Waste Prevention Practices
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in 2015, approximately 262 million tons of trash was produced in the United States while only 68 million tons was recycled and 23 million tons were composted.
Waste Prevention are practices that limit or cut down the amount and/or the toxicity of wastes that are generated at home, work, school and in your everyday life prior to recycling, treatment or disposal. Waste Prevention is also referred as Source Reduction and Waste Minimization. Waste Prevention is NOT recycling. The main goal is to eliminate waste before it is produced. A simple example of waste prevention is using reusable utensils instead of disposable ones. Benefits of waste reduction includes:
- decreasing the demand of landfill space,
- conserving energy and resources,
- reducing pollution, and
- making production processes more efficient.
Here are some tips you can do to practice: