In all developed countries, garbage is a source of income. They sort it out, send it for processing and make good money on it. The whole process is civilized and clean. But in Russia sorting of household waste cannot take root in any way.
During experiments on separate waste collection in large cities, different containers were installed. Citizens tried to discipline the waste into categories, but then one garbage truck arrived, and the contents of different bins were dumped into one heap.
The lack of coordination between the actions of the authorities and housing and communal services led to a negative result of the experiment. Garbage collection companies were reluctant to purchase additional vehicles for different categories of waste. It was not profitable for them to deliver goods for processing, because the factories and factories that took plastic were located in one city, and those enterprises that used paper or glass were in another.
It is much easier to take all the waste to a landfill. Local authorities supplied various containers, reported on what had been done to the management and considered their work completed. Rosprirodnadzor analyzed the current situation and admitted that in Russia the most accessible and cost-effective technology for waste disposal is burning it in special plants. According to statistics, only 20% of the country's waste is recycled.
This state of affairs does not suit Greenpeace Russia; it has spoken out many times against the construction of new incineration plants. The Greens believe that the destruction of waste in this way leads to an increasing use of exhaustible resources, wood and oil for example. In the process of combustion, volatile toxic substances are formed, which are harmful to the environment. There is also solid waste that needs to be disposed of to landfills.
European developed countries also did not immediately debug the process of sorting waste, it took them about 15 years. Rosprirodnadzor also notes that waste sorting does not make it possible to extract energy from incineration. In Russia, it has so far been decided to limit itself to the targeted collection of glass bottles and metal cans, since they are in demand, and their processing is profitable.
