Waste hierarchy

The ‘waste hierarchy’ specifies the best waste disposal options and ranks them in order of their increasing environmental impact. The options towards the top of the hierarchy are more desirable than those towards the bottom.

We all need to think about what we buy, what we use and what we throw away for the following reasons:

Space is running out

We cannot continue to rely on landfill. Landfill sites are filling up fast and there is not much space for new ones. Raw materials are running out

We are wasting valuable resources that could be reused or recycled, by burying them in a landfill site. For example, oil is the raw material of plastic, but what will we do once there is no oil left?

What is a landfill site?

In order to save energy

For example, producing glass from a product already made of glass, uses less energy and produces less pollution than if you produced a glass product from its raw materials.

Targets

The Welsh Assembly Government have placed stringent targets upon local authorities to increase the amount of waste that they recycle.

Reduce Greenhouse Gases