Do you separate your recyclables? You might live in a city that demands you that separate your standard garbage from those that can be recycled, or that you have to separate out the recyclables themselves into different categories, such as plastic, glass, paper, and so on. What’s the importance of waste separation? Well, it ensures that those items go into the correct parts of the recycling plant. However, there are other reasons for this practice as well.
Recyclables End Up in A Different Location
When the garbage trucks arrive on trash pickup day, they have a very specific purpose. There are those that haul away your standard trash, such as the items that can’t be recycled, and those that only handle the recycling. The ones with your standard garbage end up taking those (usually bagged) items to a landfill, where they are buried and left to biodegrade. The recyclables, on the other hand, end up going to a special plant where they are sorted and sent off to companies that will break them down and reuse them. If you don’t separate out these two different types of waste, then the job is made that much more difficult – or the wastes will just end up in a landfill, since sorting everything is far too complicated.
Sorting Your Recyclables
Continuing with the importance of waste separation, some communities ask you to sort your recyclables into categories. Nearly all of them require residents to do things like wash out jars, bottles, and can before placing them in a recycling bin. This ensures that bits of food waste don’t end up contaminating the recycling piles. However, even if you put your items into a central bin, you might be asked to sort them into specific types, just to make the recycling process easier.
Importance of Waste Separation at the Plant
No matter what, the different types of recyclables are sorted out at the plant. Most of these plants have conveyor belts that separate out the recyclable waste containers due to weight. Certain items – even empty –weigh more than others. This means that the heavier ones, like glass containers, are sent through the end of the line, while lighter weight ones, like paper, end up in the first pile of recycling. Without an emphasis on the importance of waste separation, this process would quickly go awry. You need to note which particular pieces of recycling go in each location.