What to do with waste after the holidays: an empty can of cabbage, a bottle of sparkling wine and a black pudding that no one wants?
During the holiday season, which is soon approaching, homes generate more waste than usual: gift wrap and packaging, food packaging, bottles and cans, as well as food waste. Experts from the Estonian Packaging Circle and Estonia Environmental Services have written a simple guide to follow to have less waste stress during the Christmas period.
Unfortunately, the Christmas period often tends to be a time of food waste, as more food waste than usual ends up in rubbish bins after the holidays, says a member of the board of directors of Eesti Keskkonnateenused Bruno Tammaru. “The first rule is, obviously, not to waste food and not to buy more than you can eat. However, if someone still doesn’t want the last black pudding, it is not worth throwing it in the household waste, but in the organic waste container. The waste organics arrive at the Maardu biogas plant, where the capital’s gas buses travel with the gas produced, and the remaining digestate is used as fertilizer in the fields of Harju county,” Tammaru explained.
Board member of the Estonian Packaging Board Harkmann age depending on the packaging there is a very simple rule: all packaging must be collected separately and placed in the appropriate container. “For those who are afraid of having to spend the holidays cleaning the packaging, I reassure you: a light rinse is enough, the important thing is that the packaging does not stain the other packaging. However, much of the packaging does not even need to be rinsed and what is irremediably dirty should be thrown in the household waste, for example a disposable baking tray under the Christmas roast or chicken.If the packaging consists of plastic and cardboard, as is the case with many toy boxes with “window”, you can separate them from each other and throw the plastic into the packaging container and the cardboard into the paper container. Of course, glass bottles and jars without a deposit mark go into a glass container”, Harkmann suggested.
Advice on what to do with the waste that is often generated during the Christmas period:
· Food waste – always in the organic waste container (for those who don’t have chickens or composting systems at home). From 1 January 2024 in Estonia it is forbidden to place organic waste in the mixed household waste container and it is mandatory to collect it separately. At the EKT Ecobio plant, biogas collected by households is produced from biogas, which is used by Tallinn buses, and from digestate, which is used as fertilizer in the fields of Harju County. More information on the website: www.ecobio.ee
· Bottles of wine and sparkling wine, cans (for example, canned cabbage, cranberry salad, etc.) – empty the container and transfer it to a glass container. The unmarked glass packaging is taken from the container to the Sibelco glass sorting plant in Järvakandi and from there to the OI Estonia glass plant, where new glass bottles and cans are already being produced. Glass is a remeltable and almost infinitely recyclable material.
· Gift bags – if the gift bag is broken and can no longer be used, it is usually placed in a packaging container (plastic, bag with laminated surface or with ribbons, bag with transparent windows, etc.). Paper bags can be placed in a paper/cardboard container when they break: this way they reach the paper mill where new paper and cardboard are produced.
· Kinkepaber – if you are sure it is paper, you can put the paper/cardboard in the container. If you are unsure whether the paper has been laminated or otherwise treated, place it in the packaging container instead.
· Transport boxes – most are plain cardboard, which means you fold the box and put it in a paper/cardboard container. As with paper and cardboard, these can also be transformed into new paper and cardboard.
· Bubble envelopes – if you order a lot from online shops, parcels in padded envelopes also arrive from time to time. In the case of bubble wrap it is more reasonable to separate the paper from the bubble wrap, the bubble wrap goes into the mixed packaging container, the paper into the paper/cardboard container.
· Mixed material packaging – if you are not sure what material the package is made of or if the package is made up of several different materials that cannot be separated from each other, always place the package in a mixed packaging container.
Other (Christmas) examples.which often raise questions:
1. Sauerkraut Jar – Empty the jar and place it in a glass container along with other bottles and jars.
2. Large bones: Place them instead in a mixed container. While large bones do not ferment or decompose well, they are also not suitable for producing compost or gas.
3. Bottles of strong alcohol and carbonated drinks – definitely in a glass container, because separately collected glass can be sent directly to the glass sorting plant. Additional resources are required to separate the glass from the packaging container. When placed in a glass container, the lifecycle footprint is significantly lower.
4. Potato peels, roasted pork lard, no longer suitable pumpkin salad and everything that no one wants to eat – in the organic waste container. In this way it becomes transport gas and you have made your contribution to energy security.
5. Very dirty packages: for example baking paper, oily fish packages, etc. – if the package needs to be washed with plenty of water and detergents, then there is no point in going crazy and it is more reasonable to put it in a mixed household container.
6. Pizza boxes: if they are not very greasy, they fit in a paper/cardboard container. If they are very black, place them in a mixed household container.
7. Gifts that you don’t like at all: please don’t throw them in the trash, it’s better to donate them so they can find a new owner. Several charity shops and also, for example, the Uuskaustuskeskus accept everything free of charge.
8. The most important thing: if you have not yet separated the waste produced at home, the Christmas period is the perfect time to take the first step towards giving a gift to the environment.
2023-12-25 07:29:32
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