On June 5, two important holidays are celebrated at once - the Day of the Ecologist and the World Environment Day, which was established by the UN. On this important day, I want to talk about why it is important today to take care of the environment and start sorting waste, if you are not already doing it.
First, every year a person produces 500 kg of garbage. For 70 years, 23 tons of waste have been accumulated. This waste accumulates in landfills, causing enormous damage to the surrounding nature and destroying the ecosystem, poisoning soil and water.
Secondly, the garbage ends up in incineration plants. It takes a lot of electricity to burn garbage. In addition, the incinerated waste emits dioxide, which is several times more toxic than even chemical warfare agents. After incineration, toxic slag and ash remain, which make up 30% of the original weight of the waste.
Third, sorted waste can become secondary raw materials from which new products can then be made. So, for example, from 101 plastic bottles you can make 1 plastic chair. Tetra Pak packaging can be used to make a ballpoint pen, recycled paper can be used to make toilet paper, a glass bottle can be used to make glass wool, and an old aluminum can can be used to make a new one. Now, by the way, fences, gratings, poles and even playgrounds are made from old plastic.
Fourthly, garbage is divided into harmful and harmless. Organic waste can be classified as harmless to nature. Batteries, light bulbs and other similar things are harmful. When they go to landfill with other waste, they pollute the land and water. So, one battery can poison 20 square meters of land and 400 liters of water. After sorting and delivering waste to a collection point, such harmful waste will go to factories that will destroy it, which means they will not end up in a landfill and will not pollute the environment.
The fifth reason to sort waste is that resources are returned to the production cycle. As we already know, after sorting, the garbage is handed over to collection points and from there it is delivered to recycling plants. That is, production for the manufacture of a product does not need to take a natural resource: for example, chop down a new tree. And this, in turn, reduces the cost of the production process.
A bonus for those who sorts is the opportunity to make a little money on it. Waste collection points usually provide incentives to hand over waste materially. In some of them, for example, for waste paper, they pay by weight. Some companies award points that can be transferred to store accumulative cards and used when buying products or things. Of course, the reward is small, but still pleasant. In addition, sorting waste leads to conscious consumption: when buying a particular product, people are already thinking whether it will be possible to recycle it or its packaging and how to reduce the consumption of non-recyclable products. Here are just a few reasons to sort your waste.
