We all know that the key to good waste management is effective segregation and following correct recycling methods, this includes the separation of waste types to facilitate recycling and correct onward disposal. Globally, we produce a whopping 2 billion tonnes of solid waste each year, and yet in 2020 only 43% of municipal waste was successfully recycled, with little movement year on year since. Hopefully we will begin to see improvements now that the Government has announced the latest step in efforts to tackle waste, the Circular Economy Package. This sets a target to recycle 65% of municipal waste by 2035 and to have no more than 10% municipal waste going to landfill by 2035. Here are some steps which can be taken to help effectively segregate waste and meet this goal of circularity.
Internal segregation
The vast majority of waste we produce within a household, is created internally – whether this is food waste from meal preparation and excess or packaging from food or household items, such as empty toothpaste tubes or drinks bottles. Despite these being created inside the home, the segregation of such waste is typically done so outside, in our external waste bins, as such it is often common for a lot of waste to miss-out on being recycled through the means of convenient generic disposal – which will instead end up in landfill. The vast majority of household bins are used to collect general waste, and whilst many of us do make a conscious effort to keep any recyclables separate, often a few slip through the net, and find themselves not achieving their potential recyclability.
The remedy for this is to bring your segregated recycling strategies indoors! Introduce bags or bins, with separate compartments for each type of recycling, alongside your general domestic waste. The key to this is having your internal waste collections, mimic your external – this will help you correctly segregate and manage the waste produced. Having recycling bins easily accessible in your home will prevent any mismanaged waste, and increase external success.
Coloured Bags
For commercial environments separate waste bins internally are a lot more commonly used, however mishaps often still occur when the wrong waste mistakenly placed into the incorrect bins – sadly this is a common issue, and can often leave the formerly great batch of recycling contaminated.
To avoid cross-contamination, making each different bin clearly identifiable will help to increase recycling success, this can be helped by using different coloured bags for each end of life solution. Coloured refuse sacks, acts as an indicator of which waste each bin collects, typically people use black for general waste, after this you can attribute a colour for each recycling collection type. As an example, you could have 4 coloured bags – black to collect domestic, yellow for plastic waste, red for card and paper, blue for metals and aluminium and green for food waste. Ensuring everyone knows which colour is for which waste will be the key to success, and with this people will be able to identify the best bin for their waste purely based on the colour of the bags. Many using the coloured bag method of waste segregation often match their bags to the associated bin colour – helping allow for an easier waste disposal selection.
Know your bins and waste
Knowledge is the key to success – so knowing your bins and more importantly your rubbish, is vital for good, and truly successful waste management. Primarily we must take the time to know our bins, and understand what goes in each one, and arguably more importantly what does not go in each bin. Recycling is crucial to a circular economy, but cross contamination through wrongfully discarded items is all too common, and is hindering the recyclability. of batches. As such, take the time to research what can / cannot be placed in your bins – every local authority will have this information freely available either online or through the means of informative communication. Asking for clarification on a waste items end of life can make the difference between a successfully recycled bin and a contaminated one.
It isn’t just your bins you can study, you can also check the recyclability of the waste product itself – this will often be displayed on the item, especially if it is packaging, claiming it is either ‘recyclable’ or ‘not recyclable’. This will help decide your next move, however sometimes the labeling isn’t clear, in these instances research is always recommended – Google, Alexa, Bing, etc are all great sources of knowledge and this quick 30 seconds research task may give you the answers you need and help you find the correct bin. Finally, as a general rule of thumb, when in doubt – leave it out – always choose the general waste for items you can not find the answers for!
The Cromwell team have a wide range of tips and advice for good waste management talk to us today for advice or help on how to improve your strategies. We also supply a wide range of refuse and compactor sacks, including our high-quality coloured range, ideal for clear segregation.