Researching Sustainability

Waste and recycling is one of the most visible areas in sustainability. The key principle of the Waste Hierarchy has become the cornerstone of sustainable waste management. The Waste Hierarchy is made up of five sections, ranked top to bottom in order of which has the least negative environmental impact. 

1. Reduce; looking for ways of reducing waste in day to day activities. 
2. Reuse; considering whether resources can be reused before discarding. 
3. Recycle; ensure materials which can be recycled are segregated avoiding contamination. 
4. Recovery; sending waster for incineration which recovers energy. 
5. Disposal; landfill and incineration with no energy recovery. 

Library Search

You can search for broad topics like recycling or household waste and browse by date to see the latest  publications, or run more focused topic searches. 

Here are some sample searches - but try some some of your own.

food waste AND recycl*

"energy recovery" AND recycl*

In addition to government policies many organisations, institutions, councils, and workplaces have their own waste management plans and provide guidance on what can be recycled. You will find lots of this content is distributed via web pages and reports of various bodies.