Definition of Waste: waste under Kenya laws is an item or
substance which has no utility value to the holder of the item. By
the same token waste may well have some value to somebody else or to the same
person in a different context. Therefore whether or not an item is
considered to be or not to be waste must be determined from the point of view
for the person who has control or is in possession of that particular
item. An item which is waster is not the same thing as an item that does
not have value. Waste items always have value and it is only that its value to
the holder is less then the cost to the holder of retaining possession of
it. Therefore the holder always faces an inherent temptation to dispose
of the item at least cost to himself or to herself.
The first choice of disposal of a waste item is into the
environment i.e. a cigarette smoker will puff away until they get to the butt
end of the cigarette and then they have the Pavlov’s instinct of letting it
drop from their hands and will drop it anywhere and for this reason waste
presents an environmental problem because the holder does not see the need to
invest resources in disposing the item. Where the holder is not able to
dispose of it in the environment, the holder will hand over that item to
the person who is willing to take the item. Such a person may well be
prepared to pay for the item for the reason that the intending possessor of the
item may well see utility value in the item. But the key thing is that
the holder is disposing of the item rather than the person acquiring it is
paying for it so the price that the holder imposes for the item will typically
not represent the true economic value of the item. In an auction for
instance one sets a reserve price which represents what one perceives as an
item’s economic value. At times the holder is even prepared to pay for
somebody to take away this item.
So waste presents an environmental management problem, the
theory of managing waste is captured in an approach to management known as
cradle to grave management or ‘life cycle management’. Cradle to Grave
Management presents an approach that looks at an item from its inception to its
disposal, the approach looks at the entire lifecycle of the item.
Lifecycle Management introduces management principles at
each stage of the life of the item. At production the management approach
is to reduce or minimize waste. After production in use the approach is
to reuse waster and on disposal the approach is to recycle. Reduction of
waste is basically the principle that the production process should result
1. In an item which potentially will
generate little waste
2. The production process itself
should give rise to as little waste as possible.
If in the process of producing an item the maker of the
item is also generating a lot of waste. The idea is to minimize waster,
there are people who argue that minimization of waster cuts costs.
Having generated the item, the idea is that the item itself
should be an item that is capable of reuse which basically means putting the
item back to use in the same form. A good example is a beverage bottle.
These are items that can be used again in the same form. In order to
encourage reuse, the management uses a deposit and return system to encourage
reuse. Replacement of this particular item like cans for bottles leads to
a waste management problem.