Hazardous Waste Management Hierarchy

Prevention - measures taken before a substance, material or product has become waste, that reduce (a) the quantity of waste, including through the re-use of products or the extension of the life span of products; (b) the adverse impacts of the generated waste on the environment and human health; or (c) the content of harmful substances in materials and products. Preparing for re-use - checking, cleaning or repairing recovery operations, by which products or components of such products that have become waste are prepared so that they can be re-used without any other pre-processing Recycling - any recovery operation by which waste materials are reprocessed into products, materials or substances whether for the original or other purposes. Includes the reprocessing of organic material (2) but not energy recovery or the reprocessing into materials that are to be used as fuels or backfiling operations Other recovery - e.g. energy recovery (3) Disposal - any operation which is not recovery even where the operation has as a secondary consequence the reclamation of substances or energy (4)