In one year, humanity can generate more than 11,000 million tons of solid waste. According to data from the United Nations (UN), a million plastic bottles are bought in the world every minute. In total, this body estimates that, despite the international effort in recycling activities over the last decades, only 9% of all plastic waste that has been produced throughout history has been recycled.
Recycling pays off from any point of view. For example, a ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees and 50% of the water used in their production. From a labor point of view, the recycling sector alone generates around 10 million jobs in the United States and China. Recycling saves energy and combats climate change, requires less consumption of natural resources to meet human needs, improves water quality and even serves to proactively contribute to protecting the natural habitat of many species.
Recycling, in addition to improving the planet, favors the creation of jobs and a more efficient use of energy
In addition, it allows the generation of new assets that can have different uses but that improve people’s quality of life. Some companies rely on waste to make tires, office supplies, and even traffic signs. In the case of RepetCo, for example, all kinds of multilayer PET/PE food packaging of post-consumer origin are recycled using its own patented and environmentally friendly system. This allows the generation of rPET pellets and rPE that can be used again in the food industry as trays and containers of multilayer PET / PE sheets.
Other news of interest: The waste management sector can generate 2.9 million jobs in Europe
Better knowledge at home
All this serves to understand the importance of each person, both at home and in the office, doing their bit in favor of recycling, although, sometimes, good will does not prevent some mistakes from being made, with a little more information, they are easy to fix. For instance:
- The smallest children’s materials. Children use a large number of objects that end up deteriorating and must be thrown away. However, it is common to make mistakes when getting rid of them. As a rule, all pacifiers, bottles, toys and plasticized food paper should go to the waste bin since, at present, they have difficult recycling. Many people, on the other hand, throw them into the container by mistake.
- The problem of bricks. Milk, cream, some types of wine, juices, broth, … Bricks are a common part of any family’s kitchen. However, many families deposit them in the paper and cardboard container when, in reality, they must go to the one for containers since, in addition to cardboard, many contain plastic and aluminum.
- The dilemma of light bulbs and toothbrushes. They are two objects of great consumption in a home that tend to be frequently thrown into the wrong container. In the case of light bulbs, they should never be deposited with glasses because they contain filaments and other parts that are almost impossible to separate. Its place is the clean point. Something similar happens with toothbrushes, which often end up in the container when their nylon bristles make recycling difficult, so the most appropriate thing to do is take them to a clean point.
- Regarding paper. In every household, a lot of paper is consumed each year. However, many mistakenly think that you should go to the cardboard container when it really should into the organic waste. Something similar happens with plates and glasses, which are mistakenly believed to be thrown into the glass container, although their correct location is the green or dark gray container.
