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Preferred term

avoided cost  

Definition

  • Avoided cost is a term used in waste management to represent monetary savings through the diversion of waste from disposal to a form of reprocessing, such as recycling or composting. Frequently used to justify either the initiation of new recycling or composting programs or the continuation of existing programs, avoided cost is an attempt to reflect how waste diversion may be economically beneficial and to assess alternatives to the disposal of material. [Source: Encyclopedia of Consumption and Waste: The Social Science of Garbage; Avoided Cost]

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URI

https://concepts.sagepub.com/social-science/concept/avoided_cost

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