The 4Rs - Reduction, Reuse, Recycling and Recovery

One field of application for the pollution prevention principle is the 4Rs approach: Businesses are either legally (by way of waste disposal systems and regulation) or economically (by way of disposal fees) forced to change the way they manage waste and thus move away from the waste treatment approach (end-of-pipe) and towards waste prevention. A number of waste prevention techniques are available, and they are commonly summarised as the so-called 4Rs: reduction, reuse, recycling and recovery. Very often, companies do not automatically realise the advantages of the 4Rs. It normally requires political pressure, and often local authorities, confronted with the negative environmental and social impact of waste, to spearhead a 4R - initiative.

The PREMA-Good Housekeeping Guide follows the 4Rs principle in its checklists concerning waste, material consumption and storage and handling of materials.

Technical co-operation also offers interesting technologies for the application of the 4Rs at the local or regional level such as the further development, testing and dissemination of alternatives to conventional wastewater and sewage disposal systems which is becoming more and more indispensable for both economic and ecological reasons (see supraregional sector project "ecosan").

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