Zero waste is a goal of keeping as much material as possible out of landfills and incinerators by reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting.
An environmental management goal and philosophy focused on eliminating waste sent to landfills and incineration by redesigning processes and products, reducing material use, and maximizing reuse, recycling, and composting. Many organizations and certification programs treat diverting roughly 90% or more of waste from landfill and incineration as a zero waste benchmark.
A manufacturing facility pursuing zero waste works with suppliers to switch to returnable packaging, sets up sorted recycling streams on the production floor, and sends food waste from its cafeteria to a composting partner.
Not usually — in practice, zero waste refers to diverting the vast majority of waste from landfills and incinerators, with programs often setting a high diversion percentage as the target.
Zero waste programs introduce new material handling, sorting, baling, and storage activities, so EHS teams should assess hazards like sharp materials, compactor and baler operation, and chemical waste segregation.
Yes, third-party programs such as TRUE certification and UL's zero waste to landfill validation allow facilities to verify and publicize their waste diversion performance.
Part of SafetyIQ's EHS glossary: plain-English definitions of workplace health and safety terms.
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