Residuemanagement

Residuemanagement refers to the systematic handling of residues and waste generated by households, industry, agriculture, and commerce, from generation through collection, sorting, treatment, and final disposal. The aim is to protect human health and the environment while maximizing resource recovery and supporting the transition to a circular economy.

Key principles include the waste hierarchy: prevention, preparing for reuse, recycling, energy recovery, and disposal as last resort. Effective residuemanagement reduces volume and hazardous content, improves safety, and lowers lifecycle impacts. Regulators set standards for waste characterization, storage, labeling, transport, and treatment, with oversight at municipal, regional, and national levels, and international agreements governing cross-border movements of waste.

Practices and technologies cover several stages: source separation and sorting; collection and transportation; treatment options such as recycling, composting and anaerobic digestion for organic streams; energy recovery through incineration or CHP, and material recovery facilities for recovery of metals and plastics; and residual disposal in landfills where no other option exists. Emerging approaches include chemical recycling, advanced sorting, and circular economy-oriented product design.

Stakeholders include households, businesses, municipalities, waste management operators, and regulators. Metrics often track diversion and recycling rates, energy recovery, greenhouse gas emissions, and life cycle impacts. Challenges include contamination, illegal dumping, hazardous and electronic waste, evolving regulations, and financing. Effective residuemanagement supports resource conservation, reduces pollution, fosters innovation, and protects public health.