"The cost of your waste is not so much the cost of disposing of it as much as the value of what you are getting rid of"

The cost burden of waste disposal is on the rise, for example, there is now a tax on waste going to landfill, yet the true extent of these costs is still largely underestimated by many businesses. Often it is assumed that waste management is simply a fixed cost for waste disposal. Effective resource management requires a more comprehensive and holistic approach that not only considers the disposal costs of discarded material but additionally accounts for the accumulated value of all inputs (human, time, matter) and for all process losses, (through all mediums; gas, liquid and solid).

These additional costs are often referred to as the 'hidden' costs of waste that, in combination with the more obvious costs, equate the 'true' cost of waste. The Iceberg Model used by the Environment Agency visualises the concept very well.

The Iceberg Model of the Costs of Waste