The cost of landfill is very high, and the cost of treating one ton of garbage is about RMB from 200 yuan to 300 yuan. People consume a lot of resources, mass production and consumption, resulting in a lot of waste.
Don't we have anything to do with garbage? In fact, there is a way, and this is garbage sorting. Garbage classification is to put garbage into the source, and make it become a resource again through sorting, cleaning and recycling.
Judging from the classification methods of municipal solid waste at home and abroad, it is generally classified according to the composition and output of garbage, combined with the resource utilization and treatment methods of local garbage. For example, Germany is generally divided into paper, glass, metal, plastic, etc. Australia is generally divided into compostable garbage, recyclable garbage and non-recyclable garbage; Japan is generally divided into combustible garbage, nonflammable garbage, and so on.
At present, domestic garbage in China can be roughly divided into four categories: recyclable garbage, kitchen garbage, harmful waste and other garbage. At present, the commonly used garbage disposal methods mainly include comprehensive utilization, sanitary landfill, incineration and composting.
[Edit this paragraph] Main categories
1. Recyclable garbage mainly includes waste paper, plastic, glass, metal and cloth. Waste paper: mainly includes newspapers, periodicals, books, various wrapping papers, office paper, advertising paper, cartons and so on. However, it should be noted that paper towels and toilet paper are too water soluble to be recycled. Plastics: mainly include all kinds of plastic bags, plastic packaging, disposable plastic lunch boxes and tableware, toothbrushes, cups, mineral water bottles, toothpaste skins, etc. Glass: mainly includes all kinds of glass bottles, broken glass pieces, mirrors, light bulbs, thermos bottles and so on. Metal objects: mainly including cans, cans, etc. Cloth: mainly includes discarded clothes, tablecloths, towels, schoolbags, shoes, etc. Comprehensive treatment and recycling can reduce pollution and save resources. If every 1 ton of waste paper is recycled, 850 kilograms of paper can be made, 300 kilograms of wood can be saved, and pollution is reduced by 74% compared with the same output; Every 1 ton plastic beverage bottle can recover 0.7 tons of secondary raw materials; Every recovered 1 ton of scrap steel can produce 0.9 tons of steel, which saves 47% cost compared with ore smelting, reduces air pollution by 75%, and reduces water pollution and solid waste by 97%.
2. Kitchen waste, including food waste such as leftovers, bones, roots, leaves and peels, can be composted in situ by biotechnology, and 0.3 tons of organic fertilizer can be produced per ton.
3. Hazardous wastes include waste batteries, waste fluorescent tubes, waste water silver thermometers, expired drugs, etc. These wastes need special safety treatment.
4. Other wastes include bricks and tiles, muck, toilet waste paper, paper towels and other wastes that are difficult to recycle. Sanitary landfill can effectively reduce the pollution of groundwater, surface water, soil and air.
[Edit this paragraph] Classification reason
Most of the garbage disposal methods still stay in the traditional stacking and landfill mode, covering tens of thousands of acres; Moreover, insects and flies fly around, sewage overflows and stinks, which seriously pollutes the environment. Therefore, classified collection of garbage can reduce the quantity and equipment of garbage disposal, reduce the disposal cost and reduce the consumption of land resources, which has social, economic and ecological benefits. The advantages of garbage sorting treatment are as follows:
1, reducing land occupation: some substances in domestic garbage are not easy to degrade, which makes the land seriously eroded. Garbage classification, removing recyclable and non-degradable substances, reducing the amount of garbage by more than 50%.
2. Reduce environmental pollution: waste batteries contain toxic substances such as mercury and cadmium, which will cause serious harm to human body; Waste plastics in soil will lead to crop yield reduction; Waste plastics are eaten by animals by mistake, resulting in accidents of animal death. So recycling can reduce the harm. ?
3. Turning waste into treasure: China uses 4 billion plastic snack boxes and 500-700 million instant noodle bowls every year, and waste plastic accounts for 4-7% of domestic garbage. 1 ton of waste plastics can recover 600kg of diesel oil. Recycling 1500 tons of waste paper can avoid cutting down trees used to produce 1200 tons of paper. A ton of cans can be melted to form a ton of good aluminum blocks, and 20 tons of aluminum ore can be mined less. 30%-40% of the production waste can be recycled, so we should cherish this small-scale and large-scale resource. You can also use cans as pencil boxes, which is environmentally friendly and saves resources.
[Edit this paragraph] Garbage classification in some countries
Japanese garbage classification
Foreigners who have just arrived in Japan will be impressed by its amazing garbage classification. At first glance, Japan's garbage classification has the following characteristics.
First, fine classification and timely recovery. The largest category is combustible, nonflammable, resource, coarse and harmful, and it is subdivided into several subprojects, each of which can be subdivided into grandson projects, and so on.
Combustible: in short, combustible-but not including plastic, rubber fragments, general leftovers, and some combustible domestic garbage.
Resources: newspapers, books, plastic beverage bottles, glass beverage bottles.
Non-combustible: waste small household appliances (electric kettle, tape recorder) clothes, toys, ceramic products, iron containers.
Coarse categories: large furniture, large electrical appliances (TV sets, air conditioners), bicycles.
A few years ago, Yokohama further subdivided the garbage classification from the original five categories into ten categories, and distributed a 27-page manual to every citizen, with a total of 5 18 items. Try a few examples: lipstick is flammable, but the lipstick tube used is small metal; The kettle belongs to metal, but 12 inch belongs to small metal, and more than 12 inch belongs to big waste; Socks, if one is combustible, if two are "not worn out, and the left and right feet are matched", are old materials; Ties are also old materials, but only if they are "washed and dried". However, this is a drop in the bucket compared with Shangsheng Town in Tokushima Prefecture. The town divides the garbage into 44 categories and plans to achieve the goal of "zero garbage" by 2020.
In terms of recycling, some communities have a row of classified garbage bins, while others have no garbage bins. Instead, it is stipulated that specific garbage bags should be placed in specific places at specific times of the week and taken away by special personnel in time. For example, in the port area of Tokyo, combustible garbage is collected every Wednesday and Saturday morning, non-combustible garbage is collected on Monday morning, and resource garbage is collected on Tuesday morning. Many communities stipulate to throw garbage before 8 am, and some relax to noon, but they are all taken away on the same day to avoid polluting the environment or attracting pests and crows.
Second, management is in place and measures are appropriate.
When foreigners arrive in Japan, they must register with the local government, and then they often get local regulations on littering. When you live in a rented house, the landlord may also hand over the keys to the garbage disposal regulations. At the end of the year, some administrative districts will issue calendars to residents for the next year. Some dates are marked with colors such as yellow, green, blue, etc. Each color is shown below to represent which kind of garbage can be thrown on which day. In some public places, you will often see a row of trash cans, which read: paper cups, flammable materials, plastic, and Japanese, English, Chinese and Korean are written on each trash can.
Third, everyone should be careful.
Good habits are not formed in a day. Japanese children have been taught by their parents and schools how to deal with garbage correctly since childhood. If you don't throw garbage according to the regulations, you may be dissuaded by government officials and pressured by public opinion around you. Japanese residents are meticulous in littering, and they are very strict: waste newspapers and books should be bundled neatly, garbage with moisture should be drained, sharp objects should be wrapped in paper, and used spray cans should be punched to prevent explosion.
Fourth, waste utilization, energy conservation and environmental protection.
After the sorted garbage is recycled by a special person, the newspaper is sent to a paper mill to produce recycled paper. Many Japanese people are proud that their business cards are printed with "Use recycled paper". Beverage containers are sent to relevant factories respectively to become renewable resources; Waste electrical appliances are sent to professional companies for decomposition; Combustible garbage can be used as fertilizer after burning; Noncombustible garbage can be used as resource-based raw materials after compression and harmless treatment. The packaging box of Japanese goods has been marked with what kind of garbage it belongs to, and there are even hints on the milk box: wash it, open it, dry it, fold it and throw it away.
In terms of garbage sorting, Japan is at the forefront of the world. The severe environmental pollution in the 1960s "forced" the first-class environmental protection technology, and the profound oil crisis in the 1970s gave birth to the best energy-saving technology. In the process of overcoming crisis after crisis, Japan has surpassed other advanced countries one by one.
An elderly Japanese friend of mine has been stationed in western Europe for a long time. He talked about the "embarrassment" that it is difficult to buy gifts when visiting relatives in China every year. This is because his relatives and friends have changed from the initial pursuit of Western European products to world-class domestic products like seiko watch, Toyota and Nikon cameras. This achievement not only has an efficient and reasonable management system, but also depends on the spirit and motivation of the general public. The seriousness of garbage sorting is undoubtedly the most brilliant part.
The Japanese are the most earnest and meticulous, which is vividly demonstrated in many aspects. For example, the floor tiles on the sidewalks of various business districts in Tokyo will not collapse unevenly for decades, and architects require that the invisible places such as the back of the stair blank should be neat and smooth, and so on.
A wise man corrects his own mistakes through the mistakes of others. The example of Japan above gives us a lot of inspiration. As far as garbage classification is concerned, the hardware in most parts of China is far from being compared with that in Japan, but the bigger gap is probably in the software, that is, the government and the public's understanding of garbage classification, the government's system construction of garbage classification, and every citizen's earnest and meticulous spirit and consciousness of environmental protection and energy conservation. From this point of view, only when we abandon the troublesome concept, thinking habits and low standards of being content with the middle stream can we catch up with the world's advanced level in garbage classification, eliminate the "three cares" dead angle in urban management, and have someone to control the dirty, chaotic and poor phenomena. [ 1]
American garbage classification
As an industry, garbage recycling has developed rapidly. In many developed countries, recycling industry plays an increasingly important role in the national industrial structure. Take Baltimore, Washington and Richmond as examples. In the past, it cost $40 to recycle 1 ton of garbage. After sorting, these recycled garbage created 5 100 jobs in 1995. In the United States, these three cities are only a small area, and their garbage recycling not only saves the cost of garbage disposal, but also creates a wealth of 500 million US dollars.
The United States, known as a big garbage producer, has gradually penetrated into the lives of citizens. Walking on the street, you can see all kinds of colorful classified trash cans everywhere.
The government provides various conveniences for garbage sorting. In addition to setting up classified garbage bins on both sides of the street, each community regularly sends special personnel to clear and transport the classified garbage of each household.
Residents also expressed great support for the government's garbage sorting work. This is not only reflected in their familiarity with garbage classification knowledge; Moreover, the garbage sorting payment here is as natural as drinking clean tap water.
other countries
Garbage sorting is not only a fashion in developed countries like the United States, but also a trend in many developing countries. In Brazil, many communities carry out garbage sorting, and the mayor regards the sorting trash can at the main entrance of the city hall as the glory of the city. In more than 20 beaches nearby, sorting garbage bins is more like a beautiful landscape.
In some areas of the Philippines, villagers spontaneously organized themselves to clean their living environment, and garbage sorting was the main content of this movement.
Garbage sorting is becoming a worldwide trend in both rich and poor countries, and China, once a world leader in this field, has almost lost this good tradition. Garbage sorting is no stranger to thrifty people in China. Perhaps you still remember the scene of waste recycling in 1950s and 1960s: toothpaste peels were reserved for recycling, orange peels were used for pharmacy, and biological wastes were used for composting, waste cloth ends, ink bottles and so on, all of which can be reused. The sorted garbage not only avoids the pollution of garbage, but also provides raw materials for industry and agriculture.
Now that our life is better, we are no longer stingy with the few cents we earn from selling second-hand goods. The traditional virtues of thrift and waste utilization of the Chinese nation are being lost. Each of us is a producer and a victim of garbage, but we should be a manager of garbage pollution. Each of us can overcome garbage pollution through garbage sorting.
[Edit this paragraph] Garbage classification in China.
1996 65438+February 15, residents in Dacheng Lane, Xicheng District, Beijing began to sort garbage with the help of the NGO Global Village. The original sorting bucket was purchased by neighborhood Committee members with the year-end bonus saved. The sorted garbage will be removed by vendors and enterprises contacted by neighborhood committees. Day after day, year after year, the residents never stopped.
As a small kindling of folk garbage sorting, the actions of residents in Mahayana Lane aroused the enthusiasm of many citizens. Since 1997, some universities, primary and secondary schools and some retired people in Beijing have tried garbage sorting one after another. With the help of China Youth Daily's intimate sister and a female doctor who returned from studying in Germany, the children of "Hand in Hand Global Village" also started a school with the recovered money.
The behavior of citizens and children has attracted the attention of relevant government departments. Xuanwu District Environmental Sanitation Bureau took the lead in starting the pilot work of waste sorting and recycling system in Xuanwu District in the autumn of 1997. Xuanwu District Civilization Office actively cooperates with the streets and the non-governmental organization Global Village.
1On April 23rd, 999, the Gong Jian Li Nan community in Baizhifang, Xuanwu District was as lively as a festival, and the first garbage sorting and recycling system in China was officially launched. From this day on, residents will change the way of garbage mixing and divide it into three categories: organic, inorganic and waste soil. The government sanitation department will change the way of mixed transportation and classify it for cleaning, sorting and recycling. It means that the old tradition that has been lost for many years here has finally been picked up.
In this battle between man and garbage, people turned garbage from enemies into friends. Someone once compared garbage to a misplaced resource. Let's take a look at the renewable resources sorting station in Xuanwu District. What kind of use will garbage have once it returns to its proper place?
Coke bottles, plastic bags and disposable plastic lunch boxes that we throw away every day belong to polymer organic matter. If buried underground, it will not rot for 200 years. They will also harden the soil, reduce the fertility of the soil, and even make the soil lose its farming ability. In our life, we often throw away all kinds of waste plastics. Waste plastics can also be made into buttons, pen containers and other supplies after treatment. Waste plastics are also good raw materials for oil refining. Some people have vividly compared them to "secondary oil fields". 1 ton of waste plastics can recover at least 600 kilograms of gasoline and diesel.
In the recycling station, we saw all kinds of waste paper sent here, including these small pieces of paper ... We know that good paper is made of wood, and one ton of waste paper can be recycled into 700 kilograms of good paper, which can reduce the felling of 17 trees and reduce the number of trees in pulp production.
However, because the recycling rate of waste paper in China is still very low, only about 20%, we import a lot of waste paper every year. In 1996 alone, we imported 6.5438+0.37 million tons of waste paper. You may still remember the sensational "foreign garbage" incident in the 1980s, in which a ship was smuggled in under the banner of imported waste paper.
The foreign garbage was driven away, but it left a reflection. Why do you want to import waste paper from other countries as raw materials for papermaking? Why not recycle waste paper to the maximum extent, but let them be buried or burned in the garbage dump? The forest resources in China are only 1/4 of the world average, and the rivers and lakes in China have been seriously polluted by early sewage discharge. If everyone throws away half a kilogram of waste paper every week, then Beijing alone will throw away more than 6,000 tons of waste paper every week.
China has a historical tradition of recycling waste products. In the past, recycling waste products may only be a last resort because of the economic downturn. In today's increasingly affluent society, recycling waste paper is our conscious awareness and action to protect the environment. Because we clearly know that we recycle not only pieces of waste paper, but also forests and rivers where our children and grandchildren can live.
Garbage is garbage only when it is mixed together. Once sorted and recycled, they are all treasures. Even the used batteries called mini killers can turn waste into treasure. In this humble photo studio, we saw such a waste battery recycling box. The batteries used in our life (non-disposable batteries) contain toxic heavy metals such as mercury or cadmium. If these heavy metals are left underground, they can easily penetrate into groundwater through rainwater.
This kind of pollution is difficult to eliminate. The biological half-life is about 30 years, which means that you can only excrete half of it in 30 years. So this is particularly harmful to people. Waste batteries contain a variety of useful metal minerals, and their recycling value is very high.
It is precisely because of the serious harm and special recycling value of waste batteries that many countries prohibit them from being mixed with garbage. Japanese communities have this kind of yellow bucket, which separates button cell from others.
Since 1997, some citizens and students in Beijing have begun to voluntarily put in and collect waste batteries. Young volunteers from Renmin University also helped a chain store in Beijing set up a recycling bin for used batteries.
As a positive response to the citizens' movement, Beijing Environmental Sanitation Bureau set up a special collection point for used batteries to collect and treat them harmlessly.
Do you know what biological waste is? Biological waste is kitchen waste, such as leftover lettuce, eggshell skin, cabbage leaves and so on. What can these seemingly insignificant wastes do? In fact, they can be used to make high-quality organic fertilizers. Like this big nano-dream biological waste processor in Huaibai community, biological waste can be dried and crushed to make efficient organic fertilizer. Residents can use it to grow flowers and grass.
Compared with fertilizer food, vegetables grown with them are safe and healthy, and are quite popular in supermarkets. Biological waste usually accounts for 40% of the total waste. If all of them can be turned into organic fertilizers, it can not only save land for landfill, but also save vehicles and energy for transporting them and prevent them from breeding mosquitoes, flies and bacteria. Experts discussed and suggested that the government should install bio-waste processors in all communities and set up workshops to deal with bio-waste in newly-built communities.
At that time, we can see that garbage sorting has created a society without garbage and a society with recycling resources, and all this only requires us to lift a finger.
Only in this way can we make our society better.