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Watch Your Waste
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Humans produce waste (and we're not talking about natural bodily waste!). Just think of your household rubbish bin and how much you throw away every day!
• Paper (newspaper, envelopes, white paper, printing paper, magazines, egg containers, toilet paper rolls, boxes, tissues - what else can you think of?) • Plastic (bottles, gladwrap, food containers - yoghurt, cottage cheese, prepared food containers, frozen food and fresh food bags and containers; medicine bottles, bubble wrap, cleaning agent bottles - what else can you think of?) • Glass (colddrink bottles, food jars, broken glasses - what else can you think of?) • Metal (colddrink cans, food tins, tin foil - what else can you think of?) • Food - food scraps, vegetable peels, bread, leftovers - what else can you think of? • Garden waste (grass, leaves, dead plants, weeds etc) • What about lightbulbs, batteries, old toys, clothes, books, electronic appliances, paint containers? In addition to household waste, there is also waste from litter and street sweepings, the commercial sector (like shops, restaurants, hospitals etc.), industrial sector (like manufacturers), agricultural sector, construction and demolition sector, mining sector and energy producing sector. With so much waste being produced, we need to do what we can as individuals to manage our waste so it doesn't harm the environment or our own health. We do and always will produce waste. We won't change that. Unfortunately in the past not enough thought was given to the impact of our waste practices on our planet. Fortunately that is now changing worldwide. In areas where there has always been service delivery, there hasn't been much concern beyond putting the rubbish is in the bin, and having it collected by the municipal waste management companies. We are only conscious of the amount of waste we produce when it's not collected! But we can no longer NOT be concerned. We have to start being responsible for our actions and our impact on the environment and our planet. Although we cannot change the fact that we produce waste - we have in our power and control to determine how much waste we do produce, how we manage our waste, and what we do with our waste. We need to work together to manage our waste in a sustainable way to protect our Planet. We can do this by: • reducing our consumption (limiting unnecessary consumption and being conscious of our purchasing choices, especially around packaging) • re-using/repurposing what we are able to • recycling • creating home compost By doing these we can limit the amount of waste that is sent to our landfills.
Each individual, each household, each business and each industry can make a difference. As a collective we can make a huge difference
We generate millions and millions of tons of waste per year from industry, businesses and households. In the 1999 State of Environment Report for South Africa (DEAT, 1999), it was determined that there were over 42 million cubic metres of general waste generated every year across the country, with the largest proportion coming from Gauteng. According to the report the average amount of waste generated per person per day in South Africa was 0.7 kg. In 2007 in only 10 municipalities there were almost 1,3 million tons of household waste collected at landfill sites. (http://www.sawic.org.za) oSouth Africa has six metropolitan municipalities, namely Tshwane, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Ethekwini, Cape Town and Nelson Mandela. There are also local municipalities and district municipalities. So 10 is just a handful of the total number! As our population grows and our consumption of consumables grows so will the amount of waste grow. At present most collected waste is disposed of in landfills. Within the landfills biodegradable waste produces methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Decomposition in a landfill is slow. Plastic waste in particular is a challenge as the volumes take up valuable space in landfills, and although we don't know exactly how long it takes to degrade, it is believed that it can take thousands of years to break down. Because we have a throw-away society, not much thought is given to the fact that valuable energy is used every time new products are produced which are later merely disposed of. Natural resources are being used and abused at an unsustainable rate. Although there is an abundance of everything on earth - if we abuse it and use it faster that it can reproduce then it won't be available for our future use. |
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Waste Less Food
Half of the food thrown away needn't go to waste. With some basic management in the food buying process and the food preparation you could save a substantial amount of money! Click Here |
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Monitor Your Waste
Download your FREE Waste Diary. Monitor how much waste you throw away every week. Click Here |
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Download your free Weekly Food Waste Diary.
Monitor how much food you throw away and how much it costs you. Click Here |
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There are a number of steps in the waste process:
• Prevention - use less, reduce your consumption, reuse and repurpose items • Generation • Collection • Transportation • Treatment • Final disposal of waste |
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The first step we can all take is to reduce the production of waste and be aware of the environmental impact of waste, and then think about responsible disposal of waste.
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Waste Management Hierarchy
In terms of proper waste management practices there needs to be clarity on the waste management responsibilities of municipalities; public education and awareness emphasising on behavioural changes; markets for recyclables and waste management laws, among a number of other factors. Even if these are not yet in place, we can still take steps to improve our personal waste management practices, to ensure that our landfills don't run out of space. Avoiding creating unnecessary waste when possible, and removing all recyclable products from our rubbish and taking it to the nearest recycling collection point, means less waste needs to be put out for municipal collection to be taken to our landfills. |
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• Reducing your consumption is better than reusing.
• Reusing is better than recycling or composting. • Reducing, re-using, recycling and composting are better than disposing of our waste |
