Waste sorting

On Wednesday 14th February we visited « Les Coeuvins » in Habay (sita).

People showed us how they work there.

Observation:We could see how waste sorting is important for

the environment!

What is waste?

« Any substance or any object that the holder gets rid of or that he intends or has the obligation to get rid of. »

The size of portions must be adapted to the size of homes in order not to waste the food: individual portions if we live alone and bigger for large families.

Adapting our waste quantities.

How do we classify waste?

In waste, there is a bit of everything:

bricks, papers, packagings, cut herb, old medicines, chemicals, etc.

We can classify waste according to the type of treatment they have to undergo.

Waste classifying.

Inert waste is the most important category. They are for example: the waste of construction or demolition …

1st CATEGORY: INERT WASTE

The second category contains the household waste, the one which is not flammable, not toxic, on no account dangerous for the life of the man.

2nd CATEGORY:

HOUSEHOLD WASTE

The dangerous waste must be sent to specially conceived installations to be safely eliminated.

3rd Category: dangerous waste.

1. To produce less waste, industries make lighter packaging…

Prevention… :

2. By re-using

Prevention … :

Prevention … :

3. Valuation consists in giving a new life to the waste:

4. Putting the waste in dump is the oldest solution.

But it poses serious problems.

Prevention :

The wastes of some countriesIn Egypt, Packaging Co considered that in 1986, the lack of packagings and logistics made them lose 42 % of the production of vegetable oil.

In Poland, on the other hand, it is more or less 50 % of the production that is lost.

What are packagings used for ?

Packagings help a lot.

Here is a short summary.

Transport and storage.

The cardboard boxes which allow to pile televisions, boxes of eggs … The devices which were damaged during a transport will see their price fall.

The protection of products.Packagings are used to protect products, they also guarantee the good preservation of certain fragile objects against shocks.

The packaging serves to inform the consumer about the qualities of the food. Other information is also given …

The information.

A serious loss.

What are the different kinds of packagings?

How to classify them?

The packagings.

How to classify the packagings?

The primary packagings or in sale The secondary packagings or of bulkingsThe tertiary packagings or of transport

Household packagings represent about 1/7 of the total amount of waste.

325.000 Tonnes of glass

86.000 Tonnes of steel

152.000 Tonnes of paper - cardboard

11.000 Tonnes of aluminium

53.500 Tonnes of PET

17.000 Tonnes of HDPE

20.500 Tonnes of drinking carton

107.000 Tonnes of other recyclable material

1.300 Tonnes of other not recycable material

Warning rather than curing

How to avoid that packagings become waste?

Less waste

Savings of about twenty procents of materials, virgin or recycled, are not rare. However, the prevention should not decrease the quality of the packaging:preservation of food,

The art of saving

Old

New

This new cardbox only weighs 135 grams,

While the former one weighed 245 grams. Moreover the new one is stronger!

Diminution

This saving of material (HDPE plastic) of 9 % represents 8 tonnes less each year. But that is not all. This modification automatically leads to a reduction of the height of the packagings of cardboard bulking, and thus the volume of transport.

Towards mono materialsToday the packaging is " mono material " (box) and can thus be tidied up in the fraction "paper-cardboard" of the selective collections.

Concentrated products

In 1996, at this manufacturer, this measure lead to an economy of consumption of 100 tons of cardboard and 172 tons of plastic. It results from it a decrease of 68 % of the weight by unit.

The visible … and the invisible

Prevention efforts are not always visible or spectacular.

But their final result on the environment is.

And that is the most important.

Use for a different use■These to be taken paper bags (used to contain the order of customers of the drive-in restaurants or of those who wish to eat outside of the restaurants) underwent the following modifications:

Former packaging on base of virgin cleared fibers

New packaging on base of recycled and not cleared fibers

Qualitative prevention

By simplifying the visual on the packaging, the manufacturer reduced the quantity of ink and thus the weight of the packaging.

For a same weight of film, a manufacturer can make 3,5 % packaging more.

Refills

■ We were used to refills for washing machine and cleaning products.

Here is the refillable glue stick.

Thanks to a system of pawl, the refill is easily placed.

Re-use for internal use in companies

■ This packer delivers empty bottles to his clients, the manifacturers. Before, he used to deliver his bottles piled on six levels and separated by cardboard trays that can only be used once.

Solution There isn’t a good one. But if we all make an effort the situation

will improve.

Good waste is the one that is not produced.

The end !!