Authors: Junya Yano Shinichi Sakai
Publish Date: 2015/07/04
Volume: 18, Issue: 1, Pages: 38-56
Abstract
The 3Rs reduce reuse and recycle approach to waste management has been established internationally as one of the fundamental concepts for a sustainable society In particular the “reduce” aspect which is the highest priority and also refers to waste prevention implies similar concepts and definitions among regions To outline useful recent research findings related to waste prevention this paper reviewed and discussed the current situation including 1 definitions 2 indicators 3 policy and behavior and 4 prevention effects from the life cycle perspective It was found that although various waste prevention indicators have been proposed in the EU Japan and by international authorities the indicators actually adopted in their policies are limited by some issues for example a lack of data availability Food waste CD waste and WEEE ewaste were identified as higher priorities for waste prevention Some current challenges for promoting waste prevention are to 1 make the definition of waste types clearer 2 develop a standardized consistent monitoring method 3 clarify the causal linkage between prevention effects and stakeholders’ behavior and 4 quantify the environmental effects of waste prevention Each of these aspects is essential and will be useful when considering waste prevention indicators and targets
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