What do we mean by waste?
What is Waste?
As an outcome of every production process, waste is an inescapable consequence of a consumer society. As such waste is a 'product' like any other.
An average British family:
- generates 0.59 tonnes per annum from its dustbin;
- has a further 3.6 tonnes produced on its behalf by industry and commerce;
- a further 15 tonnes by agriculture, mining, quarrying and construction
Waste is also a paradoxical product. It demands contrary thinking. Companies need to minimise its production and pay "buyers" to take it away. However, waste is not an homogenous commodity. Waste streams are complex, presenting several different disposal challenges. Companies need to buy a package of services to handle all aspects in an efficient and responsible fashion. Yet because waste is unwanted, otherwise well-run firms tend to ignore a fundamental management principle that governs all other areas of their businesses.
All areas of potential cost or profuit should be the subject of a clear business strategy
Our MORI survey reveals that despite the importance of waste as a future cost driver for business, and despite the personal liability of directors for their waste under the EPA, it is very rare that a company's waste policy is directly the province of a board director.
Waste is not, in itself, a bad thing; rather it is poor waste management that is wasteful and sometimes dangerous. Professionally handled waste presents no threat to people or their environment.
A healthy society is not one which produces no waste, but one which recognises its duty to manage, not ignore, its waste
We all, society and industry together, have a responsibility to manage waste with an eye to the future, to avoid the threats of pollution, disease and environmental blight.
What is waste?
Waste can be classified in three ways:
- According to where it comes from - 'arisings'
- According to its pollution potential - 'environmental impact'
- According to its state - 'liquid or solid or gaseous'
'Arisings'
Waste may be classified according to its source. The Department of the Environment estimates that dry waste arisings in the UK total around 400 million tonnes per year.
'Environmental Impact'
Waste may be classified according to its environmental impact.
| Inert: 39% (159m tonnes) of total waste arisings are inert, eg glass, plastic, metals, rubble |  |
| Hazardous (special): 1% (2.5m tonnes) of total waste arisings are hazardous, eg laboratory waste, spent chemicals | |
| Putrescible: 60% (239m tonnes) of total waste arisings is putrescible, eg unconsumed food, agricultural waste, sewage |
'Liquid, Solid or Gaseous'
Waste may be classified according to its state: liquid, solid or gaseous
No one knows the total levels of liquid waste arisings in the UK - although some three and a half billion tonnes of waste water are treated in sewage works each year. The bulk of industrial effluents is currently discharged to water courses, the sea, or even by some operators into landfill. Only the volume to landfill is known with confidence - three million tonnes.
Increasing volumes are undergoing sophisticated treatments. Handling and the transportation of liquid waste presents a different sort of challenge to solid waste.
The total volume of gaseous emissions in the UK is also difficult to quantify. However, total annual CO2 emissions from industry are 160 million tonnes - or one and a half times the amount of waste sent each year to landfill.
