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The UK Government has defined resource efficiency for research purposes as "the optimisation of resource use so that a given level of final consumption can be met with fewer resources". [2] It has been noted that improvements in resource efficiency can occur at production, consumption, and end of product life stages. [2]
Resource recovery can be enabled by changes in government policy and regulation, circular economy infrastructure such as improved 'binfrastructure' to promote source separation and waste collection, reuse and recycling, [5] innovative circular business models, [6] and valuing materials and products in terms of their economic but also their social and environmental costs and benefits. [7]
The resources that households use can be reduced considerably by using electricity thoughtfully (e.g. turning off lights and equipment when it is not needed) and by reducing the number of car journeys made. Individuals can reduce the amount of waste they create by buying fewer products and by buying products which last longer.
Zero waste, or waste minimization, is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages redesigning resource life cycles so that all products are repurposed (i.e. "up-cycled") and/or reused. The goal of the movement is to avoid sending trash to landfills, incinerators, oceans, or any other part of the environment.
The new approach includes the two original waste management mandates of RCRA: 1) to protect human health and the environment from waste and 2) to conserve resources, and adds in three additional goals: 1) to “Reduce waste and increase the efficient and sustainable use of resources”, 2) “Prevent exposures to humans and ecosystems from the ...
By reducing the production and use of raw materials, closed-loop recycling minimizes harm to the environment and discourages resource depletion. [5] In contrast, open-loop recycling is the process by which a product is recycled but has to be mixed with raw materials to become a new product, typically leading to downcycling .
The waste management hierarchy indicates an order of preference for action to reduce and manage waste, and is usually presented diagrammatically in the form of a pyramid. [3] The hierarchy captures the progression of a material or product through successive stages of waste management , and represents the latter part of the life-cycle for each ...
Effective use of resources, and minimization of waste and pollution; Use of renewable resources within their capacity for renewal; The reuse and upcycling of product life-cycles so that consumer items are utilized to maximum potential; Intergenerational and intragenerational equity