Waste minimization is the process of reducing the amount of waste produced
with the aim to eliminate the generation of harmful and persistent
wasters. Waste minimization involves efforts to minimize resources
and energy use during manufacture.
Waste
management on the other hand, focuses on processing waste after it´s
created, concentrating on reducing, reusing and recycling products
and components. Waste minimization should be seen as a primary focus
for most waste management strategies.
Zero
waste is a philosophy that encourages the redesign of resource life
cycles so that all products are reused and no waste is generated, it
encompasses more than eliminatig waste through recycling and reuse,
it focuses on restructuring the production and distribution systems
to reduce waste.
Many
companies have set ambitious targets waste reduction, and factories
have been targeted as the primarily function to trial waste reduction
principles.
One
prime example of this journey to zero waste is Uniliver; the giant FMCG started his journey back in 2009 with the aim to achieve zero
waste across their global factory network by 2020. They achieved
this target in 2014, 6 years ahead of plan. Here is how they did it:
The
challenge is now to roll out these best practices from factories to
distribution centres, head offices and customers. Hopefully one day,
the zero waste philosophy will be part of everybody´s life, in the
meantime, a few pioneers are showing us the way. Only a few changes
in our day to day life will mean a start to a journey to reduce our
impact in our planet.
