Eco friendly waste disposal options have become more popular in recent years due to a global push towards finding greener alternatives to common problems. Many of these can be incorporated into your daily life.
Environmentally friendly waste disposal seeks to address issues like climate change and excessive greenhouse gas emissions. These activities help to build a greener and more sustainable future.
They’re an important part of building this future. This blog explores a number of eco-friendly waste disposal options for people interested in this.
Eco Friendly Waste Disposal
Eco friendly waste disposal techniques focus on finding environmentally friendly waste disposal methods. They follow many waste management best practices. These practices seek to find more efficient and effective ways to manage waste.
Humans have been managing waste in a variety of ways since they first started producing goods. This has resulted in centuries of waste management development. Innovation has always come with developments in waste management.
This is no different when it comes to eco-friendly waste management practices. They’ve become an essential part of our push towards sustainable practices.
Below, we explore six of the most common eco-friendly waste disposal practices. They include recycling, upcycling, using reusable products, adopting biodegradable packaging, composting, and waste-to-energy solutions.
Recycling
Recycling is a waste disposal method that seeks to find a new use for waste materials by either reforming them or giving their materials an alternative use. It is one of the most common waste disposal methods.
In Australia, recycling infrastructure exists in most towns and cities. Municipal waste centres have incorporated recycling as one of their waste disposal methods.
There are many environmental benefits to recycling. One of the best is that it encourages resource recovery and the reuse of materials. This both saves the environment and is in itself cost effective.
Upcycling
Upcycling, while similar to recycling, is unique. It looks at taking waste products and giving them an almost ‘better’ new life. It’s popular amongst creatives and people who seek to convert trash into something valuable.
Upcycling is an effective eco-friendly disposal method due to its upscaling features. During the conversion into something more valuable, waste is shown not as something that must be thrown away but as something with potential.
Upcycling is a popular e-waste management system. Often, people throw away valuable materials without releasing their full potential. E-waste commonly contains valuable waste items and natural resources. These can be upcycled into a valuable product.
Reusable Products
Reusable products help to alleviate the burden on landfills and dumpsites. It’s an effective waste disposal method in part because it avoids the creation of waste in the first place. It’s management through forward planning.
Reusable products come in a variety of forms. They can include reusable plastic bags and food containers. The general idea is to avoid single use items like disposable coffee cups.
Reusable products also form part of a circular economy in the waste management sector. Reusing materials ensures that resources are conserved and not sent to direct landfill disposal sites.
Biodegradable Packaging
Biodegradable packaging helps to ensure that waste does not improperly dispose at municipal solid waste sites. While some waste, like food waste, and other garden waste is naturally biodegradable, certain wastes like hazardous waste needs secure management.
The benefits of biodegradable packaging are similar to that of reusable products. Both reduce waste disposal by seeking to address waste generation by reducing the amount of items that will end up as waste. They are waste management strategies that look at the bigger picture.
Biodegradable packaging is popular in businesses who work with parcels and other courier packaging. Similarly, it provides an eco-friendly alternative to plastic packaging for retail outlets.
Composting
Composting is a popular waste management system that both households and businesses can adopt. It’s great for managing organic waste and other food scraps.
Communities can also benefit from setting up large scale composting bins to manage waste across their neighbourhoods. It’s a great waste disposal method for general waste and other disposable items.
Part of the benefits of composting as a waste management comes from its overall reduction of the reliance of large scale recycling infrastructure and other municipal waste transfer facilities.
Waste-to-Energy
Waste-to-energy facilities take disposed waste and repurpose it into an energy source commonly in the form of electricity. This is done through a variety of processes like combustion, gasification, and landfill gas recovery. It’s a popular method of resource recovery.
Many recycling facilities can install waste-to-energy services to their existing recycling infrastructure. Similarly, a municipal waste transfer station might be able to utilise waste-to-energy technology in order to operate more efficiently.
While waste-to-energy facilities are rare in Australia, countries like Singapore have adopted them to run their electrical grid.
Waste Management Tips
Waste management tips to become more eco-friendly in the way that you manage waste can help both businesses and households. It can also shed light on the benefit of community eco friendly services like kerbside waste bins.
Organic Waste
Organic waste is common in both businesses and households. While it is composed of natural resources, it can be harmful to human health and the environment. It is essential for it to be managed in a safe and secure manner through more eco-friendly waste disposal methods.
Food Waste
Food waste comes from food scraps and other disposed kitchen items. Waste management for food waste involves efficient waste disposal methods. Households should also consider the resources and the environment used during the creation of the food that they consume. Over consumption of food does negatively affect the environment. Part of managing waste involves this.
Hazardous Waste
Hazardous waste management involves both solid waste and liquid waste management. Australia’s waste management companies like Cleanway are capable of dealing with various forms of hazardous waste.
The Future of Eco Friendly Waste
Eco friendly waste disposal options will continue to develop in the coming future. Improvement in waste management coincides with improvements in technology, and this will likely continue to be the case.
Recent developments in artificial intelligence and machine learning are one such area for improvement. These technologies offer optimisation capabilities that humans cannot reach. This could lead to great efficiencies across waste management systems.