Question

If reducing the waste at the source could save waste generators money and would avoid many of the waste disposal problems, why isn’t there more source waste reduction?

Answer 1

Waste reduction at source is one of the best ways to reduce the waste and problems associated with waste disposal and also reduce the ill-effects of waste. However there is not much source waste reduction (to the extent it should have been). This can be owed to the following:

1) Source reduction at source during manufacturing implies using the raw material in the most effecient way thereby minimizing wastage. Doing this requires innovative manufacturing techniques and improvement in technology which is capital intensive to start. Thus this limits the waste reduction at source.

2) Lack of awareness and education about ways to reduce household waste also impairs waste reduction at source especially for household waste.

3) waste reduction at source also requires a change in habits of people which is again a challenging task as people are bound to resist change.

4) Lack of reuse and recycling is another factor that impairs waste reduction at source although indirectly. This can be overcome by creating awareness, adopting new and innovative ideas to encourage recycling and reuse etc.

There are a number of reasons to the problem of low waste reduction at source with some as mentioned above.