By Elishya Perera
(CU)_ Study after study has shown that a greater proportion of waste being reused or recycled plays a significant role in sustainable development. Modern trends of production and consumption leads to large quantities of waste, which often include material that exist in limited quantities and sometimes material that are toxic and hazardous to the environment. Therefore, prevention of waste, reuse of limited resources, as well as the implementation of appropriate waste management systems are necessary to achieve sustainable cycles in society.
A poor waste management system would lead to wastage of scarce resources, soil and water pollution, as well as issues related to health and sanitation.
The 12th Sustainable Development Goal on sustainable consumption and production set out by the United Nation aims to do more and better with less. Accordingly, a sustainable waste management system would expand from responsible production to consumption and disposal.
Over the past several years, recycling has been a key aspect of sustainable waste management, as it ensures a larger proportion of material recovery of waste. Moreover, it leads to a sustainable cycle of consumption as recycling leads to lower emissions in comparison to other methods of treatment and recycled raw material saves energy compared with the use of new raw material.
Producers who rely on recycled raw material give rise to environmentally oriented product manufacturing which in turn strengthens a sustainable waste management system.
