The CPHEEO Municipal Solid Waste Management Manual (2016) frames sustainable waste handling around the classic 3R principle, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. This question gives four terms and asks which of them belong to that specific three-word set.
- Recover: Recovery usually means extracting energy or material value from waste that cannot be reused or recycled, for example waste-to-energy processes. It is a distinct waste management strategy, not one of the three words in "3R".
- Recycle: This is one of the three core words. It means converting used material back into raw material to manufacture new products, cutting down what goes to landfill.
- Reduce: This is also one of the three core words. It means cutting down waste at the point of generation itself, the first and most preferred step in the hierarchy, ahead of reuse and recycling.
- Repair: Repair means fixing and extending the life of an item so it does not become waste at all. It is a useful practice under circular-economy thinking, but it is not one of the three named words in the CPHEEO 3R principle.
Out of the four options, only Recycle and Reduce are literally part of the 3R set. Reuse, the third member of the actual 3R principle, is not even offered as an option here.
Let's summarize:
- The 3R principle equals Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
- Recover and Repair are related waste-management ideas but fall outside this specific three-word set.
So the correct options are Recycle and Reduce, that is, options 2 and 3.