Solid Waste Management

Solar powered waste recycling center in public park cropped

 

The combination of concern of over-exploiting non-renewable resources and then having to store mountains of garbage has driven a movement to divert solid waste from landfills through recycling and composting waste.  Creating new products from recycled materials and ensuring all products can easily be recycled is also important.

In the early years of interest in sustainability in the early 1990s, EDRS maintained a significant library of difficult-to-find information on recycling construction waste and the architedctural materials available in the market that had recycled content.  The attention to rethinking waste rose fast in the mid-1990s and many organizations and government agencies stepped in and took the lead on the issue of progressive waste management.  In many jurisdictions today, over 60-70% of the solid waste stream is now diverted from landfills.

The following offer some resources to explore regarding principles and methods of managing materials in our economy and lives in a more sustainable manner:

General solid waste information

Recycling

Zero Waste

Construction Waste Management

Composting

Product Stewardship