MOSCOW, July 6 — , Anastasia Silkina. Soviet schoolchildren knew that collecting waste paper saves trees. It is possible to take care of the environment and even help those in need even today, if you properly handle garbage. How to sort waste and where to carry unnecessary things — in the material .
Plastic, glass, metal, paper: what can be recycled
Sorting is easier to start with one type of garbage, he believes Anastasia Prosheva, Chief Sustainability Expert in Circular Economy, Sibur.
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“Find out exactly what kind of waste is accepted for recycling in your city, and start with one. For example, you can find out where the collection point for used batteries is, collect them and take them there regularly,” she says.
Four main types of waste are suitable for recycling: plastic, glass, metal, paper. In everyday life, two garbage containers will be enough.
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“One is for recyclable waste, the other is for other types of garbage,” explains Prosheva. — The first can send plastic and metal, including aluminum and tin cans. For glass, paper and cardboard, it is better to allocate a special place, for example, on a balcony. These materials do not accumulate so quickly.
Not only batteries must be separated from the main garbage. Thermometers, expired medicines, household chemicals contain hazardous or polluting substances, so they should be taken to special collection points.
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“To understand how serious a problem this is: just one battery thrown into a landfill can pollute about 20 square meters of soil and 400 liters of water,” the expert emphasizes.
Organic (aka food) waste can be reduced. If you install a grinder under the sink, then the leftover food will fall into the sewer, and then to the treatment systems, where they will be properly disposed of. /h3>
Unfortunately, dropping a plastic bottle into the right container is not enough — you have to pay attention to the type of plastic.
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“You can recycle plastic water bottles marked PET, old plastic utensils, basins, food bags, cling film, packaging for household appliances. They become the material for the manufacture of flex and granules. And those, in turn, are used in the production of bottles, disposable tableware, furniture, packaging materials,” Prosheva lists. .jpg» media-type=»photo» data-crop-ratio=»0.666666666666667″ data-crop-width=»600″ data-crop-height=»400″ data-source-sid=»pixabay» class=»lazyload » width=»1920″ height=»1280″ decoding=»async» />
In addition, the container will have to be washed, dried and crushed.
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“The plastic coming for recycling should be clean — in this case, the enterprises reduce the cost of electricity and water. On the scale of large-scale production, this is a significant reduction in the burden on the environment,» the expert says.
Don't worry if only a common container for recyclable waste is available — without dividing it into cardboard, glass and plastic: resources are distributed at waste sorting plants.
From rags to designer outfit: a second chance for unwanted clothes
Things that you no longer fit or don’t like can take their rightful place in someone’s closet, says Daniil Zhdanov, media coordinator of the Second Wind charity foundation. There are fund containers and partner collection points in more than 40 Russian cities (there may be another similar organization in your locality).
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“Everyone is fine: you have more room for something new, and the other person, instead of buying, for example, a shirt, for the production of which, most likely, primary resources were used, chose yours, extending its life,” notes the representative of the fund.
«Second wind accepts women's, men's and children's clothing, bed linen, towels, bathrobes, curtains and other home textiles in any condition. Shoes, hats, bags and children's toys — only in good condition. Old socks and underwear will not be accepted. The Foundation provides the needy with things suitable for further use.
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“Clothes should be such that we ourselves would be comfortable to wear them, for example, to work,” explains Zhdanov. — The Foundation cannot give people shoes with peeling soles or a jacket with a hole. Our things improve the quality of life and solve some of the problems: someone has nothing to wear in winter, someone, on the contrary, has only a down jacket, and nothing to wear in summer.
Used shoes, trousers or jacket are sent to animal shelter volunteers.
Very old items are recycled.
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“We make rags, recycled fibers, furniture stuffing and even laptop cases from cotton products. Synthetic fabrics can be recycled, for example, into pens or hangers, says Second Wind's media coordinator. “We collaborate with fashion designers who together with us care about the future of things, so old clothes are sometimes reborn into new designer outfits.”
How an old bicycle can help those in need
Some social projects , including «Good things», sell the collected things to second-hand stores, and with the proceeds they help those in need. You can bring clothes, shoes, textiles, children's toys, sports equipment in good condition to the reception points. As well as means of rehabilitation: they are given free of charge to those who need them.
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“For those in need, we provide certificates worth three thousand rubles per person. According to them, people get what they need in the store of our partners, where the assortment of goods is not only ours, but also from other suppliers, so there is more choice. We also use the proceeds to buy rehabilitation equipment for children with disabilities after individual selection with a rehabilitation specialist,” says the editor of the Good Things project. Olesya Orlova.
Environmental ultimatum: why mixed waste is dangerous
Sorting garbage is also important so that dangerous substances do not get into the atmosphere during the burning of waste — dioxins, with which nature cannot cope, notes Ilya Rybalchenko, member of the scientific council of the Russian Ecological Movement.
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«Sorting today is necessary, among other things, for our health: if raw organic matter and plastic are burned, then terrible carcinogens, supertoxicants will fly into the air,» the expert explains.
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«If you look on any garbage container and mentally remove the packaging and containers, only five percent of waste will remain. Therefore, it is important that the packaging materials are biodegradable,” notes the ecologist.
Here, modern technologies come to the rescue, which make it possible to make some of the garbage environmentally friendly.
June 15, 09:58< br />