The Balance Between Accepted Use and Cost of Preserving the Environment - a Waste Management Perspective

The cost of environmental pollution to society in terms of health, aesthetics, loss of recreational areas and similar deprivation can be high. Where such pollution is the result of improper waste disposal practice, waste disposal costs have effectively been passed on to the wider community in terms of environmental degradation. Such costs, as well as being carried by the present generation, are frequently also 'passed on' to future generations in the form of progressive degradation of the land and air and water quality. In this paper the balance between accepted use of the environment and costs of preserving the environment are discussed in terms of waste management. Particular reference is made to the environmental aspects of current and future waste disposal methods and the allocation of costs for waste management over the present and future generations.