Translating the gained knowledge about waste management into strategies, attitudes and processes that maintain resources and minimise negative environmental impact constitutes a challenging but inevitable goal. Focusing especially on biodegradable waste, the New Paradigm for sustainable waste management carries an increasing demand for biological treatment. Composting still constitutes the preferred option for biological treatment provided that a high compost quality can be ensured. It may play an important role in the diversion of biowaste from landfills, which accounts for approximately half of the municipal solid waste. Full scale composting is considered as a recycling action, while home composting can be deemed as a waste prevention action. � 2014 by Nova Science Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

This chapter first discusses key aspects of waste prevention in a multidisciplinary context. It then defines the term �waste prevention� and discusses its importance in relation to sustainability. Next, the chapter presents the policy framework of the European Union (EU), the United States (U.S.), and selected countries that have taken important steps toward promoting waste prevention, presenting an analysis of waste prevention actions and initiatives applicable to production, supply, consumption, and the household for different key waste streams. The chapter specifically tackles food waste, packaging waste, nonpackaging paper waste, waste from electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), and green waste. Finally, the chapter examines major barriers affecting waste prevention and reviews successful efforts of central and local authorities, businesses, consumers, and social enterprises in mitigating such negative barriers. � 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers.

Waste prevention is the highest ranked priority in the European Waste Framework Directive. The aim of this paper is to present the design, development and main features of a web-based tool that enables local authorities to select and implement optimum waste prevention programmes for their local conditions and to prepare their Waste Prevention Plans. The aforementioned tool, namely the WASP-Tool, is implemented as a knowledge-based decision support system which extracts characteristics and features of the waste prevention strategy models and applies multicriteria evaluation techniques in order to facilitate decision making. It has been developed in Greek and reflects Greek and Cypriot data, context and waste prevention potential, to facilitate its use by local authorities and local administration. The application of the tool is demonstrated and its main features are presented. � 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.