How to separate garbage

What is the importance of separating the garbage? What is the purpose of separating the garbage? These are some of the doubts that arise when we begin to raise this issue, or explain it to the little ones. There are many benefits of separating garbage , among them we highlight the following:

• Pollution of water bodies, such as rivers and oceans, as well as land areas is prevented.
• The extraction of natural resources for the production of new products is reduced , in addition to the fact that less energy is needed to produce new products from recycled waste.
• Sanitary landfills are prevented from collapsing as garbage is reduced.
• It generates new jobs, since to manage waste there must be people who take care of it.
• Recycled material can create different new products.

Also, if you want to know what are the consequences of not separating the garbage and of not disposing of it properly, we advise you to read this other post on Contamination by garbage: causes and consequences .

To recycle garbage at home you can follow these tips:

• The important thing is to have different recycling containers at home , either inside or outside right in the entrance area, or small buckets to deposit each of the waste that we are going to separate, in this way, making a previous separation, later it will be more easy to take them to their respective containers.
• We can label the containers that we have at home with the name of each waste or choose the containers of the same color as the containers that are on the street. It is a trick to avoid making mistakes and internalize what waste goes in each container.
• In addition, when there is any doubt about where to deposit a waste, we can always consult different pages on recycling on the Internet, or approach and ask at information points about recycling and waste management.

Next, different types of waste will be shown and it will be explained in which container each one goes and how we should intervene in the waste, if necessary.

How to separate garbage to recycle packaging and plastics? All aluminum containers such as cans, aerosols and sprays, Styrofoam trays (white trays used for food), plastic bottles and carafes and Tetrabriks containers are deposited in the yellow container . It is recommended that the containers are as clean as possible.

Here we talk about How to recycle plastic at home and we give several Tips to reduce the use of plastics and packaging .

Glass is a material that is 100% recycled and is deposited in the green container , but it is important that when we recycle it not to confuse it with crystal glass. Crystal glass , commonly known as crystal, is a type of glass of better quality, but despite being a type of glass, it cannot be recycled together with glass because it has a higher melting point. For example, crystal glasses cannot be placed in the green container and should be taken to a clean point. A trick to know what glass is, are all those waste that have had a lid, cap or stopper, although the lids must be removed and discarded in their corresponding container, the lids, normally made of aluminum, should be thrown into the yellow container.

In these links you can learn more about the Difference between glass and crystal and How to recycle glass .

How should paper and cardboard waste be separated for recycling ? The paper and cardboard that you separate from the rest of the garbage in your house, must be deposited in the blue container , although before throwing it away we must remove any object that it may have such as staples or the spirals of the notebooks. Neither can you deposit papers or cardboard soiled with organic matter, or those of the photographic, fax or vegetable paper type.

We encourage you to read Why it is important to recycle paper and cardboard , How to recycle cardboard and How to recycle paper at home .

How to separate organic and inorganic waste ? On the one hand, inorganic waste must be separated as we have indicated and will continue to see, and on the other hand, organic waste . All food scraps must be deposited in the brown container , intended only for organic waste. Currently, this type of container is beginning to be implemented in more places.

Here you can read more about What is recycled in the brown container .

All the garbage generated such as diapers, compresses, used hygiene papers, cigarette butts, gum, scourers, among other non-recyclable waste, are deposited in the gray container or the one of the indicated color for the remains and waste, that is, the garbage is not recyclable .

Here you can learn more about what is recycled in the gray container .

There are also containers where we can deposit the clothes to be recycled , although if the clothes that we are going to dispose of are in good condition, we could opt for another more supportive option, which is to donate the clothes to those who need it. At home you can separate it using bags of the size that suits you to take the clothes to the right place, you will only have them at home for a few hours or a few days, so this gesture to give more life to these materials will not take up much space either.

The medicine cabinet should be checked from time to time to prevent ingesting expired medicines, and all those that are expired or about to expire should be taken to the nearest pharmacy that we have since they are collected there. In some countries, in the pharmacy you will see what is called the Sigre Point, which is the container in which the medicines that are no longer going to be used are deposited . At home you can keep them in a small bag and as soon as you have several take them to the pharmacy.

The oil that we use for cooking or that which comes in some cans of canning, such as tuna, must be separated in a separate container and then taken to an oil collection point , another option is also to make soap with it. At home you can pour the oil you want to recycle in plastic or glass bottles to reuse them, then you will only have to take the bottles to the indicated point.

In some places there are specific points to take this oil and in other places it must be taken to the clean points , where they collect a variety of waste that is not thrown into the normal recycling containers.

Some of the objects and materials that we use daily at home cannot be thrown into recycling containers, but must be taken to a clean point or green point .

• Batteries and bulbs once they are no longer useful should be taken to a clean point, or to the same place where we have bought them, since they are collected in many establishments.
• The electronic devices or furniture that we no longer use and want to throw away should be taken to a clean point.
• Plastics used for paint buckets and plastic for toys should also be taken to the green or clean point.

For this reason, we recommend you to collect in a bag everything that you have at home and want to throw away but that due to its composition must go to a green or clean point and not to a normal garbage or a recycling container. Thus, when you have that bag full you can make a trip to this point to deposit this waste and you will see that it hardly takes up space at home. However, if you usually have a lot of materials to carry, we advise you to prepare a bucket at home for this waste and thus have it more organized and take it more easily to that point.

Some cities and towns have a waste collection day that goes to the clean point, for people who cannot get to it. Here we explain what a clean point is and what it is for .

If you want to read more articles similar to How to separate garbage , we recommend that you enter our Recycling and waste management category .