ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF WASTE PREVENTION: FOOD, PACKAGING AND ADVERTISEMENT

摘要

Waste prevention has been addressed in the literature in terms of the social and behavioural aspects, but very little quantitative assessment exists of the environmental benefits. Our study evaluates the environmental consequences of waste prevention on waste management systems and on the wider society, using life-cycle thinking. The partial prevention of unsolicited mail, beverage packaging and food waste was assessed for a "High-tech" waste management system relying on high energy and material recovery and for a "Low-tech" waste management system with less recycling and relying on landfilling. The quantification was done with the EASEWASTE model. We considered that 20% of all unsolicited mail could be prevented, that 20% of food waste could be prevented, and that 60% of the one-way beverage packaging was converted to returnable bottles.