| Avoid |
Avoid buying unnecessary products. The first and easiest way to reduce waste going in to landfill is to stop buying products you don’t need or that won’t last. |
| Reduce |
Reduce the number of disposable products you buy. Buy reusable products, products with less packaging and / or buy in bulk. |
| Reuse |
Reuse anything and everything you can. Many products can be given a second life after being used for their original purpose. |
| Recycle |
Recycling is the process of turning old products into new ones to stop useful materials being sent to landfill. Recycling is in the middle of the waste hierarchy because products should only be recycled if they can’t be avoided, reduced or reused. |
| Other recovery |
Other recovery involves getting energy from waste. This can be achieved by using the by-products of physical or biological processes like waste decomposition. Examples of waste recovery include heat from fire or gas from anaerobic decomposition. |
| Treat |
Treatment is any process used to reduce the environmental threat of waste by changing its chemical, biological or physical state. |
| Dispose |
Disposal is the least preferred choice of the waste hierarchy because it means that the waste is sent to landfill. When a product is disposed of in landfill, it will slowly decompose, take up landfill space and add to environmental problems. |