LeFonch
Waste Mitigation Strategies
What are Waste Mitigation Strategies?
- Strategies used to reduce the waste produced by a product or in the production and disposal of a product.
Pollution vs Waste
- Most production processes result in the creation of pollution or waste during the various stages of production, from raw material extraction to transport, processing, manufacture and packaging.
- Pollution and waste come in many forms such as excess heat, exhaust gases, chemical discharges, product rejects and leftover packaging.
Pollution
- Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change.
- Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise heat or light.
- Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances, energies or naturally occurring contaminants.
Waste
- Wastes are unwanted or unusable materials.
- Waste is any substance which is discarded after primary use, or it is worthless, defective and of no use.
Geographical Scale
- The environmental problems of pollution and waste from producing, using and disposing of products can cause issues on various geographical scales.
Local Scale
- Noise, smell, air pollution.
- Soil and water pollution.
Regional Scale
- Soil and water over-fertilization and pollution.
- Drought
- Waste disposal
- Air pollution
Fluvial Scale
- Processes associated with rivers and streams.
- Pollution of rivers, regional waters and watersheds.
Continental Scale
- Ozone levels, acidification, winter smog, heavy metals.
Global Scale
- Climate change, rising sea levels, impact on the ozone layer.
Methodologies of Waste Reduction
- Some methodologies for waste reduction and designing out waste are:
- Product recovery and re-use.
- Avoid use of unnecessary packaging.
- Produce / manufacture to order; eliminate oversupply.
- Optimize production efficiency to reduce waste.
- Material substitution that favors recycling.
- Use energy efficient equipment and lighting.
- Storage designed to reduce product deterioration.
- Quality assurance practices to reduce rejects based on poor quality.
Dematerialization
- The reduction of total material and energy throughput of any product and service.
- Reducing of waste and pollution.
- A product's life cycle consists of the following stages:
- Resource Acquisition
- Production
- Distribution
- Use
- End-of-life
- Collection
- Recycling
- Energy recovery
- Landfilling
- Dematerialization can be achieved through the reduction of:
- The need for material and energy in the extraction stage.
- Raw materials usage at the production stage.
- Transportation in the distribution stage.
- Energy and material inputs at the user stage.
- Waste at the disposal stage.
- Dematerialization can improve the product efficiency by reducing, re-using or recycling materials and components:
Re-use
- The use of (parts) of materials of obsolete products.
Recycle
- Use of recycled materials.
Reduce
- Reduce the materials needed.
Circular Economy
- The use of waste as a resource within a closed loop system.
- A circular economy is an economy model in which:
- Resources remain in use for as long as possible.
- From which maximum value is extracted while in use.
- Products and materials are recovered and regenerated at the end of the product life cycle.
- The concept of a circular economy requires designers to consider the subsequent use of materials, components and the embedded energy in a product.
- This can only be achieved by innovative design and consideration of further cycle of development.
- Designers must ask themselves the question: "How can this product be made to be made again?"
Linear Economy
- An economy based on the make, use, dispose model.
- Has been traditionally used by people.
- However, linear economies are not sustainable.
Product Recovery Strategies
- The processes of separating the component parts of a product to recover the parts and materials.
- A circular economy requires product recovery strategies.
- Product recovery strategies (at the end of life) are:
- Re-use
- Repair
- Recycle
- Cradle to cradle
- Design for disassembly
The 6 Rs
Reduce
- The reduction of total material.
- For example, a toothbrush with a hole in the handle to reduce plastic usage.
Re-use
- Reuse of a product in the same context or in a different context.
- It requires product recovery strategies; processes of separating the component parts of a product to recover the parts.
- Examples include water bottles, plastic bags, glass bottles, toothbrush and clothes.
Recycle
- Recycling refers to using the materials from obsolete products to create other products.
- It requires the recovery of raw materials; strategies for the separation of components of a product in order to recover raw materials.
- Examples include glass, paper, aluminum cans, thermoplastics and newspapers.
Re-Engineer
- Also called rethinking or redesigning.
- To redesign components or products to improve their characteristics or performance.
- For example, cars where aerodynamics is changed (shape) or lighter new materials used.
Recondition
- Also called refurbishing.
- Rebuilding a product so that it is in an "as new" condition, and is generally used in the context of car engines and tires.
- Examples include renovating a house, cars (engines/regular service) and watches service (to make it last longer).
Repair
- The reconstruction or renewal of any part of an existing structure or device.
- For comparison, recondition focuses on the entire product, whereas repairing only focuses on specific parts.
- Examples include washing machine belt, shoe soles, computer screens and repair bicycle inner tube.
Cradle to Grave vs Cradle to Cradle
Cradle to Grave
- A design philosophy that considers the environmental effects of a product all the way from manufacture to disposal.
Cradle to Cradle
- A design philosophy that aims to eliminate the waste from the production, use and disposal of a product.
- It centers on products which are made to be made again.
Design for Disassembly
- Designing a product so that when it becomes obsolete it can be easily and economically taken apart, the components reused or repaired, and the materials recycled.