At the beginning of January, mandatory sorting of household waste was introduced in one regional center – in Ternopil. We are telling if it is possible to extend the practice throughout the country, how to sort the rubbish correctly and for what it is necessary.
The situation with waste treatment in Ukraine
From January 1, 2018, burial at untreated municipal waste sites is prohibited in Ukraine. That is, officially the system must earn in all cities, but so far this norm exists only on paper.
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According to experts, the matter is not only in the unwillingness of most Ukrainians to sort rubbish – according to unofficial data, this is done by about 4% of the country’s population. But the fact is that in Ukraine there is not enough infrastructure right now: factories that are engaged in recycling of waste installed near the houses of the corresponding trash cans and the like. Therefore, garbage is mostly sorted by enthusiasts who are not indifferent and who are ready to waste time and resources so that waste is recycled again. Speaking about the settlement of this problem at the level of legislation and the imposition of fines for violations is early.
To enter it in any big city – you need to build an infrastructure for recycling waste, and then already require the population to sort the garbage. This requires financial investments to be large enough. For example, Kiev is a very big city, which produces about 10% of all waste in the country. Accordingly, in order to provide the city with such capacities, it is necessary to invest much more money than in Ternopil, say. I think even one large enterprise will not be enough
– environmental commentator Alexander Sokolenko explained in the commentary on Channel 24.
The project manager of the NGO “Ukraine without garbage” Ekaterina Khomenko confirms the words of the expert and adds that small enterprises that are engaged in the processing of waste now, hardly will cope even with capital rubbish, if the city will have the necessary infrastructure and will begin to sort all its inhabitants. And the existing factories are not exactly enough to satisfy the needs of the whole country. In the world for such purposes there are separate large enterprises, which deal exclusively with the processing of waste.
Ekaterina Khomenko also said that the raw materials that people bring to Ukraine’s “Ukraine without garbage” sorting stations (four of them in Kiev) are sold to procurers – there is no such turnover that would interest entire plants. Those in turn take sorted garbage to the enterprises. So far, only about 200 families are dumping waste at the sorting stations of this organization. According to the expert, this is not bad, since earlier the figure was less.
Today in Ukraine there are more than 500 points of collection of recycling, where everyone can send the sorted rubbish. The map and detailed information about them can be found on the corresponding website. Note that the rules for receiving raw materials at different points may differ, so before you first take away the sorted rubbish, you need to clarify the details.
Map of points of reception of secondary raw materials
Why sort household waste?
In Ukraine, it would be possible to significantly reduce the size and amount of landfills if a part of household waste fell into processing plants. Today we have enterprises, where, in particular, they process metal, plastic, glass and paper. However, to remove garbage for recycling, it is necessary to sort it out in advance.
At landfills, waste is “stored” and accumulates for years. So that the metal can be completely decomposed, it takes about 50 years, and the glass bottle is about 1000. The cigarette filter dropped to the ground will break up to 3 years, the sponge for washing dishes is 200, and the discharged diaper is 500 years old.
While the usual paper packaging from the flakes can be refined 7 times, and 60 kilograms of such paper equals one tree.
How much time does the plastic, glass, paper or metal decompose?
How to sort garbage
Before starting to sort the garbage, it is worth considering several important points:
– Collect and sort only pure raw materials, without residues of food and fat;
– squeeze the trash so that it takes up less space;
– Collect all the small, similar type recycled materials separately (for example, the known “package with packages”);
– bottles and tetra-packs should be washed out, unscrew the caps (collect them separately) and compress;
– cans need to be washed, all tins – to compress as much as possible;
– it is worth paying attention to the marking on plastic packaging (in the form of a triangle with a digit (1 to 7) and / or letters). Products without marking for processing are not accepted.
Garbage sorting rules
However, some sorting stations also accept trash that can be recycled (except for hazardous wastes). Then it is sent for recycling (high-temperature combustion). This is a paid service. For example, at the points of reception of the NGO “Ukraine without garbage” in Kiev for the disposal of a 120-liter package of such waste, you need to pay 50 grivnas, 20-liter – 30 grivnas. Burn this trash at one of the factories near the city.
Hazardous waste
These include: energy saving lamps, mercury thermometers, batteries, household appliances and electronics, machine oils, medicines, liquid chemistry. They should be collected in a separate container with a lid and put into utilization, which today is payable. In general, you can not throw away garbage.
So, in Kiev there are a number of containers for collecting waste batteries, intact mercury thermometers and lamps. With regard to equipment, some sorting stations accept broken devices up to 1 kg (for example, headphones or small electronics). Recycling is handled, in particular, by the Waste Management Center. Each device is disassembled into components and sorted by type of materials, most of which goes for recycling.
Organic waste
For recycling, you can use a compost bucket (products rot on fertilizer). When used correctly, the bucket does not emit odors, nor does it take up much space. If this is not possible, according to the environmentalist, organic waste can be collected in a separate package and thrown into the general trash.
There is a mobile application “Sort” (from Ukrainian developers), where the rules for sorting garbage for all its types are described in great detail. It can be downloaded for Android and iOS.
From what it is worthwhile to start
According to experts, the first step towards sorting garbage, and it is the most important one – is to refuse those waste that we really do not need. This is, for example, about packages that you can simply not use.
“There are countries that generally banned the production and use of disposable packages – this is a very good initiative. There should be fines, above all, because if they do not, the” balls “will also sell. You need to enter a certain transitional period and tell how People who often use these packages will have time to find an alternative, “said ecologist Alexander Sokolenko.
In some cities of Ukraine, in particular in Lviv, Drohobych and Slavske (Lviv Oblast), in 2018 already decided to restrict the use of polyethylene bags. In Kiev, such a rule is recommendatory, but in practice it does not work in practice.
Experts advise to drop packages – they have reusable alternatives
Ekaterina Khomenko adds that it is very important today – to start talking about trash.
When a person has a separate “daddy” in his head, what is there is such a question as garbage. Except war, elections and so on. Then people start to think. It is very difficult to explain that garbage sorting is important not only for ecology, but also for our economy. This is the right strategic step. Garbage is the resources that are worth the money,
– the expert explained.
According to Alexander Sokolenko, the most important thing is to make the system work. Then people will quickly learn how to sort: “It’s just like brushing your teeth in the morning, other household things that we do, not even thinking about it, is absolutely straightforward.”