Regulatory waste management
Waste separation is a way of looking at the world. It means seeing raw materials where others see waste. It means giving a new life to household or industrial waste, inorganic waste such as organic waste, plastics, paper or cardboard. This way of looking at waste serves to help solve environmental problems and reduce potential health risks. The basis of the circular economy is the separation of waste, but how is it classified? What types of waste exist?
Normally, when we talk about waste, we refer to waste that cannot be reused. The term waste, on the other hand, is used to identify materials that can be reused or recycled.
Other wastes: metal, some types of plastic, wood, paints, oils, among others, are wastes that must be treated in a specific way. In general, they can be deposited at a clean point, although we must confirm that they accept the type of waste we want to dispose of.
Global solid waste management 2020
Electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) has become an essential element of everyday life. Their widespread availability and use have enabled a large part of the world’s population to improve their living conditions. However, the way they are produced, consumed and disposed of is unsustainable.
Due to the slow adoption of collection and recycling processes, externalities – including resource consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and the release of toxic substances during informal waste recycling – illustrate the problem of staying within sustainable limits.
Based on the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, the United Nations University (UNU), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA), in close collaboration with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), have joined forces in the Global Alliance for the Statistical Monitoring of Electronic Waste (Amcere).
Solid waste worldwide pdf
The specialist in urban and environmental studies of the National University indicated that this situation is registered at a global level; in the United States, epicenter of the pandemic, the increase of general waste ranges from 30 to 50 percent.
In such a way that 16 percent of the waste “is left lying around, and it is not even collected. Most of the final disposal sites are open dumps, and only 3.7 percent of the 1,000 sites comply with NOM 083.
Garbage in the world figures 2021
As a result, all marine species, from plankton and mollusks to birds, turtles and mammals, face risks of poisoning, behavioral disorders, starvation and suffocation. Corals, mangroves and seagrasses are also suffocated by plastic debris that prevents them from receiving oxygen and light.
“Risks to human health and well-being arise from the burning of plastic waste, ingestion of seafood contaminated with plastic, exposure to pathogenic bacteria carried in plastic, and leaching (the separation by solvent of soluble parts from insoluble parts) of substances of concern into coastal waters,” the report states.
“Millions of tons of plastic waste are lost in the environment, or sometimes shipped thousands of miles of kilometers to destinations where it is usually burned or dumped. The estimated annual loss of plastic waste value from plastic packaging waste during sorting and processing alone is $80 billion to $120 billion,” it adds.