Waste separation has always been a hot topic in society. In other countries, how do governments and people deal with this issue?
First: Austria
Austria has a very careful separation of daily waste and promotes the recycling of valuable waste to reduce the burden on the environment. Food waste, household waste and paper can be separated and disposed of at the garbage collection points in the buildings, while plastic and metal packaging, hazardous waste and colored and colorless glass bottles have to be disposed of separately at the nearby garbage collection points. The garbage collected from buildings and garbage points is regularly removed by the government and appointed professional companies. Families and schools in Austria are taught the concept and basic practice of waste separation from the very beginning of childhood.
Local resident Leubner disposes of waste paper at home in Vienna, Austria, on July 10. Lebner said that Austrians generally set up different garbage cans at home according to the classification of garbage points, so that it is easy to separate and dispose of garbage at the garbage points.
Second:American
The United States is a developed country with consumption as the main driver of its economy, but because of this, there is a problem: mountains of garbage! We can’t even describe it as a “mountain” because the garbage is like an ocean
As a major garbage producer in the United States, garbage separation is gradually becoming more and more important in the lives of citizens. Today, I will tell you how to properly sort garbage in the United States, quickly gather around!
Types of trash.
In the United States, garbage can be divided into four categories.
1 Recyclable waste
(1) Waste paper: newspapers, book paper, packaging paper, office paper, advertising paper, paper boxes, etc.; note that paper towels and toilet paper are not recyclable because they are too water-soluble.
(2) plastics: various plastic bags, plastic foam, plastic packaging, disposable plastic lunch boxes tableware, hard plastics, material toothbrushes, plastic cups, mineral water bottles, etc.
(3) glass: glass bottles and broken glass pieces, mirrors, light bulbs, thermos bottles, etc.
(4) metal: cans, tin can boxes, toothpaste skins, etc.
(5) Fabric: mainly including discarded clothes, tablecloths, towels, cloth bags, etc.
2 Kitchen waste
- Cooked food waste includes leftovers, leftover rice and leaves; raw food waste includes fruit peels, eggshells, tea dregs, bones and shells;
- Generally, it refers to the raw and finished products (cooked food) or residues from sources that are used in the household life diet. However, the broad definition of food waste also includes used chopsticks, packaging materials of food, etc.
3. Hzardous waste cleaning products, such as disinfectants, stain removers, bleach, cleaners; renovation and construction products, such as paints, coatings, wood preservatives, acids for rust removal, asphalt, tar; gardening and pest control products, such as insecticides, herbicides, mosquito killers, rat poison; automotive products, such as gasoline, motor oil, antifreeze; home appliances, such as light bulbs, dry batteries, televisions, computers (containing cadmium, lead, mercury, chlorine, bromides), etc.
If these household products are discarded, they become hazardous waste and must be learned to be disposed of properly. It is not appropriate to simply dump them down the drain, on the ground or in the garbage.
4. Other wastes include bricks and ceramics, slag, toilet waste paper, paper towels and other wastes that are difficult to recycle, as well as fruit shells and dust, in addition to the above-mentioned types of wastes. Sanitary landfill can effectively reduce the pollution of groundwater, surface water, soil and air.
In fact, large stick bones are included in “other waste” because they are “difficult to corrode”. Corn kernels, nut shells, fruit kernels, chicken bones, etc. are kitchen waste.
Household garbage sorting.
Generally speaking, every single family house (single family house) has three trash cans.
1. green, trash.
2. blue, recycle.
3. gray, yard & food waste
Third: Japan (Classified to the extreme)
Su Haihe
Beverage bottles should be divided into bottles, caps, packaging film; home fried tempura, fried pork chops leftover oil can not be directly dumped, to go to the “coagulant” solidification, and then wrapped in newspaper, put into the burnable garbage …… all these, Japan will be the ultimate in waste separation.
In Japan, garbage is not something you can throw away whenever you want. Japan has a strict separation of garbage, and there is a recycling schedule for different days of the week. If you don’t sort your garbage accurately, or put it out at the wrong time, it will be returned and a reminder will be posted “Please put out your garbage on the specified date”.
In Tokyo, the capital of Japan, for example, waste classification began in the 1970s and was first divided into only combustible waste and recycled resources such as metal, glass and plastic. Later the classification became more and more detailed, a cigarette box must be divided into plastic film, tinfoil and cardboard boxes; plastic water bottles into caps, bottles, packaging film. The garbage sorting manual for Ota Ward in Tokyo is 30 pages long and lists more than 500 articles in total.
Japanese garbage disposal falls under the responsibility of local governments such as municipalities, towns and villages. Household garbage is roughly divided into five categories: combustible garbage, non-combustible garbage, resource garbage, bulky garbage, and appliance garbage. Burnable garbage includes food waste, paper scraps, rubber products, clothing and leather products, video tapes, weeds, etc. Non-combustible garbage includes tableware, kitchenware, small appliances, disposable lighters, etc. Disposable lighters must be used thoroughly before throwing to prevent midway explosions; resource garbage includes newspapers, cardboard boxes, plastics, glass, dry batteries, metals, etc., which must be bundled in different categories, glass, light bulbs and other broken objects need to be wrapped and marked with broken objects inside to avoid stabbing recycling personnel; coarse garbage includes bicycles, tables, chairs, sofas , mattresses, microwave ovens, ovens, golf clubs, etc., where the diameter of more than 30 cm need to go to the district government or nearby convenience stores to buy coarse garbage tags. Depending on the size of the object, garbage bags cost from 200 yen to several thousand yen and need to be placed at a designated location on the designated collection day once a month.
Nowadays, most of the new condominiums are also equipped with a shredder in the drainage of the wash basin, and fruit and vegetable peels and leaves are shredded and discharged from the drainage. How careful is Japanese garbage disposal? For example, the leftover oil from tempura and pork chops at home cannot be dumped directly, nor can it be put into plastic bags. You must go to the supermarket and buy a “coagulant” to solidify the used oil, then wrap it in newspaper and put it in the burnable garbage.
In all these ways, Japan has achieved the ultimate in waste separation, and has become a model country in the world for resource recycling. Japan’s thermal power generation, steam heat, and metal raw materials are partly derived from waste energy. However, it is not a one-day effort to achieve such a complicated waste separation, which requires strict legal regulations. Japan has the most laws on waste separation in the world, and the heaviest penalties.
At present, the laws and regulations related to waste separation in Japan are the Waste Disposal Law, the Law on Separate Recycling of Packaging Containers and Promotion of Re-commercialization, the Law on Recycling of Home Appliances, and the Food Recycling Law, respectively. Citizens who are reported to have violated the law are subject to severe sanctions. If you are caught littering on the roadside, you will be fined 100,000 yen (about 6,500 yuan); if you litter in the garbage collection area, it is even more serious, according to Article 25, Paragraph 14 of the Waste Disposal Law: litterers will be sentenced to up to 5 years in prison and a fine of 10 million yen. If the litterer is a corporation or an association, a heavy fine of 300 million yen will be imposed. Furthermore, Japanese law imposes an obligation on citizens to report litterers.
The Japanese know and practice the principles of waste separation and disposal so well, not only because of the law, but also because of the environmental education that begins in kindergarten. From kindergarten to high school, schools regularly organize visits to local garbage disposal sites to show and explain in detail how garbage is separated, how much garbage is sent to the disposal site each day, what the daily capacity is, and what the consequences are if garbage is not separated properly. Japanese people have been taught and educated to separate garbage from a young age.
There is a garbage incineration plant in the center of Tokyo, where I live, and local elementary school students are regularly organized to visit the plant, with a special person in charge of explaining. It is said that foreign delegations often come here to study and learn, and it has become an important classroom for international exchange.
Forth:France (Environmentalism is also romantic)
In France, 80% of domestic waste is recycled, 63% of waste packaging is made into primary materials after treatment, 17% of waste is converted into energy such as oil and heat, and waste resource utilization has gradually become one of the important sources of energy in France.
As a pioneer of environmental action in Europe, France’s measures to combat climate change and strengthen waste recycling are implemented in all areas of people’s lives, making environmental issues an important part of the public’s sense of responsibility for society and the environment. The romanticism of the French is also reflected in environmental protection. The most distinctive manifestation of this is the French people’s daily waste separation and disposal.
Some media have lamented the contrast between such red tape and the French identity, which is known for its romance and freedom. But more French people feel that the romance of France is in their ability to put their idealism for the environment into action.
France is a country where natural resources are scarce, and the French people attach great importance to renewable resources and recycling, which has long been an internalized habit of life. As the first country in Europe to propose a waste separation system and set up public garbage cans, as early as 1884, France proposed a three-tier waste separation system, laying the foundation for the subsequent refinement of separation.
In 1992, France began to officially implement the waste separation system. About 5,000 companies have invested about 7 billion francs to support the nation’s waste separation and recycling efforts. After more than 20 years of promotion and practice, France has now formed a more mature and complete separation and recycling system.
There are about 200 large waste treatment plants on the French mainland, about 80% of domestic waste is recyclable, 63% of waste packaging is made into primary materials such as cardboard, metal, glass bottles and plastic after treatment, 17% of waste is converted into energy such as oil and heat, and waste resource utilization has gradually become one of the important energy sources in France.
Behind the high recycling rate is the strict and meticulous waste separation and treatment. With years of promotion, the French public has become accustomed to waste separation, and government administrative agencies monitor the waste separation situation in real time and punish residents for littering.
In France, daily garbage is divided into three main categories, which are placed in different colored bins: the first category is recyclable daily garbage, including daily packaging cartons, plastic packaging and bottles, metal products and paper, etc., which must be completely emptied; the second category is glass products, including glass bottles of drinks, condiments and beverages, which are recycled to produce new The third category is non-recyclable waste, including food waste, leftovers, leaves and weeds, etc. This type of waste also has safety and health restrictions, because they will be sent directly to the incineration of electrical and thermal energy.
At the same time, the French government has also made a clear division between waste disposal and centralized recycling. In addition, there are a certain number of bins for glassware and used clothes in each neighborhood, and battery collection boxes at supermarket checkout counters to ensure that all aspects of people’s lives are covered by waste collection and separation. In addition, prior approval from the district office is required to dispose of building materials and large furniture.
The ideal of environmentalism has been incorporated into French life. According to a poll conducted by Le Monde, nearly 90% of the French population is in the habit of separating and disposing of their waste. In 2013 alone, France recycled about 3.2 million tons of packaging waste, a recycling rate of about 67%, equivalent to a reduction of 2.1 million tons of CO2 emissions. As an active sponsor of the Paris Agreement, France wants to go even further in strengthening the circular economy and promoting environmental sustainability.
However, France also faces the situation of ineffective implementation and supervision of waste separation, in many densely populated urban neighborhoods, by the number of garbage bins, garbage bin capacity and classification of popularization and supervision, there is still a chaotic placement of garbage, poor sanitation and other phenomena, and even some tourists who have traveled to France lamented that the streets of many attractions in Paris are filled with cigarette butts, water bottles and plastic bags, greatly damaging the Paris city image. In response, several French cities have introduced increasingly strict management methods and strict penalties for indiscriminate disposal, failure to sort and other acts.
It is easy to see from the French garbage separation, any perfect and scientific environmental protection system requires the active cooperation and understanding of all parties, especially in a responsible attitude to the common cause of environmental protection and recycling, as the French “circular economy law” bill emphasizes the principle of solidarity and sense of responsibility, so that the separation of garbage becomes the beginning of the practice of environmental responsibility, with practical action to show the romantic ideal of sustainable and environmentally friendly.
Fifth: Korean (Disposal of garbage is a technical task)
Leftover bibimbap is considered food waste, chicken bones are general garbage, kimchi soup has to be disposed of clean soup dregs, the water in the soup filtered dry, throwing food waste also has to pay the garbage disposal fee …… eat a big meal a moment of pleasure, clean up the leftovers a hundred bitter, but also reflects the importance of waste separation in Korea.
Korea is an early implementer of waste separation. Nowadays, residential areas in Korea have garbage cans or garbage drop-off points roughly according to different categories such as clothing garbage, general garbage, food waste, and recyclable garbage. It is a learning curve to put out the right garbage. Clothes and general garbage are easy to understand, as discarded clothes and fabrics can be thrown into the clothes bin, and garbage that does not belong to other categories is treated as general garbage. The challenge is how to distinguish between food waste and recyclable waste.
There are two main ways to discharge food waste in Korea, and both are charged for the amount of food waste discharged. One way is to issue a food waste card to the owner of the community with the corresponding door number. Each time you throw out food waste into the garbage can, you need to swipe the card at the garbage can before the lid will open. After throwing the food waste, the garbage can will be weighed and billed. Another option is to buy a food waste bag and put the food waste in the bag. Food waste disposal fee is included in the cost of purchasing food waste bags.
The author once attended a New Year’s Eve party. After the friends ate and drank a lot, they had a lot of trouble cleaning up the leftovers. For example, leftover bibimbap can be directly dumped into the food waste bag, but in recent years, the Korean food “Coke with fried chicken” has become popular around the world, the fried chicken is a problem. According to the regulations, bones cannot be thrown into food waste, so they are separated out and thrown into the general garbage. It was maddening to pick out the bones from the whole piece of fried chicken that had not been eaten. Even more troublesome are the various soups, such as spicy beef soup and kimchi soup, where not only do you have to separate the soup dregs because they are so high in salt, but you also have to find ways to get rid of the water in the soup. The whole waste sorting process is extremely trivial, time-consuming and laborious. It can be said that eating a large meal is a momentary pleasure, and collecting garbage is a hundred kinds of suffering
Recyclable garbage is generally divided into paper, plastic, cans, glass bottles, metal, plastic bags and many other types, which are usually sorted by the people themselves and thrown into the corresponding bins. Nowadays, in order to keep the neighborhood environment clean and tidy, many residential areas have set the time for putting out recyclable garbage, and garbage can only be thrown away during the specified time. The neighborhood where I live can only throw out recyclable garbage from Tuesday afternoon to the next morning. So, every Tuesday night, I see people coming home from work with large bags of recyclable garbage running downstairs in a hurry. Because at this time do not throw, garbage to put at least another week in their homes.
Some people may wonder why they don’t throw away the recyclable garbage as ordinary garbage if it is so troublesome to do so. The answer is simple. On the one hand, people are generally more aware of environmental protection, and on the other hand, it is because throwing away recyclable garbage is free, while throwing away regular garbage costs money. In Korea, you need to buy a special garbage bag to throw away the general garbage, and the garbage disposal fee is included in the bag. General garbage can only be discharged after being put into a special garbage bag, otherwise you will be fined.
Since the introduction of waste separation on the eve of hosting the 1988 Seoul Olympics, waste separation has become a normal part of Korean life and has contributed greatly to environmental protection and resource recycling in Korea.
Countries all over the world are contributing to the protection of the earth and the environment. We are all in!