What is waste prevention?
Today we want to talk about a key topic in sustainability: waste prevention. We often focus on recycling, but the most important thing is not recycling, but preventing waste from being generated.
Why is prevention important?
Waste prevention means minimizing waste generation at source. This is achieved by making more conscious decisions in design (better known as eco-design), production, and consumption.
Direct benefits of waste prevention:
♻️ Reduction of CO₂ emissions: less transport, treatment and landfills.
💧 Conservation of natural resources: saving water, energy and raw materials.
🚯 Less pollution: reduction of microplastics and toxic substances.
🐢 Protection of biodiversity: cleaner and safer ecosystems.
🏭 Savings on waste management costs for administrations and companies
Everloop brush created by NOS design that allows the exchange of several parts.
Inspiring examples of waste prevention
Below, we share some inspiring examples of how companies, municipalities and educational centers are achieving this:
Companies
📲 Lidl supermarkets have activated an option in their Lidl Plus App so that their customers can select the option not to print the receipt at the checkout and see it in digital format. This can save 39,000 kilos of paper each year.
🍐 The company Apeel has created an edible coating that can double the shelf life of fruits such as avocados, lemons, mangoes, among others. The great advantage is that it helps reduce food waste and prevent waste.
Town halls
🍽 Barcelona City Council offers the city’s entities a free service of lending reusable tableware for events, popular celebrations and parties, for a maximum of 600 diners. This way, a lot of single-use plastics are saved.
♻️ Madrid City Council has launched the free ReMad platform that allows the exchange of used objects at fixed clean points in the city. In this way, reuse and waste prevention are encouraged.
Educational Centers
🥪 The Zero Waste Patios program of the Teachers for Future Spain organization proposes actions for students to eliminate plastic bottles and single-use containers.
Reusable tableware offered by the Barcelona City Council to organizations.
Actions we can take to prevent waste
Finally, we propose actions that we can take in our daily lives to prevent waste at home, at work or when traveling.
What can I do?
🛍 Always leave home with a reusable product kit: a bag, a tupperware and a bottle.
👩🍳 Attend recycling cooking workshops to reduce the waste we generate when cooking.
🔝 Prioritize durable products that can be easily repaired.
📝 Create shopping lists to avoid compulsive shopping
🧠 Before throwing away an object, think if it can have another use. For example, glass jars can be converted into containers to put bulk products.
🚫 Avoid paper advertising: place a sticker or notice in the mailbox to avoid unwanted advertising.
Reusable product kit
Summary and conclusions
Waste prevention is one of the foundations of the circular economy because it prevents materials from becoming garbage. Technology, innovation and citizen participation play a key role in making this transformation possible.
✅ The best way to manage waste is not to generate it
✅ Small daily gestures such as using reusable bottles, buying in bulk or repairing objects create a big impact.
✅ Waste prevention brings environmental, economic and social benefits
✅ Companies, city councils and educational centers can adopt measures that help prevent
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What is waste prevention?
What is waste prevention? 09/05/2025 Magda Cebrián Today we want to talk about a key topic in sustainability: waste prevention. We often focus on recycling, but the most important thing is not recycling, but preventing waste from being generated. 1 Why is prevention important? Waste prevention means minimizing waste generation at source. This…