In France, household waste volumes are rising by 1% a year, generating a heavier burden for communities and the environment. To halt this wasteful trend, everyone involved in the cycle needs to get onboard, from households to businesses to government offices.
Reducing waste at the source means:
- Making waste less hazardous. An example is prohibiting the use of mercury in batteries.
- Making waste lighter, for example with less bulky packaging.
- Reducing the amount of waste to be treated. This can be achieved through recovery by the waste producer, e.g., in compost piles or via inter-company exchanges for recycling* or re-use.
Once again, it is important to have a comprehensive view of the situation. A narrow focus on reducing waste at all costs could actually increase energy consumption or discharge into rivers. Decisions should be based on an end-to-end approach that leverages such resources as lifecycle analysis*.

What consumers can do
Consumers can help reduce waste at the source through their everyday habits.
-Buying decisions. In many cases, it's possible to choose a product that is not wrapped in useless packaging. Consumers can also buy products with a long life span rather than throw-away items, drink tap water rather than bottled water (the quality is similar almost everywhere in France) and look for products with an official eco-label*.
-Good everyday habits include shopping with a re-usable bag, composting yard and kitchen waste, donating old appliances, clothes and toys, and acting responsibly when throwing away toxic items or sorting waste.

What manufacturers can do
Manufacturers are on the front line since their products are tomorrow's waste. For certain types of products, waste reduction at the source is a daily objective. Packaging, for example, has often been made less bulky: he average weight of a 1.5-liter water bottle decreased by 22% between 1994 and 2003.
Manufacturers can reduce waste at the source through numerous processes. These include using lighter-weight materials, optimizing appliance life spans by making products sturdier and easier to repair, eliminating toxic components and facilitating recovery by making it easier to take products apart and by marking materials for recycling. All of these processes come under the heading of eco-design*.

What businesses and government offices can do
Along with making products, businesses also produce waste. Here too, a number of changes in daily habits can help reduce the waste stream and save money. These include selecting re-usable packaging for inter-plant deliveries, sorting waste at the source in workshops to facilitate recovery* and identifying direct outlets for waste in other manufacturing facilities.
In local and national government offices, "green" practices encompass waste, water, energy and all types of environmental impacts*. Purchasing decisions play an important role, as do everyday habits like reducing paper waste, recycling office paper and composting park and garden waste. Another key mission for government offices is to raise awareness about reducing waste at the source among citizens, businesses and distributors.