Even though the separate collection of organic waste has increased in the city of Pärnu, much more organic waste should still end up in landfill than before.
In the city of Pärnu the separate collection of organic waste became mandatory in December 2022. Compared to this period, the volume of organic waste arriving at the Paikre landfill, which collects waste in the city of Pärnu, has increased by almost one and a half times .
“There has been a period of getting used to, so to speak, for a year, we have been collecting information from single-family homes that carry out composting on their properties, and also more and more apartment buildings have joined the collection,” said Kadri Kõresaar, the principal Pärnu’s specialist for the environment and good order.
According to the Paikre landfill, organic waste should arrive there even more than before.
“According to the SEI survey of national statistics, the amount of food waste produced by humans is 70 kilograms. If we now compare these figures, we could say that the volume should increase more than double, and we could receive separately collected food waste,” said Keit Nestor, chief operating officer of Paikre OÜ.
According to Janely Palu, who manages apartment associations in Pärnu, organic waste collection is simply inconvenient and more help should be given to make it a normal part of life.
“It is very inconvenient to separate waste by type in your kitchen, especially if you have built-in waste containers, garbage bins – a person hits them with his hand and throws them (organic waste) into the mixed waste,” Palù said.
According to Ragn-Sells, which organizes waste transport in Pärnu, people often put waste that should not be put there in organic waste containers.
“For example, you collect potato peels in a plastic bag for bread and bread and put them in a container with this bag. You should not do this, otherwise the biodegradable waste should be in a container, in a biodegradable bag or in a bag of paper bags, for example,” explains Jüri Meeksa, director of the handling department at Ragn-Sells.
Tõiv Jõul, who lives in Pärnu, said his family has been collecting organic waste separately from other waste for almost two years.
“For organic waste, there is a separate container with a biobag inside, we throw the organic waste there, we take it to the large container outside. There is nothing complicated here, the amount of household waste is lower,” Jõul said.
Varje, a resident of the city of Pärnu, who collects organic waste in the garden composter, also thinks that collection is generally easy, but there could be even more information on separate collection.
“The only problem is that I don’t know where to put the oil, I wish it was written more on the paper where to put it,” Varje said.
2024-01-27 16:40:00
organic-waste-is-sorted-more-but-not-enough-estonia