Waste Minimization and Recycling Strategies and Their Chances of Success

Abstract

This paper addresses a new perspective to waste minimization and recycling scenarios by combining ecological and economic aspects with facts and trends of human ethology. The work is based on the avoidable and recyclable shares of household waste fractions, which are called "potentials". The people's approval of measures exploiting these "potentials"—such as less consumption or separate collection-described as "acceptance". This "acceptance" was assessed by opinion polls that were conducted over several years, and the results were superimposed on the corresponding "potentials". This has made it possible to assess how much of the "potentials" can actually be exploited. This resulting share of exploitable minimization and recycling potentials for household waste is termed "effectiveness". The first part of this article approaches the chances of success of minimization and recycling strategies from the theoretical angle. In the second part, "effectiveness" is evaluated on the basis of data for the City of Vienna and used as a model for future trends. The results show that, on average, the household waste fractions can be reduced by 10% due to waste minimization, and by 40 to 50% due to recycling.