags again. Instead of throwing them away, try repurposing them into something useful. If you have children, they might be a fun art project.
Creativity is the key here. It can be fun to challenge yourself and find more innovative ways to reuse a product before throwing it away.
That being said, some waste cannot be safely reused. Medical waste, toxic gases, industrial waste, and other potentially hazardous waste should only be reused after consulting a waste management service.
Reusing products reduces the amount of waste the world produces each year and helps prevent perfectly usable items from rotting in landfills.
4. The Old Favourite Recycling
When asked about better waste disposal practices, most people think of recycling. It has become a catchphrase of sustainability because it is just that good.
There isn’t much extra to say on the benefits of recycling that most people don’t already know. Recycling services and recycling programs have many known environmental benefits.
It removes a product from ending up in landfills by giving them a new purpose in life.
Using recycled materials helps reduce overall waste. It is a waste management practice that companies should consider. It lessens an industry’s environmental impact, highlights that your business possesses sustainable waste management practices, can lead to subsidies from local governments, and will encourage employees to consider their own environmental impact.
5. Be Sure to Recover when Possible
Waste recovery involves converting waste into a new and sometimes better form.
Again, a little creativity is needed, but it is very worth it. Interestingly, it also presents business opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs. Why not find a way to make fuel from old cell phones? You might make your fortune.
E-waste is waste produced from old electronic products. Many people do not know that it can contain raw materials and other valuable organic waste.
Recovery is excellent, not just because it gives products a new purpose. It also highlights ways that various systems can be improved.
But remember about human health and safety if you dive into waste bins for scraps of valuable waste material. Be sure to wear all necessary personal protective equipment to prevent potential hazards from harming yourself.
6. Correct Disposal Is Vital
We’ve mentioned several ideal situations where the waste product is kept from the dump site. But this is not always the case. Some products, particularly hazardous chemicals, are destined for them.
This does not mean that you do not have a part to play. Correct waste disposal is one of the most essential aspects of waste management.
Hazardous waste should not be thrown into the same bin as recyclable waste. Waste management involves separate facilities for storing waste.
Be sure to dispose of any waste correctly. This increases the overall efficiency of global waste management systems.
7. Education and Awareness
It’s a myth that the waste disposal industry is scary and complicated. In reality, most industry workers would love to share their knowledge and expertise.
This is because education is so important when it comes to waste disposal. Knowing where to throw certain types of waste is just one factor.
You should also know about the different types of hazardous waste your company produces. Part of waste reduction is keeping certain wastes separate.
Suppose people can understand the entire waste management process. In that case, they will be more inclined to follow waste disposal best practices because they can see the overall positive effects of these practices.
8. Support Waste Management Businesses
If you are a business owner, adopt ethical waste management practices.
Similarly, feel free to hold business owners accountable in your local communities.
If your local cafe is selling single-use coffee cups, try to get them to adopt more sustainable waste management practices.
Effective waste management systems benefit everyone, and businesses need to think of more than their profits. Good waste management should be part of general management.
If you are a business owner, consider hiring professional waste and recycling services. They can conduct a waste audit to help you better understand your waste management shortcomings.
9. Minimise Food Waste
Australia alone produces over 7.6 million tonnes of food waste annually, and this is in a world where hunger and famine are rife.
Food waste should be minimised as much as possible. This involves decreasing the amount of cooked food and finding ways to avoid throwing perfectly good food away.
If you run a restaurant, why not give free food to the homeless? This will decrease the amount of food waste and will garner you favour in the local community.
10. Create Efficiency in Your Own Way
At the end of the day, waste disposal methods that work best for you need to be adopted.
These should follow the best practices mentioned above, but it is also naive to assume that every system will work the same in every situation.
It is important to find a system that works for your household or company. Creativity is important, as trying different methods will give you a clearer idea of what works.
Waste disposal best practices are vital to waste management. Thinking about how your business or household waste is disposed of is essential to creating a better and more sustainable world.
The 10 waste disposal best practices outlined above stress the importance of creating a more environmentally friendly world. However, this process must start with individual action. There is no point in adopting waste disposal best practices if they do not work for you.
An excellent way to develop your own waste disposal best practices is through trial and error.
However, there are some shortcuts, which is where waste management companies like Cleanway come in. They can conduct things like a waste audit to help you better understand what works and does not work in your waste disposal system.