Picture 260 large cruise ships. That will be around 26 million tonnes. That’s how much waste is generated each year by British households.
Only 12 million tonnes of it is recycled. The rest? Sent to landfill sites.
These landfills need a lot of space. They release harmful gases and liquids that contaminate air, underground water sources, and the soil. Definitely not in sync with your goals of living an eco-friendly life.
And with landfills, we are burdening our future generations with the lofty task of managing all this waste. The waste that we have created.
We’d die one day. But landfills will stay as it is – overflowing with the waste that harms nature.
Sounds problematic, right?
But what can I do about this?
A lot.
For starters, we have six household waste disposal tips for leading you towards eco-friendly living.
1. Reuse and Repurpose
Every time you decide you don’t need something, wait a minute before you toss it out in the trash. Can you reuse the empty Nutella jars to store something else? Can you make a DIY wall hanging with old cartoons? Take inspiration from Pinterest. Find tutorial videos on YouTube, Facebook, or Instagram, and repurpose old items.
The most eco-friendly form of waste disposal management is to cut down on waste.
2. Have a Recycling Bin
Head to your local council (or a store) and get a recycling bin for your home. If it is recyclable, it doesn’t belong in the trash can. Put it in the recycling bin. Within a week, you’d notice that a lot of what you thought was ‘waste’ was recyclable.
3. Consider Composting
If the local council hasn’t made composting compulsory in your borough, take a step on your own. Food and yard waste account for 30% of what’s thrown away. All of it can be composted instead.
Collect the browns (dead leaves, branches, twigs) and the greens (grass clippings, vegetable waste, fruit scraps). Put them in a compost pit in your yard and add water to moisten it.
You can use a special compost bin (hit the nearby gardening essentials store to buy one) for indoor composting.
4. Handle Hazardous Wastes In The Right Way
Car wax, brake fluid, furniture and floor polish, rust remover, oven cleaner, glue, turpentine, thinner, rat poison, insect repellent, pool chemical, fluorescent light bulbs… just a few things that are thrown in the trash but shouldn’t be.
These are hazardous wastes and need special treatment.
Never throw them in the trash can. Or shove them down the drain or sewage system. Start by separating hazardous wastes from non-hazardous. Contact your local council to find out how they can help you dispose of it in the right way.
5. Don’t Ignore The e-Waste.
What do you do when your TV, refrigerator, washing machine, microwave, laptop, mobile, USB drive, and other electronics reach the end of their life?
No matter what you presently do with them, the ideal e-waste disposal method is to drop it off in an e-waste recycling can. Locate where that is in your area and drop your old electronics where they should be.
6. Get Professional Waste Removal Services
Segregating waste and depositing each item in a different bin is painstaking. Also, you might not be able to correctly identify what goes where. Instead, what you can do is hire professional rubbish collectors.
For a small charge, specialists will take the burden of waste disposal off your head. They’d help you move towards eco-friendly living. And also keep you safe from hazardous wastes.
Take the first step towards eco-friendly and green living with these simple household waste disposal tips today.