Separate collection is a waste disposal method in which garbage is sorted by type and sent for further processing. This is necessary not only to save resources, but also to improve the environmental situation.
Thanks to separate collection, it is possible to significantly reduce the number of landfills and prevent decay of garbage; there is no need to burn it. And the high cost of sorting is more than paid for by the income from the production of various items from recycled materials.
In Russia there are factories for the processing of plastic of various types, waste paper, metal and glass. However, they all suffer from a lack of recyclables. The reason is the lack of a centralized system and separate collection infrastructure, as well as a low level of public awareness.
Probably, many saw abroad multi-colored containers for various types of waste. Their colors are uniform. Green is for glass, blue is for paper, yellow is for cardboard, orange is for plastic, black is for organic, food waste, red is for non-recyclable waste, and finally black is for hazardous waste (batteries, blisters). In Russia, such containers are not often found: they are installed in a number of shopping centers, at stations, in some yards - on the initiative of local residents.
But fortunately, more and more people across the country are starting to take the initiative and organize environmental and educational events dedicated to separate collection. The most striking achievement of recent years was the activity of the movement of the same name, which appeared in 2011 in St. Petersburg. To date, it has already covered Moscow and the Moscow Region (Zhukovsky, Lyubertsy, Fryazino, Troitsk, Odintsovo), as well as a number of other cities: Veliky Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Kaluga.
The Separate Collection campaign is held every first Saturday of the month and is organized by local volunteers. In Zhukovsky alone, with seven stocks and one permanent collection point, about a hundred cubic meters of municipal solid waste were collected. It was also taken several tens of kilograms of batteries. Given that a single battery, according to Greenpeace, poisons more than 10 m2 of soil or 300 liters of water, the benefits to nature are enormous.
