How to separate your household waste

1. A Guide On How To Separate Your Household Waste ?

2. What is it and why it matters ? Household waste consists of various types of rubbish that can be produced. That is: ▪ Plastic Waste ▪ Glass ▪ Food waste ▪ Paper and cardboard ▪ Small hazardous waste ▪ Building waste ▪ Discarded electronic waste (e-waste) In order to have all of this recycled it should be disposed of individually (without mixing the different types of waste). That would allow us to turn the old materials into something with new purpose without polluting the environment and that affects our life standard significantly.

3. Plastic waste management It is a must to separate your plastic waste aside from anything else due to its specific chemical structure. There isn’t any other type of refuse that resembles the plastic, therefore, never mix it with something. Get a recycle bin especially for it and tell your family members to throw nothing else inside aside from plastic. That usually is: ● plastic bags ● bottles, cups, stirring sticks, fork, knives ● plastic toys of any kind ● parts from other plastic device that do not contain any electronics from the previous item (e.g. the cap of your remote control) For more information on plastic waste and how to reduce it visit this website. WARNING! Plastic packaging of hazardous or poisonous waste or any plastic pots (usually that is boxes from yoghurt) must be sorted in a specialized bag and discarded with care.

4. Sorting your glass rubbish When separating glass rubbish check if your municipality requires from you to distinguish the colored glass from the clear one. If you have any ceramic, pyrex or fireproof glass or mirrors mind that this should be disposed of at the container park as a bulky waste. Be careful when dealing with any sort of glass materials because they might turn out to be harmful if you don’t think of safety. Cutting your arm or a finger is a very probable scenario and a solution to this is to use thick gloves when sorting your glass waste.

5. Food waste fruits vegetable meat shells from eggs/nuts meat bones coffee grounds bread, rice, pasta napkins, kitchen rolls ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ Before throwing any food waste in the bin remove any packaging it has. Consider the humidity of your this type of rubbish. The more water there is in it, the stronger the smells it’s going to be, try to prevent water intrusion in it.

6. Paper and Cardboard Waste ● magazines, newspapers, boxes, corrugated containers Mostly, that is the paper waste at your home you have to pay attention to and keep it unrelated to the rest of the garbage. Try to make apply pressure to cardboard boxes and other hard to bend cartons to make it as flat as possible. That way you will be able to fill the whole place in your recycle bin by minimizing the empty space in it. Non-recyclable paper-based waste: ● ● ● ● cellophane paper juice boxes filthy paper that can be toxic wallpapers and

7. Hazardous waste It’s a common practice to store small hazardous waste at your home due to the lack of information about its toxic properties. As long as you know what this may be and hot to separate it, you shouldn’t be bothered by it. That usually is: ● cosmetics, paints, pesticides, prescription drugs, syringes, fluorescent lamps, batteries, sprays, solvents, cleaning agents of all type etc. Warning ! Always check the products packaging for hazardous symbols which are usually printed at the back. If there isn’t any but you still have doubts about it, try to find more information about the chemicals it consists and come to a conclusion. BEBAT collection boxes found in supermarkets or at gas stations are the right place to dispose of your batteries. If it’s a car battery you can contact your mechanic or take it to the regional container park.

8. Electric and electronical waste Also knows as e-waste. That is any electronics that contain dangerous substances like beryllium, lead, mercury and is a potential harm to the nature unless you know more about it. In your house such rubbish would be any discarded: ● refrigerators, TVs, mobile phones, household appliances, computers, washing/vending machines, electronic cable, wires/cable etc. It’s a huge mistake and absolutely unacceptable to allow any of the above to make contact to ground water. If that happens whatever drinks that water afterwards is going to face serious health issues and even his life might be in danger if the water is too contaminated. Never allow this to happen. Before dealing with such debris think about it’s transportation. Is your vehicle’s cargo enough to load all of it? If not, maybe you should consider hiring a house clearance service? This will surely save you time, money, effort and potential harms.

9. Rubbishplease.co.uk