environment: recycling & waste
In a world that is rapidly depleting its resources, it makes sense for everyone to re-think how they live. Worldwide, there is a gradual move to utilize available resources effectively: this means moving away from a ‘waste and dump’ society. Did you know that 45% of all salads in the UK are thrown away? Have you ever thought of the millions of rand lost by dumping perfectly re-usable materials in landfills?
Recycling saves increasingly scarce natural resources; it reduces the need for new ‘out of the ground’ materials; recycled materials, when re-worked and processed, usually cost less than new extractive material. In short, there is every reason to recycle and avoid waste. And the ‘add on’ benefit is that the recycling process creates additional jobs.
There are tangible benefits from having a clean neighbourhood. Street litter is unsightly; a dirty neighbourhood or shopping area degrades property values; food that is thrown away in plastic/ polystyrene boxes attract vermin, such as rats, and so on.
a really useful website
The Greenworks website explains which products are appropriate for recycling and which are not. This website gives very clear guidelines as to what plastics, paper, metal, glass, e-waste, ink cartridges, batteries and globes can be recycled. The most common consumer items that everyone uses and which can be recycled are cans (aerosol, beverage, food); plastic (bottles, bags, cosmetic and food containers), glass bottles and jar, cardboard and cardboard containers, paper (typing paper, newspapers, magazines).
Please bear in mind that some sites will not accept mixed waste unless it is sorted, for example typing paper should be kept separate from newspaper. Also, if you drop off waste at a school, you may be required to sort into the different categories of waste yourself there, such as putting glass in one container, paper elsewhere, and so on.
