Introduction

In every aspect of human life unwanted materials are generated and then discarded simply because they are considered to be wastes. Think about preparing a meal; there will be vegetable peelings and fruit cores, there may be skin and fat trimmed off fish and meat, and, if canned or bottled ingredients are used, there will be the empty bottles and cans. Households, businesses, industries, the healthcare system and public organisations all produce wastes that need to be processed. 

In Study Session 7 you learned about the different types of wastes, and in this study session you will learn how the waste hierarchy can be applied to help reduce, reuse or recycle the solid wastes that we produce.