What the waste management system looks like now

There are several main ways of disposing of waste around the world: recycling, incineration and landfill. What are their special features? What technologies are used in recycling?

waste management

 

How waste is disposed  any countries


There are now several main ways of disposing of waste around the world: recycling, incineration and landfill. Developed eco team countries usually use a combined approach.

For example, most of the material is sent to recycling, while the unusable material is incinerated. In the US, only 13% of rubbish is incinerated, in Italy 19%, in Germany 32%.

Much more often municipal solid waste is recycled in developed countries. In Germany, 48% of waste receives a "second life", in France - 22%, in USA - 34%. In Russia, over 90% of waste goes to landfills, and only 7% goes to recycling.

Main methods of recycling


Recycling has not yet taken a leading position in our country. The bulk of waste goes to landfill. A few companies are involved in recycling, while an even smaller amount of waste is incinerated. But each method has its own specific characteristics.
 

Landfills and dumps

Most regions are hindered from creating new landfills not only by the lack of funds, but also by their low efficiency. Usually, the facilities occupy large areas that are subject to wind and water erosion, leaching of toxic substances and their migration.

But apart from landfills, there are also unauthorised waste sites. In 2019, more than 27,000 illegal dumpsites were identified in different cities across the country. They appear in the most unexpected places: in the forest, in the fields, near highways and next to residential complexes.

And such reports appear in the media on a daily basis. The process of reclamation and liquidation of dumps is going slower than environmentalists would like.

Recycling

There are high expectations in the fight against waste with this method of recycling. If recycling rates increase, it will be possible to reduce the percentage of waste going to landfill by at least 75%. Currently only 18 million tonnes of the world's 65 million tonnes of waste are sent for sorting.



The waste that people throw in containers can be turned into useful products if used properly. For example, waste paper can be used to make cardboard, corrugated cardboard, packaging paper and building materials. Plastic is used to create PET bottles, containers, crates and even clothes. Tetrapack cans are transformed into paper bags, stationery and toilet paper. And 400 aluminium cans can come back in the form of a bicycle

recycling basket

How to involve business in recycling packaging

The gives the producer three options to choose from: pay an environmental levy to the state for recycling packaging, contract a contractor to dispose of waste or organise the process yourself. The  Association works with recyclers who accept packaging and provides recycling certificates for the benefit of food producers.

However, there are a number of difficult to recycle packages in the portfolios of large manufacturers.

Tetra Pak


Tetra Pak is in charge of recycling such aseptic packaging. Two years ago, the recycler joined forces with L-PAK in Lipetsk. They launched a state-of-the-art recycling line for used beverage cartons. The total investment in the new line amounted to €2.2 million.

Thanks to the new line, the company will be able to recycle 12,000 tonnes of cardboard packaging per year. Raw materials for recycling come to the plant not only.

Tetrapack consists of 75% cardboard. L-PAK converts it into corrugated cardboard and other materials. The separated polyaluminium (polyethylene and aluminium foil) is sent to another partner company. Investal converts everything into pellets that are then used to make other consumer and industrial products (benches, boxes and pens).

But there is still not enough raw material to recycle. The fact is that it is difficult to separate aseptic packaging (tetrapack) from the general flow. Therefore experts of Tetra Pak together with PepsiCo conducted an experiment in Lipetsk on separate collection of such packaging. During the time of the pilot project the companies came to interesting conclusions. They plan to share the results in the nearest time.

Bottle-to-bottle

There is one plant in the country that uses the unique bottle-to-bottle technology.
The bottles come to the plant in an extruded form, separated by colour. First, the bales of bottles arrive at the first workshop. Here employees sort the bottles by hand, removing labels and debris. The sorted bottles are pressed and transferred to the second plant. Here they are cleaned in several stages using special detergents. After this "bath-like procedure," clean bottles are passed to manual sorting again. Only after that are they sent to the crushing plant. These flakes undergo a further technical stage and become PET granulate. This is used to produce bottles.

It is in the form of granulate that the plastic reaches customers, who use it for its intended purpose. The plant is not running at full capacity at the moment, however. There is not enough raw material to cover the plant's needs.

Snack packs, flexible films


The problem with this type of packaging is that it is multi-layered. It consists of polyethylene, polypropylene and metal. It is difficult not only to recycle such packaging, but also to collect it. On the whole, the volume of such packaging is small.

Last October, EcoPartners (formerly EcoTech), PepsiCo, Nestlé and Unilever, Mars and Mondelez International decided to launch a pilot project for collection and recycling of flexible plastic packaging.

For months, the companies have been assessing the potential collection volume of packaging from crisps, chocolate, ice cream, biscuits and other snacks. Producers are confident that they can be an excellent raw material for making benches, trays and shopping baskets.




The collected snack packaging will be recycled at the Tver Recycling Plastics Plant. The recovered granules will be given to manufacturers for making new goods.

After the project is over the organizers will be ready to share the results.

share the results.

 Lids

The material for closures is usually polyethylene. It is easy to recycle and produces high quality raw materials. The recycling process consists of several steps. First the caps are separated from the bottles. Then they are collected, sorted and shredded. In the second stage, the raw material is cleaned and sent for melting and extrusion. The result is pellets which become the basis for new products.

The problem of recycling lids has attracted the attention of many companies.
The raw materials will be sent to the Tver Recycled Polymer Plant. The money raised from the sale of the recycled lids will be given to the foundation. The recyclers will also make ramps that will be installed near Perekrestok supermarkets. To create one 7-metre ramp, 18,550 lids will be needed.

Glass

Glass is 100% recyclable. Up to 20 million tonnes of different types of glass are created each year. About 20 per cent of the total volume is recycled. According to some reports, the reuse of recycled glass raw materials saves exhaustible and non-renewable resources.

The recycling process consists of several steps. First, excess material is separated from the glass scrap. The glass is then crushed. Then various automatic separators remove cardboard, paper and plastic, and magnets extract the iron-containing materials.

In the second stage, the mixture is sent to container production. The briquettes are added to the raw materials (lime and soda). All this is mixed and heated to a temperature of 1500 °C. The finished mass is poured into moulding vessels, and new bottles are blown. Glass was the material of choice for beverage packaging until the middle of the twentieth century. With the advent of plastic packaging, interest in glass declined. Nevertheless, glass containers are still used by many large companies, especially beer producers.
 

The company says that all these activities stimulate the market for recycling useful fractions, which include glass and aluminium.

Paper and cardboard


Recyclers of waste paper are also experiencing a shortage of raw materials. The reason is that the country has a low level of consumption of pulp and paper products. For example, in Germany 241 kilogram per person is equivalent to 241 kilogram, in russia it is only 50 kilogram.



Waste paper is recycled no more than seven times. When the fibres no longer adhere to each other after being crushed, the raw material is sent to thermal power plants.

In recycling this material there are usually several processes, each with its own processing steps. The number of steps depends directly on the quality of the recovered paper and the type of finished product. Whereas for toilet paper the whole processing cycle is required, in the production of egg cartons three processing steps (sorting, virgin dissolution, coarse cleaning) will suffice.
 

paper recyclers

How the consumer can help the industry


Recycling companies have a common problem: the lack of recycled material. Responsible customers who sort and recycle their waste can help. The volume of recyclables that will eventually reach the recycling companies depends on their interest. All they need to do is promote separate waste collection (SWDS). Everyone can do their bit by applying the simple rules of the zero waste or low waste principle.

The zero waste lifestyle has five key principles:

  • refuse,
  • reduce,
  • Reuse,
  • recycle,
  • rot.


However, it is not necessary to follow all of these rules, as the activists say. By choosing just two out of five principles one can make the first step towards the improvement of ecological situation.

Low waste advocates try to minimise their ecological footprint. In shops and supermarkets, they pay attention not only to packaging, but also to other criteria. They care about where the product was produced, whether the production is ethical, whether environmental standards have been taken into account, what the packaging is made of, and more. The "invisible" trace of the product is just as important as the final product, the eco-activists believe.


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