Why and How to Segregate Waste at the Source?
Every year humankind generates more than two billion tonnes of waste. Out of this, around 37 percent of waste ends up in different forms of landfills. However, only 19 percent of waste is recovered through recycling and composting. But more than 60 percent of the waste can be recycled if it is segregated at the source.
Waste segregation, a process of separating wastages at the source according to the nature of the waste, is a small step but goes a long way in protecting nature and ultimately ourselves. However, mixing up all kinds of waste in the same container contaminates all the waste in the container. Such a habit makes even the recyclable waste unfit or less fit for recycling or reuse. (Especially, the leakage of hazardous waste like e-waste and wet waste contaminate the other wastes in the container.) When the unsegregated contaminated waste reaches the waste management facility, it takes a longer time to sort the waste raising manpower costs. Even the products recycled/recovered from the contaminated waste have less selling value as the quality is often degraded by contamination. And in the end, consumers have to pay for these losses: loss of manpower and loss of value of waste. But the situation gets even worse if the waste is heavily contaminated. In such a case, they can not be recycled — they end up in landfills. Unfortunately, if the waste ends up in open and unsanitary landfills, the hazardous chemicals from the contaminated waste seep in through the ground and contaminate the soil and water resources. Furthermore, such landfills emit greenhouse gas like carbon dioxide and methane, a gas more potent than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere; and cause infections and transmits diseases.
So how to segregate waste at the source correctly?
Wet/Biodegradable Waste (Green Color Coded Bin)
Wet waste is biodegradable waste that can break down organically. Wet waste includes vegetables and fruit peels; food waste both cooked and uncooked food (both veg and nonveg); eggshells, bones, fish scales, tea leaves, coffee grounds, garden waste like plants’ leaves and twigs; dead plants, etc.
If possible, feed the uncontaminated vegetarian food waste to animals. Else convert the food waste along with other biodegradable waste into rich organic compost. And if you want to go further, you can learn and practice vermicomposting, aerobic, and anaerobic composting to go.
Nevertheless, if composting is not a feasible solution, go for a community composting system set up for the wet waste from the residents.
Note: Do not use a plastic liner to dispose of the food waste. Instead, directly put the food waste in the bin and wash it every after it is emptied; or use a newspaper liner or a layer of sawdust.
Dry/Non-biodegradable (Blue Color Coded Bin)
Dry waste is non-biodegradable waste. Examples of dry waste include glass, paper, rubber, fabric, leather, rexine, metal, thermocol, plastic bottle, tetra pack, fabric, etc. Nevertheless, simply dumping all kinds of dry wastes in a blue color-coded bin is not enough. Consider the following points while segregating the dry waste:
- To prevent cross-contamination, clean and dry out plastic sachets of any food item, oil, milk, curd, pizza boxes; sauce bottles, juice containers, etc before throwing them in the bin.
- Figure out creative ways of reusing the drying out before disposing of them.
- Sell newspapers, magazines, metals, etc to scrap dealers for some money.
- However, if the dry waste is hazardous or e-waste, handle them as explained below.
Hazardous Waste (Red Color Coded Bin)
HHW or household hazardous waste contains toxic substances. Examples of HHW include syringes, expired medicines, and injections; shoe polish, cleaning chemicals, solvents, insecticides, pesticides, paints, and their containers, etc. Store them separately in a red bin and hand them over daily.
E-waste (Black Color Coded Bin)
Electronic waste or e-waste includes electronic equipment of different types:
- bulky like fridge, washing machine, etc
- hazardous like tube lights, toner cartridges, batteries, monitors, etc
- Non-hazardous like chargers, wires, etc
Store them in a closed container to keep away from moisture. Take the junk electronics to e-waste collection centers or call an e-waste collection service. Dispose of the non-hazardous e-waste in e-waste drop-off points (if such drop-off points are available). You can also exchange them in exchange offers or simply donate them.
Sanitary Waste/Rejects (Wrapped in a Paper and Marked a Red Cross)
Sanitary waste is wet or dry waste coming from humans or human activities. This includes sanitary pads, tampons, disposable diapers, bandages, any materials contaminated with blood or other bloody fluids.
The waste is incinerated, microwaved, or autoclaved to prevent the spread of diseases. However, if there is a lack of a proper sanitary treatment facility, dispose of it by wrapping it in a newspaper and mark it with a red mark for identification.
Practicing waste segregation is as simple as explained. Although your mere act of waste segregation may look trivial to you, in a long run, when it becomes a way of managing wastes at home for the majority, it can have a measurable substantial impact on nature protection. So you should educate yourself and others about waste segregation and make it a habit, instead of considering it as an obligation. Everyone should understand that it is not an act of kindness towards nature. It is our responsibility that we all must shoulder for our good.
Albeit, knowledge if not applied is — nothing. It should be incorporated in real life to make a change. It should be followed by corresponding actions.
