Post-consumer waste - Definition and Overview

Post-consumer waste is waste produced by the end consumer of a material stream, particularly when the waste-producing use was not in the production of another product.

Quite commonly, this is simply the garbage that individuals routinely discard, either in a trash can or a dump or by littering, incinerating, pouring down the drain, or washing into the gutter.

It consists of:

• package
• parts that are not needed, such as fruit skins, bones in meat, etc.
• undesired things received, e.g.:
  • advertising material in the mailbox
  • a flyer received in the street without having the opportunity to refuse
  • dust, weed, fallen leaves, etc.
• things one no longer needs, e.g. a magazine that has been read, things replaced by new versions, clothes out of fashion, remaining food that one cannot keep or does not want to keep
• broken things, things no longer working, spoilt food, worn-out clothes, clothes which no longer fit
• disposables such as Kleenex and finished batteries
• human waste, waste of pets, waste water from various forms of cleaning
• "post-life waste"
  • (not a very respectful term though): one's body or ashes
  • things the heirs do not want and can not sell

Landfill sites are almost full and new ones are difficult to find. More and more garbage is being produced each year. Therefore, in some locales, efforts may be made to separate paper and glass into separate waste streams for recycling.