Environmental full-cost accounting (EFCA) is a method of cost accounting that traces direct costs and allocates indirect costs by collecting and presenting information about the possible environmental, social and economical costs and benefits or advantages – in short, about the "triple bottom line" – for each proposed alternative. It is also known as true-cost accounting (TCA), but, as definitions for "true" and "full" are inherently subjective, experts consider both terms problematical.
Waste management include the activities and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitoring and regulation of the waste management process.
A landfill site is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste with daily, intermediate and final covers began in 1940s. In the past, refuse was simply left in piles or thrown into pits.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is the principal federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.
Zero Waste is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages the redesign of resource life cycles so that all products are reused. The goal is for no trash to be sent to landfills, incinerators, or the ocean. Currently, only 9% of plastic is actually recycled. In a zero waste system, material will be reused until the optimum level of consumption. The definition adopted by the Zero Waste International Alliance (ZWIA) is:
Zero Waste: The conservation of all resources by means of responsible production, consumption, reuse, and recovery of all products, packaging, and materials, without burning them, and without discharges to land, water, or air that threaten the environment or human health.
Illegal dumping, also called fly dumping or fly tipping, is the dumping of waste illegally instead of using an authorized method such as kerbside collection or using an authorized rubbish dump. It is the illegal deposit of any waste onto land, including waste dumped or tipped on a site with no license to accept waste. The United States Environmental Protection Agency developed a “profile” of the typical illegal dumper. Characteristics of offenders include, local residents, construction and landscaping contractors, waste removers, scrap yard operators, and automobile and tire repair shops.
Waste Management, Inc. is an American waste management, comprehensive waste, and environmental services company in North America. Founded in 1968, the company is headquartered in the First City Tower in Houston, Texas.
In the UK a local authority waste disposal company (LAWDC) is an arms length waste management operator. These companies were created when the waste management industry was privatised. Some of these companies have now been sold on to larger commercial waste companies and some are still owned by local authorities.
FCC Environment (UK) Limited is a waste management company headquartered in Northampton, United Kingdom and a wholly owned subsidiary of Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas. It was formed in May 2012 through the merger and rebranding of Focsa Services and Waste Recycling Group.
The formerly named Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority (MWDA) is a statutory Waste Disposal Authority that manages the municipal solid waste produced in Merseyside, England. MWDA was established in 1986 following the abolition of Merseyside County Council, to undertake the waste disposal for local authorities across Merseyside – Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, Wirral and St Helens. MWDA takes a lead in advocating waste minimisation, recycling and the safe and effective disposal of waste for Merseyside’s residents and operates 14 Household Waste Recycling Centres. Veolia Environmental Services is the current contractor for the Authority's major waste services contract.
There is no national law in the United States that mandates recycling, and state and local governments often introduce their own recycling requirements. In 2014, the recycling/composting rate for municipal solid waste in the US was 34.6%. A number of U.S. states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Vermont have passed laws that establish deposits or refund values on beverage containers while other jurisdictions rely on recycling goals or landfill bans of recyclable materials.
The National Waste Strategy is a policy of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as well as the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The development of national waste strategies is intended to foster a move to sustainability in waste management within the United Kingdom.
Waste Connections is an North American integrated waste services company that provides waste collection, transfer, disposal and recycling services, primarily of solid waste. It has operations in both the United States and Canada, and has headquarters in The Woodlands, Texas and Vaughan, Ontario. It is the third largest waste management company in North America. Near the end of 2018, the company removed "Inc." from its corporate name. The company is now known simply as "Waste Connections".
Waste management laws govern the transport, treatment, storage, and disposal of all manner of waste, including municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, and nuclear waste, among many other types. Waste laws are generally designed to minimize or eliminate the uncontrolled dispersal of waste materials into the environment in a manner that may cause ecological or biological harm, and include laws designed to reduce the generation of waste and promote or mandate waste recycling. Regulatory efforts include identifying and categorizing waste types and mandating transport, treatment, storage, and disposal practices.
Source Separated Organics (SSO) is the system by which waste generators segregate compostable materials from other waste streams at the source for separate collection.
SUEZ Recycling and Recovery UK Ltd, formerly SITA UK Limited, is a British waste management company, established in 1988. It was previously called Sitaclean Technology. It began as a provider of local authority services, with its first municipal services contract in Erewash, Derbyshire in 1989. Suez has expanded its business through a combination of new contracts, joint venture partnerships and acquisitions.
Solid waste policy in the United States is aimed at developing and implementing proper mechanisms to effectively manage solid waste. For solid waste policy to be effective, inputs should come from stakeholders, including citizens, businesses, community based-organizations, non governmental organizations, government agencies, universities, and other research organizations. These inputs form the basis of policy frameworks that influence solid waste management decisions. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates household, industrial, manufacturing, and commercial solid and hazardous wastes under the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Effective solid waste management is a cooperative effort involving federal, state, regional, and local entities. Thus, the RCRA's Solid Waste program section D encourages the environmental departments of each state to develop comprehensive plans to manage nonhazardous industrial and municipal solid waste.
Resource recovery is using wastes as an input material to create valuable products as new outputs. The aim is to reduce the amount of waste generated, thereby reducing the need for landfill space, and optimising the values created from waste. Resource recovery delays the need to use raw materials in the manufacturing process. Materials found in municipal solid waste, construction and demolition waste, commercial waste and industrial wastes can be used to recover resources for the manufacturing of new materials and products. Plastic, paper, aluminium, glass and metal are examples of where value can be found in waste.
Waste management in South Korea involves waste generation reduction and ensuring maximum recycling of the waste. This includes the appropriate treatment, transport, and disposal of the collected waste. South Korea's Waste Management Law was established in 1986, replacing the Environmental Protection Law (1963) and the Filth and Cleaning Law (1973). This new law aimed to reduce general waste under the waste hierarchy in South Korea. This Waste Management Law imposed a volume-based waste fee system, effective for waste produced by both household and industrial activities.
