Waste collectors - Why do we need a separate collection?
As soon as during a family dinner, meeting with friends or social networking, the topic of separate gathering rises, then questions arise: why is it needed? How to find a place for three-five-ten tanks in our small apartments? Where then washed yogurt jars will leave?
We decided to collect the answers to the most popular questions in one place. Add a link to the cards in the bookmarks, distribute it among friends and acquaintances who have not yet decided to start collecting garbage separately or take only the first steps in this direction. And as soon as a family dinner or a meeting with friends comes to a conversation about the separate collection - remember our cheat sheet.
Раздельный сбор в России
What is the problem?
Every year, 70 million tons of municipal solid waste is generated in Russia. And this figure is constantly growing. If we consider that the Chelyabinsk meteorite before the explosion weighed 10 thousand tons, then such garbage meteorites fall on Russia 7,000 a year.
Since many wastes are made of artificial materials, they decompose in landfills for hundreds of years, poisoning everything around. Every year in Russia, the territory for landfills is increased by an area equal to Moscow and St. Petersburg combined.
After 10 years, the area of landfills in Russia will double and will be equal in size to the two Azov seas.
What can you do with this garbage?
Humanity knows three ways to deal with garbage: landfill, incineration and recycling. All methods, except for processing, ruin nature and are dangerous to human health.
More than 70% of waste that is now ending its life in landfills, can be reused. And every year this share grows. In our country, only 3–5% of municipal solid waste is recycled, while there are already recycling companies, and many of them are not even fully loaded or are forced to buy waste abroad.
And what prevents the processing enterprises to take recyclables from landfills? I heard this is practiced somewhere.
Mixed and compressed garbage arrives at the landfills, from which it is almost impossible to isolate secondary raw materials: the paper is soaked, the plastic becomes dirty, the glass breaks into small chips. From such a garbage "tangle" can be identified only 2-3% of recyclable materials.
So, it is necessary to separate the recyclable material before it gets to the dump?
That's right. This practice is called separate waste collection and has been practiced in many developed and developing countries for several decades. To keep plastic, glass, metal and waste paper clean and can be recycled, it is enough to have two containers at home: for recyclables and the rest of the garbage. You can also collect food waste separately, from which excellent compost is obtained.
Sounds pretty simple. Why is the separate collection in Russia so tight?
We ourselves are surprised. Calculations and already existing projects for separate collection of waste show that Russians are ready to collect waste separately, and this method is the most optimal for preparing waste for recycling. It conserves natural resources, saves money and reduces environmental pollution. There are plenty of examples of the introduction of a separate collection at the level of individual HOAs, offices, shops and universities. For example, activists from Gatchina opened a stationary platform for separate gathering in their city, neighbors from the Moscow region put tanks in their yard , and the newly-made resident of the village Koryashino taught the local not only to throw garbage into a ravine, but also to sort it by species.
But for the emergence of a separate collection in each yard need the decisions of the authorities. But officials, unfortunately, are poorly versed in the system of waste management and are trying to find simple ways: to build another giant landfill or incinerator for them is easier than introducing a separate collection. It can also be related to corruption: you can get a good kickback from one big and expensive project, and you can’t steal a lot on cisterns. But this does not apply to all officials, in many regions the authorities are ready to develop separate collection and processing.
Oh, I know how this separate collection works: they collect it in different tanks, and then they dump it all in one garbage truck.
Such a myth is quite common in Russia. But let's think: why should people who are aware of the value of recyclables, procure multi-colored tanks for yards, then take all the garbage to the dump? And if you consider that usually the organization of the separate collection is engaged in the business, then it sounds completely implausible.
But I saw it myself!
Probably, you have witnessed such a practice, when different tanks for recyclable materials are mixed together (for example, plastic with metal). It happens that it is easier for garbage removal companies to remove it with a single machine, and then sort it out. The fact is that even separately collected garbage goes through additional sorting: on it waste paper is disassembled by type, and glass by different colors. The main principle of separate collection - to separate secondary raw materials from wet garbage that spoils it - is carried out, so there is nothing criminal. But from the point of view of working with people, this is certainly not worth doing. Why ask people to separate different types of recyclables, if you still carry them together? You can simply put a single tank for all secondary raw materials.
We do not deny that there are cases when recycled materials are mixed with common garbage. But it usually happens if a separate collection is done for public relations or for the sake of beautiful reports. Such examples, fortunately, are quite rare.
Still, tanks are under the windows of units, for example, I don’t have them. What to do?
In many cities, recycling facilities are working, where you can hand over waste paper, glass, metals (it all depends on what kind of processing enterprises there are). You can find the point nearest to your home on a special Greenpeace card .
Also, many public environmental organizations and movements periodically hold actions to receive recyclables.
It turns out that you need to save money at home, wait for stocks for a month. I do not have so much space in the apartment and the kitchen is small.
There are several ways to deal with these problems.
First, you need to try not only to collect waste separately, but just to produce less. Do not take disposable bags at the checkout, buy vegetables, fruits and cereals by weight in their reusable bags. It is also better not to buy goods in overpack. It happens that one small product is packed in several layers of paper, plastic and foil and is simply lost in the garbage we do not need, for which we, by the way, also pay.
Secondly, it is possible to significantly reduce the amount of recycled materials: flatten plastic bottles, bend down the “ears” of a tetrapack, tie up waste paper in bales. Believe me, then recycling will take up much less space.
Thirdly, you can use convenient containers for recycling, which are placed on each other, take up little space, but at the same time contain a lot of themselves. Or do just two tanks: for recyclables and the rest of the garbage. Already before passing it is possible to separate the glass from the metal and paper.
In general, there are enough ways, if there is a desire - there will be a solution :)
Persuaded. What's next? I sell my bottles to the action, and where will they go then? To Europe?
There are many factories in Russia that process various recycled materials. In the Sverdlovsk region alone, there are more than 200 processors! But now they just do not have enough of your bottles, they have to work halfway.
Who is doing this, for example?
Often these are the same companies that produce goods from primary raw materials. For example, in the manufacture of glass using a mixture of "new" and "old" components, also in the paper industry. But plastic and metal things are usually made either from recycled materials or from primary materials without mixing them.
For example, in the suburban Solnechnogorsk plant works on processing plastic bottles "Plarus" . He is the only one in Russia who uses the technology of bottle-to-bottle and makes new bottles of water and drinks from old bottles. Baltika Brewery loves to use recycled glass containers , which are used to return its presentation in special factories. A division of the Finnish company Kuusakoski, Petromaks, in the Moscow region Lobnya, turns banal scrap metal, old computers, household appliances, and even old air cargo containers into new raw materials.
And what else can you do from old bottles, read newspapers and jars of jam?
New useful things.
From waste paper obtained books, notebooks, toilet paper. Plastic - playgrounds, paving slabs, fleece jackets, felt covers for tablets. From glass - new bottles. From aluminum cans - bicycles and parts of aircraft.
How amazing! When in Russia will introduce a full separate collection?
We hope very soon. In our country, there is already a trend for a separate collection, even the officials began to talk about it as a way to solve the garbage problem. It is necessary to wait a little more, but for now each of you can bring closer the onset of the “era” of civilized waste management and advocate for the introduction of a separate collection throughout the country.
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