Global recycling contamination catastrophe
Some may say phrasing it as a crisis is too drastic, yet I oppose that very strongly.
It's becoming more popular to try and recycle but many fail to do it effectively and end up not helping but hindering the process of recycling. Waste contamination is a very dominating issue on a global scale and without awareness and mindfulness there cannot be much progress.
I would roughly separate contamination into three groups - recyclable material thrown in general waste, uncleanness and mixing recyclable material. People broadly believe it's not a problem leaving a bit of food in the recycling and that would be the case if it was only a few people but alarmingly that is not even close to being accurate.
"How do I fix that," you might ask. Well, first begin by informing yourself by reading this short blog post.
The first category is self-explanatory and also a bit infuriating. It's all about cases when people do not even attempt recycling. All of that waste would end up on a landfill, further polluting the planet. Not cool.
I've not been in the UK for long but one of my biggest pet peeves ever since I arrived here is my flatmates putting filthy waste in the recycling bin. After reading this, close your eyes (don't forget to open them afterwards, though) and remember the greasiest pepperoni pizza you've seen and the box it came in. Now multiply it by 10 and you'll have what my flatmates in first year of uni would've thrown in the recycling each month if I wasn't bothered to nag them like the annoying person I am (you can still recycle the top if it's clean).
Tips on that would be: check if the material is recyclable, remove all film/wrappers from yoghurt pots, plastic food trays, rinse everything you can (tins, trays, etc), don't recycle your cardboard cereal box with the plastic packaging still inside, be mindful of stains and something that's very important, empty your recycling into the bin without putting the bag in the bin.
The worst of them all, though, is recycling material mixing. Again, coming back to the topic of misinformation - people know glass jars are recyclable and they toss it in the blue bin. That's, first, dangerous for the workers in the recycling plants, since they shouldn't expect sorting through glass shards, and also renders the recycling attempt useless because in this case the glass is just thrown away. Ultimately the whole batch can be scrapped, making other people's recycling attempt meaningless.
Through this post I cannot really affect the destructive contamination practices of large corporations, causing the majority of the environmental issues, yet I hope I affected you in a positive way, driving you to be more mindful, and maybe, just maybe, if you become a part of one of these corporations one day you would push for a big change.
It's becoming more popular to try and recycle but many fail to do it effectively and end up not helping but hindering the process of recycling. Waste contamination is a very dominating issue on a global scale and without awareness and mindfulness there cannot be much progress.
I would roughly separate contamination into three groups - recyclable material thrown in general waste, uncleanness and mixing recyclable material. People broadly believe it's not a problem leaving a bit of food in the recycling and that would be the case if it was only a few people but alarmingly that is not even close to being accurate.
Source: BBC
"How do I fix that," you might ask. Well, first begin by informing yourself by reading this short blog post.
The first category is self-explanatory and also a bit infuriating. It's all about cases when people do not even attempt recycling. All of that waste would end up on a landfill, further polluting the planet. Not cool.
I've not been in the UK for long but one of my biggest pet peeves ever since I arrived here is my flatmates putting filthy waste in the recycling bin. After reading this, close your eyes (don't forget to open them afterwards, though) and remember the greasiest pepperoni pizza you've seen and the box it came in. Now multiply it by 10 and you'll have what my flatmates in first year of uni would've thrown in the recycling each month if I wasn't bothered to nag them like the annoying person I am (you can still recycle the top if it's clean).Tips on that would be: check if the material is recyclable, remove all film/wrappers from yoghurt pots, plastic food trays, rinse everything you can (tins, trays, etc), don't recycle your cardboard cereal box with the plastic packaging still inside, be mindful of stains and something that's very important, empty your recycling into the bin without putting the bag in the bin.
The worst of them all, though, is recycling material mixing. Again, coming back to the topic of misinformation - people know glass jars are recyclable and they toss it in the blue bin. That's, first, dangerous for the workers in the recycling plants, since they shouldn't expect sorting through glass shards, and also renders the recycling attempt useless because in this case the glass is just thrown away. Ultimately the whole batch can be scrapped, making other people's recycling attempt meaningless.Through this post I cannot really affect the destructive contamination practices of large corporations, causing the majority of the environmental issues, yet I hope I affected you in a positive way, driving you to be more mindful, and maybe, just maybe, if you become a part of one of these corporations one day you would push for a big change.
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