Sustainable Materials Management Helps Reduce Waste
Municipal solid waste Photo by Jasmin Sessler on Unsplash
A certified public accountant and businessman based in Tamaqua, Pennsylvania, Larry Wittig serves as the managing partner of Wittig CPA's. Larry Wittig also serves as the president of Tamaqua Transfer & Recycling Inc., a solid waste collection and disposal company.
Trash, also known as municipal solid waste (MSW), is collected from homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses and either put in a landfill or recycled. According to recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data, Americans produce a combined total of about 254 million tons of waste annually. Approximately one-third of this material is recycled or composted.
To reduce the amount of waste going to landfills, the EPA has developed materials to promote sustainable materials management (SMM). SMM means using and reusing materials in the most efficient and sustainable ways possible to conserve resources, minimize environmental impacts, and help slow the rate of climate change.
SMM includes strategies such as eliminating waste at the source by designing products without excess packaging or environmentally dangerous materials. Another SMM practice is composting, the process of collecting organic waste, such as food scraps and yard clippings, and storing it so that it breaks down naturally and becomes fertilizer rather than occupying landfill space.
Trash, also known as municipal solid waste (MSW), is collected from homes, schools, hospitals, and businesses and either put in a landfill or recycled. According to recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data, Americans produce a combined total of about 254 million tons of waste annually. Approximately one-third of this material is recycled or composted.
To reduce the amount of waste going to landfills, the EPA has developed materials to promote sustainable materials management (SMM). SMM means using and reusing materials in the most efficient and sustainable ways possible to conserve resources, minimize environmental impacts, and help slow the rate of climate change.
SMM includes strategies such as eliminating waste at the source by designing products without excess packaging or environmentally dangerous materials. Another SMM practice is composting, the process of collecting organic waste, such as food scraps and yard clippings, and storing it so that it breaks down naturally and becomes fertilizer rather than occupying landfill space.
