How waste is disposed of around the world. How to solve the problem with garbage in different countries The problem of waste disposal in different countries of the world
With its history, garbage shows how the idea of not only hygiene and health issues, but also urban planning, the social structure of society, and even international relations has changed. This becomes clear not only from the composition of waste, but also from the changing ways of its disposal.
The compilation tells how the garbage has come a long way - from a pile of broken clay pots outside the settlement to tons of nuclear waste - and what people have learned along the way. A garbage collection village in China, an electronics dump in Ghana, a ship graveyard in India - how the world is getting rid of waste.
The first waste bins at the municipal level were recorded in Athens in 400 BC. e. Then all the waste was collected in special baskets, which were then emptied in designated places outside the city. In ancient Rome, garbage was also taken out of the city limits. In the southwest of Rome, the artificial hill of Monte Testaccio, one of the largest ancient dumps in the world, is still preserved. Monte Testaccio, almost 50 meters high, consists entirely of fragments of 25 million broken amphoras.
In the Middle Ages in Europe, garbage on the streets became one of the causes of mass diseases. Only in the 15th century, after the plague in many European cities, the question of paving the streets was asked: before that, the townspeople had to wade through puddles of dirt, feces and food waste. However, the first systems for wastewater began to appear only with the advent of the era of industrialization.
The first system was built in London, in the Thames Estuary, at the end of the 19th century. Engineer Joseph Baseljet designed a system of ten sewers that drained into the North Sea. Prior to this, all waste was poured directly into the Thames.
In the 20th century, with the development of technology and production, the composition of garbage has qualitatively changed. Now cardboard, plastic, chemical and medical waste have been added to food waste. But at the same time, for a long time, the method of its disposal remained the same: the garbage was buried, thrown into the ocean or burned. Only in the second half of the 20th century, along with the growth of the hippie movement in America, did interest in the problem of ecology appear. On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day event takes place, in which several thousand educational institutions across America take part. Peaceful demonstrations called for the development of environmental protection methods.
Today, depending on the region, the issue of garbage is solved in different ways. In some countries, residents are busy diligently separating paper from tins at home. Other countries, like Switzerland, import neighbors' rubbish and burn it in their factories. Thirdly, people work at landfills, sorting out garbage brought from Europe and America, sometimes in containers under the guise of humanitarian aid.
In Switzerland, everyone pays a fee for a certain size of their trash can. As a result, in order to save money on garbage, many enterprises buy rammers that compress waste into cubes and thus allow you to pay for an additional tank. Residents and businesses alike have become so adept at compacting and distributing their waste that modern incinerators lack raw materials. Many of them are aimed at burning waste and generating electricity. To pay for and justify the construction of factories, some Swiss cantons have to import garbage from Italy.
In Japan, garbage regulations are determined by the municipality, or to be more precise, by the garbage plant that belongs to it. On average, each resident has to divide their garbage into the following categories - plastic, glass, tins, cardboard and paper. Separately, waste should be divided into combustible and non-combustible. If you bought a cutlet in a plastic wrapper and then washed the container, then you need to put it in plastic trash, and if you haven’t washed it, put it in a combustible one. When the Japanese want to donate large electrical appliances, they buy a special stamp and stick it on the item before throwing it away. The value of a stamp depends on the item. For example, a refrigerator can cost between $50 and $100 to throw away. Therefore, many Japanese do not throw out large garbage, but give it to friends for free.
In Beijing, all types of recyclable waste - from plastic bottles to iron cans - do not have to be taken to collection points, it is enough to take them out in the morning and sell them to a garbage collector passing by. The scavenger, in turn, will take the loot to the suburbs of the capital, Dong Xiao Kou Village, known as the village of garbage collectors.
In this small village, not far from new buildings, mountains of cardboard, old tires, dishes and paper waste rise. The inhabitants of the village, mostly visitors from remote poor provinces, spend here around the clock, sorting out the rubble. Some live in self-built huts from boards or metal plates found right there in the dump.
In the vicinity of Accra, the capital of Ghana, there is the largest electronics dump in the world - the Agboshbloshi dump. Here, on the Atlantic coast, computers, televisions, monitors, old cassette recorders, sewing machines and telephones are brought from all over the world and thrown into one big pile.
The rubbish of some people turns here into the wealth of others: people from all over the country come to the electronic rubble to earn money. The workers at the junkyard break the machinery apart or burn its individual parts and collect the aluminum and copper parts. At the end of the day, for copper and aluminum, they receive a cash reward at the receiving point. Average earnings per day is $2-3. Most Agboshbloshi workers die from disease and poisoning caused by poisonous substances, toxins and radiation.
The city of Alang on the northwest coast of India is known as the largest ship graveyard in the world. Along 10 km of coastline, just like dolphins thrown by the waves, old cargo and passenger ships lie here. Over 20 years of the existence of the enterprise, more than 6,500 ships were dismantled here.
Old ships are brought here from all over the world, often without prior decontamination, and then the workers take them apart with their hands or with the help of simple tools. On average, 40 people die annually on the territory of the enterprise due to chemicals and accidental fires.
The artificial island of Thilafushi, clogged to the very edges with garbage, stands out brightly from the paradise landscape of the tropical Maldives. The government of the country decided to create this island because of the growing amount of garbage caused by the influx of tourists.
Since 1992, garbage has been brought here from all the islands of the archipelago, and today its amount reaches several hundred tons daily. Thilafushi lies at a height of only 1 m above sea level, which increases the risk of chemicals and other wastes entering the ocean and the gradual destruction of the ecosystem.
According to the Natural Resources Conservation Council, 40% of food produced in the US is wasted. At the same time, food is wasted at all stages from production to consumption: on farms, during transportation, in supermarkets and in the kitchen at home. According to statistics provided by the council, the average American family spends up to $2,000 a year on food, which they end up throwing away. In addition, many US states are suffering from severe drought, while in neighboring states 25% of the water is wasted, namely, to irrigate fields with grain, which ultimately does not go to consumption. The problem is also with landfills: they produce gases into the air that are no less dangerous to the environment than carbon dioxide.
Garbage in the modern world often finds a second use for itself - in art, the restaurant business and even construction. But one way or another, all the original garbage ideas and projects are aimed at once again drawing people's attention to the overabundance of waste production in the modern world. For Copenhagen, for example, the architectural firm BIG has designed a new generation incinerator. The plant will not only process garbage into electricity, but also remind citizens of the amount of carbon dioxide generated. Each time 1 ton of carbon dioxide is produced, a ring of smoke with a diameter of 30 m will be emitted from the plant's chimney. At night, the ring will be illuminated in different colors. The roof of the plant will be used as a ski slope. Lifts to the top of the descent will pass along the sides of the plant. The construction of the plant is planned to be completed in 2016.
Spanish artist Francesco de Pajaro travels the world with his project Art is Trash and creates art installations from garbage in different cities. Francesco finds a pile of garbage on the street and in a few hours he repaints and moves the objects in this dump so that they turn into an installation. As a result, playful characters are obtained from discarded boxes, pieces of furniture and plastic bottles.
First in the US, and later in Europe, the dumpster diving movement, in other words, picking garbage cans, has become widespread in the past few years. The followers of the movement look for leftover food and suitable clothes in the garbage, thus trying to do their part in the fight against overproduction and overconsumption of goods. Many divers manage to find kilograms of fresh vegetables, and some even make a boat out of found building materials.
There are many other examples of non-trivial use of garbage. Artists collect paintings from it, photographers create a whole series of portraits of people surrounded by their own garbage, entrepreneurs open restaurants with dishes from products that were not purchased on time in the supermarket, architects and planners use garbage as a building material, as, for example, in Japan when building an artificial island Odaibo. Throughout its history, garbage has come a long way of transformation - from a foul-smelling landfill to a modern art gallery. But, unfortunately, the very basic attitude of people towards waste has not changed, and people have not really learned anything over thousands of years: we still do not stop consuming immoderately.
Tons of waste that can instantly turn cities and the entire planet into a large garbage dump is a global problem. But in some countries, garbage is treated as a valuable resource that can not only be recycled and reused, but also get energy from it.
Every month a person throws out more than 60 kg of garbage, and for a year - about 700 kg. In countries with high consumption, this figure can reach tons of waste. And on a global scale, this is about two billion tons of waste! It is difficult for a city dweller to imagine this. We are used to just sending waste to the trash can and no longer think about their future fate. opened the eyes of many.
People are looking for approaches to the issue of waste disposal. Publication Hromadske analyzed the world's most successful examples of intelligent waste management. These ideas are not only interesting, some of them can be implemented in Ukraine.
Singapore
Singapore is a small country in southeast Asia and does not have the capacity to set aside large areas of land for landfills. Therefore, garbage is not stored here, but electricity is obtained from it, which is generated in the process of incineration at power units. Remains such as metal are sold. Tens of thousands of tons of garbage are burned daily, which is about 90% of all waste, and about 2500 MWh of electricity is generated.
A few kilometers from Singapore there is an island created from ... garbage! It is very beautiful here: trees, shrubs and flowers grow, and it is hard to imagine that this one is from the crushed remains of unprocessed garbage brought here from the factory.
Sweden
Another country where is Sweden. It uses waste-to-energy technology (“energy from garbage”), in which millions of tons of garbage are burned in dozens of waste processing plants and “garbage” power plants that produce electricity and heat.
99% of waste is used as fuel for power plants or raw materials for production. The generated energy is sufficient to cover the needs of 10% of families throughout the country. Many cities in Sweden get more than half of their energy from waste.
Sweden not only burns almost all of its garbage, but also imports it from nearby countries: Germany, Great Britain, Norway and others. These countries pay extra to Sweden for their "raw materials".
South Korea
The city of Songdo, a few kilometers from the capital, is where the most unimaginable projects for a smart city are being implemented. One of the projects is related to the removal and disposal of waste. There are no garbage trucks familiar to residents of many cities, instead of them there is an underground garbage collection system. Garbage is taken directly from the apartments through a special pneumatic sewerage system, then the waste is sent through underground pipes for sorting. It is planned that in the future the garbage will go to the plant, where gas will be obtained from it.
Austria
About 30 years ago, a waste incineration plant was built in the capital of Austria, designed by one of the brilliant architects of the 20th century. This plant has become a landmark of the city. Today, it burns hundreds of tons of garbage a year, and the generated energy is enough to heat many parts of Vienna.
But the plant is not the only way to get rid of garbage in this country. Biotechnology is used here to break down plastic: a special fungal enzyme converts the plastic polymer into simple monomeric elements. In this way it is possible to "split" plastic bottles or textile polyester. Garbage becomes a raw material for the production of new things.
England
And in this country, technologies are actively used to convert food waste into energy. Special anaerobic bacteria process food leftovers, as a result of this process, biogas is released, and the output is natural fertilizer.
From 1 ton of waste, the plant produces 200 kWh of energy. There are now several factories using this technology in the UK, which provide enough energy for the needs of half a million families.
India
As you know, the issue of waste disposal in this country is very complex. Garbage is almost not sorted and not recycled. But here, too, an unusual idea appeared, how to at least partially solve this problem: to make roads out of plastic! Packages, wrappers, bags - all this can be used as a replacement for bitumen - a hydrocarbon that is used to produce asphalt. According to the developed technology, a coating can be made from plastic waste, which will replace bitumen by 15%. Now in India, several thousand kilometers of "plastic" roads have already been made, and the government has begun to buy this raw material from people, which will help solve the garbage problem.
Belgium
About 75% of waste is recycled here, which is converted into raw materials, energy and fertilizers.
But the Belgians went further: they created the Ecolizer, a technology that allows you to evaluate how it will affect the environment in the future before buying a product. For example, how many resources are needed to recycle it, whether it can be completely recycled, and how it will affect the environment. So, comparing the selected product with the rest, you can choose the best option.
As you can see, many countries take the issue of waste disposal very seriously. And not just recycling, but safe disposal. Ukraine can choose any of the options, as well as apply the technology or, which was overloaded with landfills a few years ago. - with any approach, garbage can become a valuable resource that will still be useful to people.
About company
We, the team of Ecostiltrans LLC, have long (since 2003) been successfully providing garbage collection of any kind in the city of Moscow and the Moscow Region, we have our own fleet of container trucks, we provide a package of documents: we work with both individuals and legal entities.
The work of our specialists is always:
We understand that garbage disposal is an urgent problem, therefore we offer our services not only to legal entities, but also to individuals. A special area of our activity is the removal of construction waste, which includes the removal of waste by container. The management conducts a democratic pricing policy so that everyone can use our services. Our prices are loyal, besides, an individual approach to each client allows us to create optimally favorable conditions for everyone.
Prices
| When ordering from 3 bunkers per month there is a system of discounts | ||||
| Services | price, rub. | |||
| Porter, 8 m 3 , 1 ton | from 3500 | Gazelle, 8 m 3, 1.5 tons | from 4000 | |
| Container on MAZ, ZIL, KAMAZ platform | 8 m 3 , 5 tons | from 6400 | ||
| 15 m 3 | 12 tons | from 12000 | ||
| 20 m 3 | from 17000 | |||
| 23 m3 | from 19200 | |||
| 27 m 3 | from 21000 | |||
| 32 m 3 | from 23000 | |||
| Tipper SCANIA, IVECO | from 850 per m 3 | |||
| Loading | Manual: 2-3 loaders | from 1000 | ||
| Working with JCB | from 2000 | |||
| Discounts when paying by card | ||||
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Garbage special: construction
New properties can be seen everywhere. But what is construction? This is a continuous work process, during which deposits of garbage are formed on the construction site. These can be pieces of rebar, bricks, plastic, broken glass, packaging materials, frozen and unsuitable mixtures. We offer you the removal of solid waste - quickly, efficiently, efficiently. Our logisticians will calculate the optimal route for moving around Moscow, the drivers will cope with any equipment, the cars will be in good order and will not let you down at the most crucial moment. Our experts will organize for you the removal of waste by container from the territory of your construction site. This is the optimal solution in case the project is long and it is constantly worth removing waste. The containers rented by you will be delivered by agreement, installed for filling, the removal of solid waste in containers will be carried out in strict accordance with the work schedule. Together we will solve any problem of waste disposal from the territory of your site!
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Difficult question: KGM
KGM includes things that are no longer needed in everyday life - kitchen and household appliances, furniture, windows and doors, waste from construction sites. This type of waste belongs to the 5th hazard class, as it includes paper, cardboard, polymers, and other substances. Our company offers services for the removal of large volume and tonnage waste from your territory in Moscow, the removal of solid waste, guaranteeing safety, high quality, efficiency of work and quite reasonable rates, providing for this the necessary machines and equipment from our own fleet.
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The fight against household waste
Statistics say that on average one person "creates" more than 250 kg of waste per year. But practice shows that this figure is underestimated, because these are only indicators of household waste. But what about construction and other species that remain after human activity? "Fight" - you will say and you will be right. As long as state recycling programs are being developed, fines and administrative protocols are being issued for violations in the discharge and improper processing of municipal solid waste, while private entrepreneurs are building single waste processing complexes and plants, our company is working.
In the trash bag that everyone takes out of the house or apartment - glass, paper, polyethylene, food debris and other components. Our specialists are engaged in the removal of household waste, solid waste in the case of a preliminary agreement. Contact our dispatcher, describe the task and in a short time you will receive a competent qualified solution from our specialists. This may be a planned collection and subsequent garbage collection, or it may be the rental of garbage containers that will be emptied on time. We work only with those landfills that have a license and all permits to engage in this type of activity.
Service areas
The issue of waste disposal is acute in many regions of the world, and even the most developed countries cannot yet boast of an absolutely well-functioning system for collecting and processing waste. This is connected not only with technological capabilities, but also with the mentality of peoples and governments.
Waste management in Japan
In Japan, for example, people do not pay for waste disposal services that are burned in expensive furnaces at special factories. Apparently, this is due to the Japanese character - they would not spend their money on this, but would simply leave their garbage everywhere. However, the Japanese will have to pay for disposal if they throw away the bag of unsorted garbage.
Waste disposal in Germany
In Germany and Austria, things are completely different. The Germans not only pay for waste disposal, they carefully sort the garbage left behind and leave it in specially designated containers, respectively. The same can be said about Australia.
Waste disposal in the USA
In the United States, this issue is also treated very responsibly: almost every house is equipped with a special device that crushes and processes household garbage in order to then flush it down the drain.
Waste disposal in Russia
With regard to recycling in Russia, this has never been considered as a serious topic for reflection. Garbage was simply dumped in specially designated places outside the city. To date, this kind of procedure has not changed much. Most of these "garbage sites" do not meet international sanitary and epidemiological requirements for a long time. Almost all of them pose a serious threat to the ecology of Russia and neighboring countries: garbage dumps produce various kinds of toxins hazardous to health, such as carbon monoxide and methane. Pathogenic bacteria and carriers of infections, of course, exacerbate an already difficult situation. In other countries, they have long learned how to extract real profit from garbage and its processing, but Russia still has a long way to go in the field of such a business. Russia has very modern garbage incinerators, but most of them are not working at full capacity. The fact is that foreign technologies are used for their operation, which work inefficiently in our country. Unfortunately, in some cases, the problem of waste is solved in the following way: garbage is simply dumped in the nearest forest or along the highway.
“Approximately seven billion tons of household waste accumulate in Russia every year; of which six million tons are in Moscow and the Moscow region (about 350 kg of garbage per person per year).”
Today, scientists are arguing about various methods of waste processing in Russia and are trying to introduce them into people's daily lives. They even developed a project according to which the energy generated during processing can be used for power plants.
Speaking about new technologies in this area, it is impossible not to note the advanced developments of engineers from other countries of the world.
For example, while most countries cannot cope with the problems of waste disposal, which causes landfills to come close to cities and poison the environment, Dutch engineers seem to have found a solution. They went beyond the idea of making new household items from recycled products, and found an opportunity to build roads from garbage.
In short, according to this technology, specially processed raw materials are pressed into separate bars, which will be connected already at the facility under construction. Strict quality control at the factory allows you to be sure of the quality of the new coating; in addition, these plastic roads withstand temperatures from about -40 to +80 degrees Celsius.
The most common way to dispose of waste is incineration. Today there are a huge number of MSW incineration plants, but this method, like landfilling, is detrimental to the environment. By the way, only decomposable garbage can be buried in the ground, but this rule is not observed in all countries. Recycling of waste, that is, their processing for further use, is the best method of waste disposal. There are not so many waste recycling plants in the world, and it is this method of working with garbage that helps to level the ecological balance - to create a balance in the relationship between man and nature.
In the United States, many countries in Europe and Asia, sorting of garbage is common. The organization of this process is maximally optimized and simplified, since sorting begins at the stage of waste disposal. The legislation of many countries obliges their citizens to sort garbage into different containers and bags, which have their own color and designation. For example, in almost all prefectures of Japan, a citizen is subject to a large fine for violations of garbage sorting or refusal to do so.
France
The French government also did not remain indifferent to environmental problems, so every trash can in the country is equipped with a special chip that regulates the operation of a garbage truck. The chip shows the fullness of the container and the date of its collection, which helps the waste collection agencies organize routing efficiently, save time and fuel costs.
Japan
Returning to the Land of the Rising Sun, it is worth noting that garbage is treated very reverently here. What is the sensational scandal about a man who threw garbage in the wrong place. The police gave him warnings, but he ignored them. The case ended in jail time. For residents of many countries, this story may seem incredible, but not for the Japanese, who are doing everything in order to preserve the environment.
So, how is garbage recycled in Japan? It is burned, and the thermal energy is used for heating. Household appliances, furniture, cars are dismantled for further production. Near each Japanese house, you can see different plastic containers where three types of waste are stored: food, household and unnecessary things. Thus, we see that waste sorting starts at home, and every citizen contributes to the preservation of the environment and waste recycling.
The Japanese have learned to recycle garbage in such a way that they even make building materials from organic waste.
Brazil
Brazil is not the most developed state in which, like in all countries of South America, there are certain difficulties. However, it is here that the trend towards recycling is very developed. For example, the city of Curitiba ranked first in the world in collecting valuable household waste. Almost all plastic, paper, metal and glass are recycled here. The decision turned out to be successful - to involve the poor in garbage collection. Collecting waste is rewarded with cash or food packages. This approach allows collecting 400 tons of garbage every month.
USA
Garbage collection in America takes place in plastic bags, which are stored in containers near each house. Government services take containers for sorting to send garbage for recycling. Paper, plastic, cans, bottles - all of these materials are used to make goods marked "made from garbage." The rest of the waste is buried.
At one time there were problems with metal cans in the country, but with the help of a reward system for the delivery of garbage, they were resolved. Today, almost every American institution has a press for cardboard, cans, paper.
Finland
A feature of garbage collection in Finland is street containers, resembling small boxes. The garbage storage itself is underground. Many containers are connected to special vacuum pipes, thanks to which the waste immediately enters the processing plants. The speed of the movement of debris is 25-30 meters per second.
The priority is the deep processing of waste. The glass is crushed and the crumbs are sold to glassware companies. As a result, one bottle is used approximately 30 times in the country.
Plastic garbage in the country is burned. It is pressed and briquettes are created. Waste is burned at special stations at a temperature of 1.3 thousand degrees. Garbage is converted into electricity.
Austria
Half of the country's waste is incinerated. There are four waste incineration plants in Vienna alone.
In addition, in Austria they want to come to the rejection of the use of minerals in the energy sector. To do this, they want to use alternative sources. Including the energy generated from burning garbage.
About three thousand people are involved in this field of activity, and the profession of a garbage collector in Austria is not considered grassroots.
Sweden
Sweden is one of the leaders in waste collection. The country recycles 99% of waste. Half of them are used to generate electricity and heat. In general, garbage collection in this country meets the standards that are accepted in the European Union.
All families in the country are required to sort garbage. Many have between five and seven containers in their home. In this country, the method of underground air vents is also being actively introduced. Although this requires a large investment, in the end it will be possible to save on waste transportation.
The system of collateral value of packaging is also being actively introduced in the country. That is, its price is already included in the price of the goods.
United Arab Emirates
Recently, the UAE has been actively developing in many directions. Was no exception and activities related to the collection and processing of waste.
A few years ago, it became clear that the main landfill could be full by 2022. Therefore, the authorities seriously began to deal with the problem of collection and processing.
To accustom residents to the new rules, they introduced a special tariff for those who collect garbage separately. In addition, various competitions are held. For example, donate an iPad for responsible separate waste collection.
Also, the country has special measures to support businesses related to waste processing activities.
Conclusion
Many other developed countries such as Canada, Germany, Norway, the Netherlands, etc. collect and sort waste in the same way. Garbage suitable for recycling is necessarily used, the rest of the waste is either landfilled or destroyed.
The problem of environmental pollution would be solved quite simply if all countries and each of their inhabitants in particular were interested in this. However, humanity is still far from being fully aware of its own problems. It remains only to express the hope that we will have time to learn how to recycle garbage and protect the environment even before we find ourselves littered with our own waste.
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