Minimise

Avoiding and/or minimising the generation of waste is the best option from an environmental and economic viewpoint.

For manufacturers, avoiding waste production means re-designing products to improve their durability and making them easier to dismantle so that their parts can be re-used or the product more easily repaired. It also makes examining how products are made and packaged - how much raw material is used? How much energy is used?

It is important that when we buy goods, we should look for items with less (or no) packaging and we should think about not replacing items until really necessary.