As the world population is increasing exponentially every year, so is the amount of waste that is produced as a direct or indirect result of human activities. To manage all this waste, you need a system that ensures less waste goes to landfills and incineration plants and most of it is recycled.
A strategy based on the above premise will surely prove beneficial for our planet and overall public health. One way to do that is known as waste segregation.
The term simply means separating different constituents of waste based on their material type and composition. In this approach, you classify waste based on its characteristics so that you can easily identify the right disposal methods that have minimum impact on our plant.
Here is all you need to know about waste segregation and its importance and impact on our planet
- Main Types of Waste
- The Importance of Waste Segregation
- Reduced Needs for Landfills
- Efficient Resource Recovery
- Reduced Impacts of Hazardous Waste
- Good for the Environment
- Minimization of Public Health Hazards
- Reduced Waste Disposal Costs
- Better Resources Security
- Circular Economy
- Small Steps for Practicing Proper Waste Segregation
Main Types of Waste
Following are some of the main types of waste that you have to deal with on a daily basis
Organic Waste
This category includes food scraps, food-soiled paper, non-hazardous wood waste, and landscape and pruning wastes. The best ways to deal with this waste include converting it into biogas through anaerobic digestion or converting it into animal protein using Black Soldier Fly Larvae.
Recyclable Waste
This type of waste includes paper, plastic, and metal waste. This waste is sent to recycling facilities where it can be converted into useful new products like park benches, pavement bricks, fencing posts, etc.
Non-Recyclable Waste
This class of waste includes things like plastic bags, medical waste, ceramics, Styrofoam, mirrors, tires, etc. This type of waste is usually sealed and sent to landfills where it takes hundreds of years to decompose.
Hazardous Waste
This type of waste includes paints, batteries, pesticides, petrol, cleaning chemicals, etc. This type of waste is disposed of using physical, chemical, or thermal treatment methods.
By taking the time for understanding waste management and the types of waste you are dealing with, you can segregate and dispose of it in a much better way. In this next section, we are going to look at the main reasons why waste segregation is believed to be the most important strategy for building a sustainable future for our planet.
The Importance of Waste Segregation
Following are some of the key ways in which waste segregation can help pave the way for a greener and healthier environment
Reduced Needs for Landfills
Waste segregation allows you to separate recyclable, non-recyclable, hazardous, and organic waste. This way you can prevent the mixing of general waste with non-recyclable waste. By doing that you can significantly reduce the amount of waste that goes into landfills.
By reducing the need to build more landfills, waste segregation can prevent things like soil and groundwater contamination and the emission of harmful gases which reduces environmental degradation to a great extent.
Efficient Resource Recovery
Waste segregation reduces the need to dig up and utilize more resources from our planet that are responsible for making it habitable. With paper, plastic, and metal recycling, you can turn these into new products. This can help us better conserve our limited resources, minimize mining, reduce deforestation, and promote a circular economy.
Reduced Impacts of Hazardous Waste
Segregation of hazardous waste from the normal one can prevent leaks, explosions, and contamination. Using the right collection and disposal methods, you can better safeguard both human health as well as our delicate ecosystem.
Good for the Environment
You can segregate organic waste and instead of burning which leads to greenhouse gas emissions, you can use methods like anaerobic digestion, composting, or feeding it to black soldier fly larvae to turn it into a useful soil amendment.
This is a win-win since these methods not only eliminate harmful gas emissions but also give us nutrient-rich soil. Thus, waste segregation provides you with the basis for better liquid and solid waste management and disposal which in turn leads to a better environment both for animals and humans.
Minimization of Public Health Hazards
With waste segregation, you can prevent toxic, non-recyclable, and hazardous waste from getting mixed into organic waste. This allows you to dispose of this waste separately and using different methods which reduces your exposure to harmful chemicals. This minimizes health hazards to a great extent.
Reduced Waste Disposal Costs
With increased recycling facilitated by waste segregation, the need for waste disposal via landfills and incineration plants is greatly reduced. The costs of waste disposal are thus reduced. Moreover, with recycling you can save so much on acquiring new raw materials which further cuts costs.
Better Resources Security
Waste segregation allows you to easily separate recyclable items that you can reuse or sell to some other business. This reduces our reliance on the natural resources. Thus, waste segregation can make us more self-sufficient which also has the power to strengthen the economy.
Circular Economy
Waste segregation facilitates recycling and remanufacturing activities between different businesses. This creates various employment and revenue-generation opportunities.
Waste becomes a valuable source that you can use to create other useful products. This is known as the circular economy approach which is an important step towards building lasting sustainability.
Small Steps for Practicing Proper Waste Segregation
Here are a few small steps that you can take to segregate different types of waste at home or in business or commercial settings
- Make sure to familiarize yourself with different types of waste.
- Use separate labeled or color-coded containers to segregate different types of waste.
- Keep the dry and wet waste separately.
- Use paper bags for throwing sanitary waste.
- Compact the waste by pressing or folding the paper trash so that the container can collect more of it.
- Hire a professional waste management service for better collection and disposal of your waste.
Conclusion
Practicing proper waste segregation is extremely important if we wish to build a greener and more livable planet for our future generations.
By segregating the waste carefully and using the right recycling and disposal methods, you can ensure there is minimum need for burning waste or pouring hundreds of tons of it into landfill where it can potentially impact humans as well as animals in the long run.
With waste segregation, we can better preserve our resources, reduce waste, and ensure better overall public health and that is why there is an urgent need to spread awareness about this useful method and employ these strategies at every level. Visit GlobalEX today to get the best waste management services in the UAE.