Waste Sorting: Why It’s Important
Waste can be defined as anything that’s unwanted or doesn’t hold any value to us anymore. Almost every home and office generates waste in one way or the other. While most of us subconsciously toss everything in one garbage bin, this only makes recycling recyclable items harder. Sorting the waste into different categories can, however, help improve the chances of recycling most of it. Here are the five most common areas you should change to make a positive impact on the environment.
Solid Waste
This is the most common type of waste in the office or household. It can be anything from plastic, paper, food waste, or even hazardous waste. Understanding how to handle and discard the different types of solid waste can make it easier to separate and dispose of properly.
Recyclables
Although you might not know this, Canadians alone produce more than 3 million tons worth of plastic waste per year. Regrettably, more than 90% of the said waste ends up in waste-to-energy facilities, landfills, and/or the environment, and only 9% is recycled. Plastic bottles, milk cartons, juice cartons, glass bottles, cardboards, waste paper, tin, and steel items fall under recyclables. The only way to ensure these don’t end up in a landfill is always to place them in a recycling bin. Recycling these items reduces waste and goes a long way toward saving the environment. While it won’t take too much of your time or energy to recycle these items, the simple act will have a long-term positive effect on the planet and everyone on it. Re-using recyclables helps preserve natural resources by eliminating the need for raw materials.
Organic Waste
Organic waste is anything that decomposes quickly. Organic waste can come from either animals or plants. Organic waste, also known as wet waste, decomposes over time through the help of tiny organisms. Meat products, vegetable and fruit scraps, dairy, tea, and coffee grinds are good examples of wet waste. The beauty of organic waste is it decomposes in just a matter of weeks, forming soil and other organic matter. Separating organic waste from other types of waste makes disposing of it much more manageable. Although a small change, its impact on the environment is quite significant.
Hazardous Waste
These can be defined as waste materials from different industrial processes and production. They include acids, bases, solvents, and chemical and oil processing residuals. Hazardous waste is considered toxic to the environment and pollutes everything it comes in contact with. It is categorized into different classes and takes the forms of gas, liquid, sludge, solid, or paste. This type of waste should be handled and stored correctly for everyone’s safety and to protect the environment. The government has also provided guidelines on how such toxic wastes should be handled and stored; a reason you want to be careful with it. You thus should follow all the legislative requirements and guidelines provided for handling, storing, transporting, treating, and disposing of hazardous waste in Canada.
Liquid Waste
Any waste in liquid form qualifies to be termed as liquid waste. This type of waste is very common in households, hotels, restaurants, private offices, and businesses. Liquid waste can be anything from oils or grease, fats, liquids, used oil, solids, sludges, gases, and toxic household liquids. Liquid waste is commonly considered potentially harmful and should be handled with care. You thus ought to be careful when handling or disposing of this type of waste.
How Canada Is Handling Waste Management
Canada has been taking proactive action towards waste management. Under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act 2021, Canada banned the use of single-use plastics. This includes plastic packaging and products such as straws, shopping bags, stir sticks, and cutlery, among others.
We all have a collective responsibility to protect the environment and planet in general from the various types of waste. Waste management through sorting and disposing of them responsibly is one way to do this. Everyone thus needs to be sensitized on the various ways of handling different types of waste, and how to dispose of these, properly.
We at Green Clean Office Maintenance & Janitorial have been handling waste since 2009 and can help you with waste management. We want to make a positive impact on the environment while keeping your commercial areas clean all the time. We are continually training our teams of professional cleaners on the current and best practices for handling waste while upholding the highest standards possible. Contact us today for more info.