What we are all good about is the production of garbage! According to various estimates, each person produces at least 500 kg of garbage per year, and Ukrainians are trying to keep up with these statistics.

Eco-bloggers and simply not indifferent people are trying to infect others by their example, sorting garbage, refusing plastic and not using packages, but this helps poorly. Because all these actions, to one degree or another, mean giving up the usual comfort, and it is already a little in our life. So we continue to use disposable utensils, throw batteries into general garbage and unwind the rolls of packages in the supermarket, and only warn us about the warning that we will have to pay for all this for our children!

To the aid of those who do not want to live in any way “ecologically correct”, there come “justifying” rumors: they say, do not sort them, they will still go to one landfill. As for the bag or disposable plastic cup – so one more, one less – there is no difference when it comes to hundreds of thousands of tons of garbage.

“KP” in Ukraine “figured out whether to participate in all sorts of” eco-campaigns “and bring real benefits to nature.

Garbage sorting

In modern society, the scale of consumption has reached incredible proportions, and, as a result, the number and volume of landfills is growing. Waste dumped in a common rotting pile is not used at all, poisoning the soil, water and air. Meanwhile, these mountains of garbage can be reduced by simply dividing it into food waste and what can be recycled – glass, paper, plastic. Recycling of waste not only reduces their quantity, but also allows to save natural resources and energy consumption.

Our western neighbors treat waste carefully. Avid travelers know that in Europe on the street you will rarely find an “ownerless” empty bottle – zealous Europeans rent them back for money. In non-poor Germany, the queue near the machine for receiving empty containers is not uncommon. And near the houses there are 5-6 containers for different types of garbage – even white and colored glass should be thrown away separately.

Sorting garbage in Ukraine is not for the faint of heart. And the enthusiasm of many people ends on the question “Where to refer?”. Separate containers for different types of garbage are far from being in every neighborhood, and recycling items rarely work according to a schedule, and besides their employees are not particularly polite – they are used to dealing with marginal personalities.

My friend would be glad to sort the garbage, but she says that in our conditions it all goes through overcoming some kind of artificial obstacles.

“We used to live in a residential area, and we had separate containers for plastic, paper and bottles near the house,” says a friend. – Now we have moved closer to the center, and we have one common container. Therefore, I fold the plastic and cardboard separately and put it next to the container – the people who do this take it away and they are taken to reception points.

Summer residents put organic matter in a compost pit in the summer, but in a city apartment there are no opportunities for that. Take the organic waste to a city dweller somewhere – he is still a quest, and in fact they still need to be collected and stored somewhere! A good way out for a city apartment may be a food waste chopper in a kitchen sink, but it is not cheap.

In a word, sorting garbage in Ukrainian realities is a costly and troublesome business, but no one promised that it would be easy. At the same time, experts say: ideally, you should strive to reduce waste. That is, any product and especially its packaging should be looked at as future trash and answer two main questions: do you really need it and can it be recycled?

Battery collection

The fact that the battery can not be thrown into the ordinary trash can, they probably know everything. The same applies to thermometers, batteries and fluorescent lamps – they all contain a lot of harmful substances and need special disposal.

Now special boxes for collecting batteries have appeared not only in home appliances stores and supermarkets, but even in offices. And on the streets of the capital, special bright orange containers were installed that are designed specifically for collecting used batteries.

Nevertheless, quite a few people continue to throw batteries into ordinary garbage, explaining that “all the same, everything is sent to one landfill,” so there’s no point bothering with outdated batteries. And here they are completely wrong.

In Europe, there are only a few enterprises that can process obsolete batteries, and one of them is located in Lviv – SE “Argentum.” That is, there is no problem with the recycling of batteries in Ukraine, but there is a problem with the consciousness of citizens: experts say that only one out of 100 batteries sold in Ukraine is properly disposed of!

But the term decomposition of nutrients in the environment is more than 100 years.

Therefore, even if you live far from the receiving point, put a box or an empty 5-liter plastic bottle in your house (or even better at the entrance) where you will collect all the used batteries and batteries. When there are enough of them, take the time and go to the reception point – so you will contribute to the preservation of the environment.

Power outage

Earth Hour (Earth Hour) is the most massive environmental campaign on the planet: more than 2 billion people worldwide participate in it. The action is that on the last Saturday of March at the appointed time, people in different countries of the world turn off the lights and other electrical appliances for one hour.

According to energy expert Valentin Zemlyansky, this action is of practical importance in countries with high energy consumption, but Ukraine does not belong to them. The expert gave an illustrative example: all of Ukraine consumes less electricity per day than, for example, Moscow. But there is nothing to be proud of here: if in the whole world energy consumption is reduced due to new technologies, then we have it solely because of economic poverty.

Energy efficiency expert Igor Cherkashin added: for the network, such consumption drops are very harmful. And given the unpredictable period of activity, we have to keep the generation in the on state and, in fact, heat the air.

Waiver of plastic and polyethylene

Plastic surrounds us everywhere, and, at first glance, to give it up is not so easy. In fact, to limit the use of plastic under the force of each: use a reusable water bottle, rarely use disposable tableware, and if you can not do without it, use paper.

The “sick theme” of all environmentalists is plastic bags, and free packages in supermarkets that people unroll themselves in rolls are a doubly problem.

In our country, “flying bags and cups” can be found everywhere – in the streets and courtyards, in playgrounds and beaches, in rivers and lakes. Almost fifty countries of the world have already adopted various regulations restricting the use of plastic bags and plastic, but we are still on the way to this decision.

More or less decisive steps in this direction began to take in Lviv. In November last year, local authorities restricted the use of plastic bags, and on April 9, the city launched a three-month educational campaign “Without Polyethylene”. In particular, Lviv stores refused plastic bags, offering customers alternative packaging.

Ukrainians verbally have nothing against good ecology, but in fact many are unhappy: they say my pair of bags will not kill the planet! But think about it: if you give up just one extra cup and a bag per day, you will personally save the planet from more than a thousand glasses and packages in three years!

Agree: it is worth it to revise your consumer habits.