Circular Economy
Source Reduction
Preventing waste from being created in the first place — the top of the waste hierarchy.
Definition
Source reduction is any practice that reduces the amount or toxicity of waste before it is generated: designing products with less material, eliminating packaging, extending product life, improving process efficiency, and substituting less hazardous inputs. It occupies the top tier of the waste hierarchy — preferred to reuse, recycling and all forms of treatment and disposal — because waste that never exists requires no collection, processing or landfilling and embodies no lost resources.
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