Waste prevention is the highest priority in the waste management hierarchy. For the first time, the German Federal Government’s Waste Management Programme ’75 established the following order of priority
- Reduction of waste at the production and consumer level,
- increasing the utilisation of waste, and
- harmless disposal of waste
was formulated. It then took another 11 years until a waste management hierarchy found its way into the 1986 Waste Management Act (Article 1a WMA). This was the first time that principles and obligations for the avoidance and recovery of waste were included in the Waste Act. The core element was the requirement to avoid and recycle waste as well as the corresponding ordinances. On this basis, corresponding ordinances were issued, of which the Packaging Ordinance is the best-known example. The Recycling and Waste Management Act (RMWA) of 1994 introduced the three-stage waste hierarchy: avoidance – recovery – disposal, which was expanded to the five-stage waste hierarchy in the Circular Economy Act (CEA) of 2012.
There are different definitions of waste prevention. The difficulty is that it includes activities that are outside the waste management sphere. This concerns activities that have “not taken place”, or in other words activities that have not been carried out. This includes measures and actions that prevent the generation of waste during production, distribution and consumption.
Waste prevention has priority over other waste management measures in conceptual and strategic approaches as well as in legal regulations, but also in the context of social discussion. However, if one looks at the increasing amounts of waste generated, waste management practice shows a clearly different picture.
This shows that decisive success in avoiding waste can only be achieved by changing production and consumption patterns accordingly. Ultimately, this can only be achieved through sufficiency. Sufficiency was originally defined as deceleration, unbundling, decommercialization and decluttering [Sachs 1993]. However, sufficiency can also be defined as a way of living and doing business that puts an end to the excessive consumption of goods and thus materials and energy [Linz 2002].
Definition under waste law in Germany
Waste prevention is defined in Article 3 para. 20, sentence 1 CEA as follows:
“Avoidance within the meaning of this Act is any measure taken before a substance, material or product has become waste and serving to reduce the amount of waste, the harmful effects of the waste on humans and the environment or the content of harmful substances in materials and products.”
This makes it clear that waste prevention measures must intervene before waste is generated. This applies in particular to product design and the selection and use of substances and materials. The absence of pollutants, the length of the useful life and the possibility of recycling the substances and materials used play an essential role.
According to Article 6 CEA, the following goals are to be striven for as a matter of priority:
- Reduction of the amount of waste,
- Reduction of the harmful effects of waste on the environment and human health,
- reducing the content of harmful substances in materials and products.
In addition to the German and EU legal requirements, there are also efforts at the international level, such as the OECD, to promote waste prevention.
OECD Reference Manual on Strategic Waste Prevention
In its Reference Manual on Strategic Waste Prevention [OECD 2000], the OECD distinguishes between the following three concepts:
- Strict avoidance
Strict Avoidance involves the complete prevention of waste generation by virtual elimination of hazardous substances or by reducing material or energy intensity in production, consumption, and distribution.
- Reduction at source
Reduction at source involves minimising use of toxic or harmful substances and/or minimising material or energy consumption.
- Product Re-use
Product re-use involves the multiple use of a product in its original form, for its original purpose or for an alternative, with or without reconditioning.
Quantitative and qualitative waste prevention
More often, a distinction is made in waste prevention between quantitative (quantity-relevant) and qualitative (pollutant-relevant) waste prevention. Quantitative waste prevention includes measures that aim to reduce the amount of waste generated during production, such as product design with the goal of a long service life and repairability, as well as reducing the amount of materials used. Qualitative waste prevention includes measures such as the replacement of hazardous or otherwise problematic materials with alternative materials or the elimination of materials that cannot be recycled.
Waste prevention programme
According to Article 33 CEA, a waste prevention programme must be drawn up. In this respect, Annex IV of the CEA contains a large number of possible measures for waste prevention. These include measures aimed at the conception, production and distribution phases of products as well as measures concerning the consumption and use phases.
Based on the legal foundations of the CEA, the first waste prevention programme was published by the Federal Government and the Federal States in 2013, building on studies by the Federal Environment Agency.
Sources:
[Sachs 1993] Wolfgang Sachs: “Die vier E’s: Merkposten für einen maßvollen Wirtschaftsstil”, in Politische Ökologie Nr. 33, 1993, S. 69–72.
[Linz 2002] Manfred Linz et. al: “Von nichts zu viel – Suffizienz gehört zur Zukunftsfähigkeit”, download unter: https://epub.wupperinst.org/frontdoor/deliver/index/docId/1512/file/WP125.pdf
[OECD 2000] Strategic Waste Prevention – Reference Manual, ENV/EPOC/PPC(2000)5/FINAL, Paris, 1 August 2000.