Personal experience: How to sort garbage at home? All about separate waste collection in Russia and abroad Separate waste collection pros and cons.

In June 2017, utility workers in Athens went on a ten-day strike, leaving the city mired in rubbish. Famous physicist and public figure Niels Bohr proclaimed: “Humanity will not perish from atomic bomb and endless wars, it will bury itself under the mountains own waste" This phrase is over 100 years old, but its relevance is only growing every year. Separate collection waste with further processing will help solve the problem of excess waste around the world.

The current environmental situation in cities - everyone’s contribution is important

We see increased interest among city residents in environmental issues. After all, everyone wants to live in a clean city, walk through parks and enjoy the view of flower beds with a large number flowers. Decide environmental problems cities is impossible without the participation of residents. Many might argue that they don't have the time or energy to plant avenues of trees and fight polluting industries. But there are simple things that everyone can do without much effort - separate garbage collection.

Why is separate waste collection necessary?

Sorting waste depending on its composition has a beneficial effect on the state of environment. The decomposition period for some types of plastic is 100-200 years, and for an aluminum can it is 500 years. Think about how many plastic bottles and cans you threw away over the past week. Now multiply the resulting number by the number of residents of your city. If you live in a metropolis, then you will probably end up with an amount of about 1,000,000!

According to the standard waste collection and disposal scenario, all waste ends up in landfills. There it decomposes under the influence of natural causes, poisoning the earth and groundwater. But up to 80% of waste can be recycled for reuse. This plastic is used to make garbage bags, garden utensils, packaging, and even clothing and shoes. Old metal is used to make cars, household appliances, garden and sports equipment.

In addition to improving ecological situation, collecting waste in groups also solves economic issues. New waste processing plants are opening, which provides new jobs. What could have become waste is turned into raw materials for enterprises. This is called the fashionable word “recycling” (from the English recycle - recycle).

Difficulties in separate waste collection

The benefits of waste sorting are obvious, but there are also disadvantages. To put a waste recycling plant into operation requires large investments. Special equipment is not cheap, and such a business will not begin to make a profit soon. Finding employees on the sorting line is also not easy, because the work is not prestigious. Another difficulty is people's lack of understanding of the importance of separate collection of household waste.

What kind of waste is there?

All waste is divided into 4 categories:

Suitable for recycling and recycling.
Toxic waste requiring special disposal (this also includes medical waste).
Non-toxic organic waste.
Waste used for combustion and thermal energy production.

Let's take a closer look at some categories of garbage.

Plastic

Decomposition period plastic bags- 100-400 years, plastic bottles and other plastic products - 200-400 years. Some species completely decompose within 1000 years. Plastic disrupts gas exchange in the soil and in water bodies. Plastic bags are often thrown away with leftover food, which attracts animals and birds. They swallow pieces of bags, which leads to their death. The same situation is with fish. In addition, during the decomposition process, plastic releases toxic substances, and in the event of a fire, toxic smoke will lead to poisoning or even death of people and animals. The solution in this case would be to collect plastic waste with further melting and recycling. Made from recycled plastic:

bottles;
containers;
carpets;
building materials.

10 kg of waste will produce 8 kg of new products. The cost of garbage, even taking into account the collection and storage of waste, is small, and it is several times cheaper finished products.

Glass

Although the decomposition period of glass jars and bottles is impressive - 1000 years - they cause little harm to the environment. In particular, animals and people can be injured by sharp edges broken glass. The situation with the collection of glass containers in our country is not bad. Collection points for milk bottles, alcoholic beverages and lemonade existed in Soviet times and are still in operation. The collected glass containers are either melted down or simply reused.

Paper

IN Soviet times Both adults and children were involved in collecting and distributing waste paper. Schools even established standards for the amount of waste paper handed in per class. At paper waste collection points, the population was given coupons for the purchase of books in exchange for old newspapers, paper wrappers, notebooks and cardboard. As for the environment, damage to nature is caused not by used and discarded paper, but by deforestation to make new products. It is estimated that to save 15 trees it is necessary to collect 1 ton of waste paper.

Tin cans

These cans are made from galvanized or tin-coated iron. The zinc + tin compound is toxic to many living organisms. The decomposition period is 100 years. Collecting aluminum waste, its further melting and reuse will improve the environment.

Disposal methods

How do they get rid of that garbage, including that which cannot be reused? The following methods are distinguished:

burning;
burial;
composting;
briquetting.

Let's look at each of them in more detail.

Burning

Although this method is popular and cheap, it has significant disadvantages. The main one is the toxic effect of combustion products - smoke and ash - on the environment. When waste incineration occurs on an industrial scale, special equipment equipped with cleaning systems is used.

Burial

Waste is buried in the ground at special landfills, the placement of which is subject to the following requirements:

outside residential areas and medical institutions;
outside water protection zones;
outside public recreation areas.

There are also requirements for the composition of waste. The collection of waste for disposal does not include radioactive and toxic substances, as well as anything that can be reused. Buried garbage, when decomposed, releases toxic fumes that poison the air, soil and groundwater.

Composting

To understand the essence of this method, it is enough to remember the compost pits in the country. At the same time organic waste piled up where they decompose naturally. The result is a useful fertilizer. Composting in industrial scale produced in the presence of oxygen and in its absence. The output is organic fertilizer. This method makes it possible to recycle up to 30% of waste.

Briquetting

If you have watched the cartoon about the robot WALL-E, then this method of disposal is familiar to you. WALL-E, alone on the abandoned planet Earth, compacted garbage into briquettes and stacked them on top of each other, creating garbage skyscrapers. Briquetting - new method. The waste is first sorted into categories and then formed into briquettes. The fate of this briquetted waste is not completely clear, as is the feasibility of the method. Perhaps it will be used as recyclable material. When compressed, waste takes up less space and is easier to transport, which is undoubtedly a good thing.

Recycling stages

We usually don't think about what happens to our trash after it ends up in our trash cans. Yes, we see that garbage trucks come and empty them, but what next? Knowing the full waste disposal cycle is very important to understand the importance of separate waste collection.

Collection and removal

Residents collect garbage apartment buildings or private sector, as well as industrial facilities. If the region has established sorting of waste by category, then in the yards there are 4-5 containers for plastic, cardboard, glass, household waste, etc. Utilities or recycling companies handle waste collection and transportation.

Storage

Before garbage is sent for recycling or undergoes any method of disposal, it is stored in special landfills. The rules for collection, storage and disposal of waste regulate how much waste will be stored, in what quantity and how much space it will occupy.

Transportation

To move waste from landfills to disposal or recycling facilities, you need special equipment. This includes loading mechanisms and machines, garbage trucks.

Disposal

This is the last point in the waste collection and disposal chain. Disposal methods have already been discussed above. Each has advantages and disadvantages. Methods such as burning and burial remain popular in our country.

How to properly sort waste when recycling

There are a number of rules for waste collection intended for recyclable or processing. Here are the main ones:

Discarded plastic, aluminum or glass containers must be cleared of food debris and washed. Simply rinse under warm running water.
There are combined types of packaging that are not subject to recycling. These are, for example, bags of juice, milk, wine. They consist of plastic, cardboard and aluminum.
Window glass should not be thrown into containers intended for glass containers. They have a different structure. There is also no need to throw electric lamps into this container.
Caps should be removed from plastic bottles, and it is advisable to crush tin cans.
Paper waste intended for recycling does not include cash receipts, egg trays, toilet paper and napkins.
When handing over waste paper, it is advisable to remove staples, paper clips and tape from the papers.
Not all plastic can be collected. Suitable waste labeled PET1 and HDPE2. You can return bottles of water, lemonade and other drinks, containers for shampoos, household detergents and cleaning products. And here are the bottles from vegetable oil and plastic bags are not recyclable.

Experience in waste sorting from different countries

In the European Union countries you can see 6 containers for different groups of garbage. They are painted in different colors, and these colors are the same for all EU countries. European countries have long been faced with the problem of excess waste. The small area only made the situation worse. In the 80s, the Netherlands completely switched to separate waste collection. Now there are only two landfills there. In addition, in the Netherlands for active participation Residents receive benefits for housing and utility bills when collecting and recycling waste.

The experience of Japan is also noteworthy, where the issue of collecting solid waste and disposal due to limited territory. In particular, garbage is used to create fill areas to increase the area of the state at the expense of coastal areas. Promoting the reuse of things that may have been thrown away has become national peculiarity Japanese. This is manifested in the condemnation of wastefulness and in the use of things as long as their useful properties are at least partially preserved.

In the USA, they also actively sort garbage. This area is regulated at the legislative level, and a fine is provided for violating the rules of separate collection. More than 500 factories across the country recycle waste. Many enterprises are trying to minimize waste management by producing products in environmentally friendly packaging.

Finland has done very well in waste management over the past 15-17 years. The country uses the technology of storing waste underground in special containers. This installation utilizes up to 7 m 3 of waste.

But not only developed countries control the amount of garbage thrown out. Thus, in India, the state of Maharashtra banned the use of plastic bags. Violation of the law carries a fine of $380, and repeated violations may result in a prison sentence. Kenya has also banned plastic bags since 2017. But the punishment for violation there is harsher - a fine of up to $40 thousand or a prison term of up to 4 years.

The issue of separate collection and recycling of waste nationwide, of course, is resolved at the state level. But every person who cares about the environment can do simple things. On the one hand, sort the garbage and hand it over to collection points, and on the other, reduce the amount of waste, following the example of the Japanese, “squeezing” the maximum out of every thing.

The problem of separate waste collection, which has been effectively solved long ago in Europe and the USA, remains in Russian cities a stumbling block on the path to compliance with basic environmental standards for living in an urban environment.

We are no longer talking about the province, where garbage containers have long turned into breeding grounds for urban rodents, becoming places of their well-fed habitat. As for the two Russian capitals, in both Moscow and St. Petersburg all attempts to introduce a system of separate waste collection among citizens were a complete failure.

According to the results of a survey by the Vesti TV channel, “Why doesn’t the separate waste collection system work in St. Petersburg?”, the majority of residents of the Northern capital (43 percent) see the root of the problem in the mentality of city residents, who, since childhood, are accustomed to dumping everything in one trash can or bag. Slightly fewer (39 percent) forward reproaches to utility workers and blame them on “weak organization of the process.” Sixteen percent complained that the need for such a procedure was poorly explained to them. Two percent don’t touch garbage at all, it’s not a lordly thing.

Meanwhile, Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Boris Kiselev raised the question with Governor Valentina Matvienko about what exactly the city government is doing to collect and recycle plastic containers. The deputy emphasizes that more and more goods, especially drinks, are sold today in plastic packaging or in plastic bottles (PET.PET). And since a plastic bottle does not decompose in the ground, “an increase in the amount of such waste can lead to irreversible environmental consequences". As a result, thousands of bottles lie in landfills, since, according to the author of the request, "mechanisms for collecting and recycling plastic bottles at waste collection sites and city landfills are far from perfect."

“In Finland, whose experience we so often turn to, all supermarkets are equipped with collection and recycling points for plastic bottles,” recalls deputy Kiselev. The author of the request proposes that such reception points “be located in accessible places in every district of the city, for example in shopping centers"He also cites statistics according to which in St. Petersburg no more than ten percent of consumed PET bottles are recycled and the main problem is the lack of a properly functioning waste collection system and its subsequent processing.

Today, according to the St. Petersburg branch of Greenpeace, about 2,200 containers for separate waste collection have been installed in the city. So the problem lies not in the lack of special equipment, but in its poor condition.

“We are not going to fight with anyone, we just want to restore order in the city, so that containers for separate waste collection are installed correctly, so that their lids are closed and people simply cannot throw anything in there,” says the expert on effective use resources Igor Babanin. — As a result of the inaction of public utilities, a paradoxical situation has developed in the city. Requirements for separate waste collection are not met; no one monitors the maintenance of container sites equipped for selective waste collection. For more than a year, regulatory authorities, for example, have not been able to ensure compliance with the basic requirement requiring that containers be installed with a receiving window, into which separately collected waste must be placed, towards people, and not against the wall!”

At the end of February of this year, the Greens sent a complaint to the Governor of St. Petersburg, Valentina Matvienko, about the inaction of officials of the Housing Inspectorate and the Housing Committee of St. Petersburg. Meanwhile, to separate municipal waste(for household, bulky and waste containing recyclable materials) about 250 million rubles were spent from the city budget. The money was used to manufacture and install containers and equip special sites. However, things are still there.

Not in the best possible way The “garbage issue” is also being resolved in Moscow.

Although the experiment on separate collection of household waste has been operating in the capital for five years. During this time, special bins with three holes and outlandish machines for accepting plastic bottles actually appeared on the streets. It’s just that Muscovites either don’t know how to use all these innovations or don’t want to. And in city yards there are still old, rickety containers filled to capacity with a stinking mixture of potato peelings, old clothes and broken bottles. Environmentalists say the experiment on separate waste collection was a failure. Officials, in turn, admit: if new waste incineration plants are not built in the near future, Moscow will simply drown in its own waste.

It is almost impossible to say how much waste Moscow throws out per year. According to representatives of environmental movements, the amount of garbage per capita set by city authorities is greatly underestimated. It is also impossible to establish with certainty how many people live in Moscow. So, according to the most conservative estimates, this amounts to about 4.5 tons of waste per year. The lion's share of this garbage is burned and buried at landfills in the Moscow region. And only a tiny part is recycled. Surprisingly, there are simply no food waste processing plants in the capital. All organic compounds, which could turn into compost, that is, into the ground, are simply buried along with other solid household waste- rubber, textiles, stones - or burned.

“The burial sites will soon exhaust their capabilities, there will be nowhere to bury, and the authorities of the Moscow region refuse to provide us with new land,” Ivan Maleev, a specialist in the environmental inspection control department of the Moscow Department of Environmental Management, told Novye Izvestia. — So in the near future several new waste incineration plants will appear in Moscow. While two factories are operating, another one is being reconstructed, another one is being built. Of course, we have many opponents in this regard, but I will say this: " Clean air only in Siberia. But if you want to live in a metropolis, use a warm shower, toilet and garbage collection services, you have to breathe with what you have.”

However, breathing anything in Moscow is not a novelty. Cars have practically driven people off the streets. So the introduction of a separate waste collection system for the new mayor of Moscow is a task of third-rate importance. And for now it is being resolved at least this way. Europe, as we know, is not a decree.

There are many problems in Russia that lead to low waste recycling rates. One of them is the lack of an established waste sorting system and the skepticism of ordinary people who do not see the point in this, and therefore throw everything in one pile. To justify their indifference, people usually give trivial excuses based on general misconceptions. Recycle has listed the most popular myths about waste sorting and recycling that are not true.

There are no processing plants in Russia

In Russia there really is no centralized waste collection and recycling system. However, this does not mean that sorting waste is a useless activity. In many cities of the Russian Federation there are processing plants that make money from recyclable materials, and are therefore interested in recycling them. For example, the Plarus plant in Solnechnogorsk and the RB-group company in Gus-Khrustalny process plastic, while the Kolyakovo enterprise and the Cardboard and Paper Mill produce new products from waste paper. Other types of waste can also be recycled.

We have few recycling collection points

One of the common misconceptions is that in Russia there is nowhere to take recyclable materials. In fact, there are countless collection points for separated waste. In Moscow alone there are several hundred of them, and all are marked on the map. You can choose a point convenient for you, which is located near your home.

The garbage smells bad

It is important to understand the difference between food and household waste: the latter cannot rot, emitting a stench. In the case of waste paper, there is nothing that smells bad. Glass, plastic and aluminum containers can be rinsed of food residues in a few seconds - faster than a plate after dinner. Washing Tetra Pak takes a little longer, but it will only take a minute. Clean plastic, glass, paper and aluminum are automatically equal to ordinary dishes that are stored on kitchen shelves.

To sort waste you need to buy expensive containers

If you want to save on buying special containers for collecting recyclables, you can use regular cardboard boxes and large bags (preferably reusable) instead. The garbage doesn't care where it lies. For those who don't like the aesthetics of corrugated boxes and giant bags, there are others budget options. For example, IKEA offers a variety of inexpensive containers. They are doubly convenient because they are sold with lids and can be stacked on top of each other, saving space in the apartment.

Garbage takes up too much space

There is one in any apartment square meter for a cardboard box or two small bins. Sorting waste doesn't require a million colorful containers in the kitchen. It is enough to allocate some space on the balcony or in the closet. It will be a little more difficult for owners of one-room apartments without a loggia and a storage room, however, in this case, a solution can be found. For example, place a recycling box under a table or chair in the kitchen, or designate space for it in a closet.

In addition, waste can be reduced in volume: folding tetra pak packaging, squeezing aluminum and plastic cans, inserting one yogurt cup into another. Containers will fill up with waste more slowly, which means you will have to travel to a recycling collection point less often.

Taking out trash takes a lot of time and a car.

With proper waste storage, you will have to remove garbage no more than once every month or two. To do this, it is not necessary to have a personal car - just ask for help from friends or acquaintances who have a car. But first, make sure that there is no good recycling collection point within walking distance of you. If there is one, the problem will be automatically solved. If not, there are several other options.

In many Russian cities there are companies that provide waste removal services from homes. In Moscow, this is the Clean Gorod project. In addition, there is a social network of volunteers on the Internet for free removal of separate waste. The “Collector” project operates in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Novosibirsk, Chelyabinsk, Novokuznetsk and Kyiv.

If you want volunteers to take your trash to a recycling collection point, you need to register on the website and leave a request. It will automatically appear on the map and will be visible to other users of the social network.

Sorting and processing waste wastes a lot of natural resources

Many believe that sorting and recycling waste provokes unnecessary consumption of water, electricity and gasoline, which is wasted in the process of transporting recyclables. However, the production of new products takes several times more resources than for waste recycling. And the water from one bathroom, which many fill every day, is enough to wash more than 120 bottles and cans.

If you're concerned about the exhaust fumes generated during trips to recycling centers, imagine how much of it is produced every day on the way to work. This is a reason to use public transport more often. A trip by metro once a month compensates for the journey to the recycling collection point by car.

In Russia nothing is produced from garbage

Abroad, everything from clothing to building materials is made from garbage. In Russia, the market for goods made from recycled materials is smaller, but it exists. And most people don't even know that they are using products made from recycled waste. Hygiene supplies, magazines, books and newspapers, furniture, packaging, etc. - this is only a small part of what is sold in Russia.

Batteries are not recycled in Russia

Just a year ago this was indeed the case. However, in December 2013, a battery recycling line was launched at Chelyabinsk. This was implemented with the participation of the Media Markt chain of stores, which launched a large-scale campaign to collect used batteries. Currently, batteries are accepted in 63 Media Markt supermarkets in 28 cities of Russia. In just 7 months of the program, it was possible to collect more than 300,000 batteries weighing more than 7 tons.

Old things belong in the trash heap

The classic excuse - “everything in life will come in handy” - leads to a balcony filled with junk. Therefore, try to audit your belongings at least once a year. Among them there will probably be those that you have not needed for a long time, but will be useful to someone else. After all, not all old things belong in the trash. Read books can be given to Tverskaya, where there is a special shelf for bookcrossing.

In the case of clothes and shoes, there are many more options. These include further processing of textiles into new fabrics and helping those in need. In St. Petersburg, there are projects “Peremolka” and “Thank You”, which are installed throughout the city. They recycle unwearable clothes, and donate the rest of their wardrobe items to various charities.

In addition, old things can be returned to, where they give a 15% discount, and. In Moscow there is also the Doctor Lisa Foundation and the Good Box project, which collect things for those who really need them. Another great option- give clothes to the church: here they will be happy and will find a worthy use. IN major cities Russia also regularly hosts free markets and charity events where you can bring unnecessary things.

Separate waste disposal has long been practiced abroad: containers with compartments for plastic, waste paper, food and toxic waste are established not only by local authorities, but also by the townspeople themselves at home. In Russia and Ukraine, environmental responsibility is developing slowly. And in St. Petersburg, they recently began to completely eliminate containers for separate collection, installed several years ago: management companies did not come to pick them up for months, and residents were reluctant to use them. A correspondent for The Village in St. Petersburg spoke with a man who sorts garbage in his apartment and learned what is needed for separate collection at home.

Where to start

When my girlfriend and I started sorting garbage at home, we immediately made one big mistake - we didn’t think about what to do with it next. They just started putting waste paper, plastic and glass bottles into separate boxes and bags. When, after a few weeks, a whole mountain had accumulated, I realized that I had absolutely no idea where to put it all. Remembering my school experience, I thought that handing over waste paper or bottles would not be difficult. I conducted monitoring in my district - Primorsky - and realized: it is impossible to do everything in one place.

Each type of waste has its own collection points, and waste paper is collected only at weekdays from 12:00 to 14:00, which is very inconvenient. Bottles are also different: one type or color in one area, another in another, plastic ones were not taken anywhere at all. As a result, I had a whole mountain of bottles accumulating and I didn’t know what to do with them. Then I found out about the monthly “Thank You for the Trees” campaign, where you could immediately donate everything you have. Now it is no longer held, but there are many one-time events.

Sorting mechanism

Now we are doing the simplest sorting: there are containers for plastic, glass, waste paper and, of course, food waste. They don’t take up much space, just highlight a small corner. True, it was not possible to train all six residents of the apartment to throw everything into different containers. I started alone, and six months ago my sister joined me. At first, everyone doubted the rationality of our actions, but sorting began to be talked about more in the media, and the neighbors showed more understanding.

If you have a lot of energy and are willing to spend a little more time on this, you can collect paper and cardboard separately, divide glass by color, save metal separately, and remove paper clips from tea bags or magazines. This, of course, will make the work of recycling enterprises easier or even increase the earnings of those involved in recycling, but only if everyone else does it. When one person in the city does this, there is not much benefit.

Food waste Throw it in the regular trash. Some people use so-called vermicomposters at home - these are boxes in which worms process food waste dumped there: there is no smell, and the fertilizer is ready. The worms don’t run away, everything is neat. There are other examples: one pensioner, who is involved in the “Vegetable Garden on the Roof” project, decided to create a continuous cycle of consumption and recycling on the roof of her apartment building. She put compost bins there, where the whole house dumps its food waste. The processed recyclable materials are subsequently used to fertilize the soil in the garden.

Where to take it

To begin with For those wishing to sort waste, I recommend finding out the location of collection points for glass, paper, food and hazardous waste near your home. I am an environmental engineer by training and I didn’t even know this. Once you get past this stage, separate disposal no longer seems so problematic.

With paper or waste paper it’s easiest now: there are many points and private companies that are ready to come and pick up all the waste paper from your office or home, weighing from 200 kilograms. This is difficult within an apartment. But one of my friends came to an agreement with the management company, and now they collect cardboard and paper with the whole house, which they then take out special services. The management company spends the profits from recycling on landscaping the local area and for technical needs.

I throw out metal waste like cans in a separate bag, and then take it to the general trash can in the yard, from where it is picked up almost instantly.

The situation with hazardous waste, especially batteries, is also gradually improving: they are allowed to be collected by any company or any person in general. I can walk around the city with a box and collect them to hand over. Many gas stations and shopping centers have special containers for collecting batteries, mercury lamps and medical waste. Like an eco-car, only stationary.

Now there are a lot of waste disposal points in the city; they can be found on the map of the website Recyclemap.ru. There, for each area, there are collection points for glass, paper, hazardous waste and even clothing. For me, the most convenient promotion is “Separate collection”. They recently started to operate - this Saturday they will go around the city for the second time to collect recyclables. There is another way for the laziest or busiest - ecotaxi, which is planned to be launched soon. Judging by the reviews on social networks, many people liked the idea. If they do not inflate the price, then for 200–300 rubles this will be an excellent alternative to “Separate collection”.

Recycling

Most often, waste is sent directly to a waste disposal site, bypassing storage facilities. There are two waste sorting stations in St. Petersburg, where workers select useful fractions from the general waste pile. There, the percentage of recyclable materials recovery is very low: from 3 to 15% maximum. Abroad, up to 90% of waste is sent for recycling.

You need to understand: whatever one may say, preliminary sorting is necessary and very important. If the city is not doing this, then we can do it. In any case, food waste must be separated from everything else: it stains, rots and spoils everything around. The same plastic bag can no longer be recycled if it's covered in banana and leftover vinaigrette. Imagine how on a conveyor belt people are trying to pull out a cardboard or a plastic bottle from all our compressed garbage. This is unrealistic and no one will do this.

Greenpeace.org
Greenpeace.org
Greenpeace.org
Greenpeace.org
Greenpeace.org

Education

Officials and the administration have their own opinion on this matter: they claim that garbage containers No one uses them for separate disposal and that is why they are dismantled. And residents say that they are ready to use it if infrastructure is created for them and garbage is removed on time, and the lids of the bins are not locked. I heard somewhere that if at least 4% of city residents start doing something, the rest will start to follow them. This will set a trend - such a marketing rule.

There is an opinion: “Here I am alone, what’s the point of this then?” But if a person at least rinses the bottle and donates it to a promotion or at a collection point, this will already be a huge step. If only because it will attract the attention of other people. I went to school for an after-school environmental lesson and talked to the children about separate recycling and how to make the planet cleaner. Children in grades four and five already understand well the meaning of separate waste collection and recycling. It became unclear to me: if children understand, then why don’t adults do this? Maybe such an irresponsible generation that should be replaced by growing environmental activists? We asked them why people don’t do this then, and the schoolchildren confirmed our theory: people are either lazy or simply don’t know where to take their garbage.

The authorities can influence the consciousness of citizens and their desire to properly dispose of waste. This cannot rest on activists alone: they simply do not have the ability to supervise an entire city. IN European countries For a long time they have been holding campaigns to inform the population about how to use bins and how to properly sort garbage. And then they just put it on and that’s it. Russia will come to this one way or another, but without government initiative it will take much longer.

Why separate garbage?

Every resident Chelyabinsk region produces approximately a ton of waste per year. These include potato peelings, chocolate packaging, water bottles, unnecessary items, hygiene products and much more. Not all of them decompose in nature. Thus, the residents of the South Urals, without realizing it, contribute to pollution.

All the garbage in our region is collected in one bucket, and then dumped in a heap to landfills. Its deposits emit methane gas, sometimes catch fire, and some of the harmful substances seep into the ground and groundwater. Russia has made a decision: the country needs to switch to separate waste collection and recycle garbage. The Chelyabinsk region supported the decision.

Where is separate waste collection established?

There is no separate waste collection in Russia. There have been experiments in St. Petersburg and Moscow, limited to a few areas. Other cities are now actively moving towards such a solution. For example, Chelyabinsk will install separate containers for waste by 2020, neighboring Yekaterinburg - by 2019.

You can rely on the experience of European countries. For example, in Sweden, only 7% of garbage goes to landfill, and the rest of the waste is actively recycled, and even several times. The Swedes send glass, plastic and paper to specialized enterprises that process them; part of the waste is burned and used for electricity and heat. At the same time, throwing away garbage is a real science, because the paper label must be separated from glass bottle, and separate multilayer packaging and throw each material into its own container.

How to distribute garbage?

It is expected that in each yard there will be multi-colored containers for separating waste. Maximum separation is 7 colors.

Chelyabinsk residents will start small. In each yard there will be containers for collecting organic and inorganic waste, as well as a third one for batteries and mercury lamps. Glass will be separated from plastic at a landfill. However, no one is stopping Chelyabinsk residents from doing this on their own, and carrying only part of the garbage into containers, and sending the rest to specialized organizations.

How to sort garbage at home?

No one wants to keep 5 or 7 buckets under the sink instead of one, but without this, separate waste collection cannot be organized. It must be remembered that when each type of waste is separated, there will be less waste, which means that instead of one large bin it is easy to accommodate several small ones. Paper can be placed in a paper bag, cardboard in a cardboard box. Some people store hazardous waste, like batteries, in their jacket pockets to throw away when passing by a special container. The plastic can be placed in a plastic bag.

Some trash can manufacturers have already realized that people need one container with many compartments. They also produce multi-colored bags that match the color of the container. Some of them are self-degrading.

How to take care of the environment now?

There are several organizations in Chelyabinsk that already accept hazardous waste, plastic bottles, glass and even paper.

Every third Sunday of the month the city holds a social event “Share”. Volunteers accept all types of waste, except food, in six districts of the city.

In new districts of Chelyabinsk there are already containers for collecting plastic. In Kopeisk, the Vtor-Kom company goes to the villages belonging to the urban district and collects waste from the categories of rags, waste paper, household chemicals, pet bottle, glass container, battery, aluminum can. Raw materials are produced from waste or fuel is obtained.

Where to hand over garbage in Chelyabinsk - find out in our map

What is happening in the Chelyabinsk region today?

Now the region is divided into several clusters, each of which needs its own regenerator. Once it is determined, a tariff for waste removal will be set. For example, in Magnitogorsk, apartment residents pay 87.5 rubles per person for the service of removal, sorting and further transportation of waste. In Chelyabinsk, the registrar operator will begin work on January 1, 2019.

Sorting stations will be built in Satka, Karabash, Snezhinsk and Trekhgorny. There the waste will be distributed according to its intended purpose. Some will go to enterprises to be processed, some will be buried in new landfills, taking into account modern environmental requirements. This system will be fully launched in 2020.

By the way, containers for separate waste collection will be installed by the same regenerator. Those who break the rules and use containers for other purposes will be fined.