Waste management is one of the biggest challenges that we all face in the 21st century, both as individuals and as a society. waste management requires the setting up of a number of discrete systems and solutions, from small scale education and recycling programs to the development of large scale technological solutions. Most of the individual systems set up to deal with waste management work at one level of the waste management hierarchy, which is commonly referred to as the three Rs – reduce, reuse, and recycle. The most favoured systems and solutions are set up to tackle waste prevention and minimisation, with less favourable solutions in place to deal with the reuse, recycling, recovery, and disposal of waste materials. Any comprehensive waste management solution needs to simultaneously deal with each of these levels, as well as creating an awareness within society regarding what is being done and how to improve it in the future.
Education and awareness is a very important aspect of global waste management. It is not enough to simply have waste management systems in place if the population are not aware of their existence, and not enough if these systems stay stagnant and do not evolve to meet the expectations of society. Purely educational systems regarding waste management need to be set up by both government and privately run organisations, where they can work alongside more practical waste management systems. Along with educational programs, the development of new technologies such as transportation mechanisms and carrier rollers (doh-jennes.de/tragrollen.php) is another important aspect of waste management in the 21st century. The waste management industry has been relatively slow to adopt to new technologies, a situation that must change to tackle the growing problem of global waste and pollution.
In terms of waste prevention and minimisation, education is the key alongside the extension of responsibility within the industrial sector. The further down the waste hierarchy that you travel however, the more practical and technological solutions need to be found. Energy recovery is a good example of how new and innovative technologies are transforming waste materials into a usable resource, such as the technology used in biomass production or that seen in mass recycling programs. Waste management is a huge problem that we all have to face in the 21st century, and integrated systems are necessary in order to come up with the best solutions possible.