Nov 26 2008
Background
Increasing Amounts of Waste
Types of Waste
Garbage
Recyclables
Organics
Avoiding Landfill
Background
Waste, rubbish, garbage or trash - call it what you like - is a growing problem around the world. Waste is material that is discarded becuase it is considered useless or is unwanted. This material either enters landfill dumps or becomes pollution. Fortunately we are now starting to consider other more useful ways to dispose of waste.
Increasing Amounts of Waste
Modern lifestyles are bound by convenience and the price of convenience appears to be large amounts of waste. Consumer items that in years gone by would last a lifetime are now considered disposable. Nappies were once always cloth. They'd be used for all children in the family before becoming cleaning cloths that eventually disintegrated though use. Nappies now are expensive, single use disposable items. Even food now comes complete with large amounts of packaging that is discarded. This all puts strain on landfill garbage dump sites that are becoming increasingly scarce due to larger populations, and heath and safety concerns for the smell, noise and pollution from such landfills. It is therefore important to ensure as little material as possible is dumped in landfill.
Types of Waste
Waste is made up of 3 basic types of material:
- Garbage
- Recyclables
- Organics
Garbage
Garbage is the waste material that cannot be used or further processed. It may be toxic or simply too difficult to reprocess. Improvements in recycling and materials technologies mean that some items once considered garbage can now be recycled. This includes things like old electronics and broken computer equipment that can now be broken down and the component materials recovered from them.
Recyclables
The materials that can be recycled is increasing daily. Many items can be readily recycled repeatedly like aluminium cans, paper, steel and most plastics. It is important to always recycle whenever possible to avoid these materials unneccesarily ending up in landfill.
Organics
Organic materials such as grass clippings, food scraps and other items coming from a animal or plant source need not go to landfill. Some councils and local authorities collect organic materials to be made into mulches and fertilisers. A good idea is to compost your organic materials at home. Composting breaks down the organic waste resulting in a rich material perfect for use on the garden at home.
Avoiding Landfill
Aside from ensuring waste material is disposed of carefully to avoid landfill, consumers can minimise the impact on landfill by:
- reducing the amont of products and packaging bought,
- by reusing items rather than buying new or disposable products
- always recycling
Source: AZoCleantech