| Hierarchy | Includes ... | Products | Mechanical | Thermal | Chemical | Other |
| Prevention | using less material in design and manufacture, keeping products for longer, re-use, using less hazardous materials | Resource efficiency | ||||
| Preparing for re-use | checking, cleaning, repairing, refurbishing, whole items or spare parts | Components or spare parts | Design for end-of-life | |||
| Recycling | turning waste into a new substance or product | Fillers, Humus | Grinding | Composting if it meets quality protocols | ||
| Other recovery | anaerobic digestion, incineration with energy recovery, gasification and pyrolysis which produce energy (fuels, heat and power) and materials from waste, some backfilling | Materials Materials and energy |
Pyrolysis Gasification |
Solvolysis Sub- and super-critical processes Ionic liquids or Enzymes |
Anaerobic digestion | |
| Disposal | landfill and incineration without energy recovery (only if all else fails !) | Waste | Incineration | Landfill Scuttle marine vessels |
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