A new paradigm for waste management

The concept 'waste' was assessed, and redefined as 'an emerged quality of a substance'. A substance or object is qualified a waste when it is not used to its full potential'. Under this paradigm, any process can be used for t he transformation of waste to remove this quality label, and the necessity of a systemic approach to the resource and waste management becomes obvious . Any substance, labelled waste or resource, is part of at least one materi al cycle. Material cycle modelling provides a convenient method of abstract ion to present the system alternatives to decision-makers and emphasises th e interdependence between the availability and fate of all atomic elements in primary production and waste management. The rearrangement and closing o f material cycles, for example, opens the way to eliminate landfills of har mful residues and contributes to the conservation of resources. While the a doption of the new paradigm may lead to dramatic technological development, the consideration, appreciation and adoption of such integrated resource a nd waste systems by decision-makers must be adequately supported by the apt supply of accessible information on system structure, technology options a nd effects. To determine the scope of the decision support tool, four image s of 2030's waste infrastructure were constructed. Public awareness and att itude were identified as the main parameters that determine the future cont ext, apart from technological development, resource scarcity and final abat ement of waste processing residues. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All righ ts reserved.