Recycling

Recycling Made by Avenir Korolyov Form – 9C Gymnasium 2, Georgievsk Tutor N. Chistyakova

Sorting rules. The British did not immediately get used to separate waste collection, and for a long time the United Kingdom among the countries of the European Union occupied one of the last places in the share of garbage going to recycling. In England, only 18% of waste was disposed of, while in the Netherlands this share is 65%, and in Germany — 58%. But the government did not give up and did everything possible to ensure that residents of the UK correctly sorted garbage. Now the inhabitants of the Kingdom distribute it in three tanks: the first is intended for organic and food waste, the second collects all recyclable garbage (paper, plastic, glass), and the third container sends things that can not be recycled. Sorting rules may differ slightly from County to County. For example, in some areas of the UK, organic waste must be stored in a special biodegradable bag. In other parts of the country, owners of private homes should have a separate tank for garden garbage — they throw branches, mown grass, and dry flowers there. A great example for the British is the Royal family: in Buckingham Palace-99% of environmentally friendly waste (mown grass, dead wood and shoots) is processed on the spot. Branches and twigs are also brought here from the parks of Kensington Palace, Marlborough house and St James's Palace. Then all the garden garbage is passed through a shredder so that it can quickly turn into compost. In large cities, such as London, there are containers where you can hand over old clothes, toys, appliances, mobile phones, and batteries. Usually such tanks are installed in every district of the city, most often near large supermarkets.

Reminders for garbage collection. To make it clear which things to throw in which tank, residents of the country are given special leaflets-memos on how to sort garbage. These measures give their results: if earlier England processed only 11-18% of waste, now more than 40% is recycled. Such civic awareness is difficult to develop in a single decade. Therefore, the country's residents are taught to separate garbage collection, mostly by the "whip" method: negligent homeowners who do not sort waste are severely fined. If a garbage collector finds food waste in a container intended for, say, plastic and glass, he puts a warning sticker on the tank. In case of repeated violation of the sorting rules, a fine is issued, which can reach up to 1,000 pounds.

Trash cans-spy. In some counties, each homeowner has their own trash cans, which have special chips embedded in them that read information about the trash and its owner. The minicomputers then enter information into the database about who owns the container and where it is located. This information is very important, because in the UK they are fined not only for the fact that waste is sorted incorrectly, but also for its weight and location of the tank. In places where the garbage truck arrives at the house only once a week, on a certain day, the homeowner must roll the tank out of the yard to the path in front of the house, so that the garbage collector has access to the container. If it was rolled out a day or two earlier or was not picked up on time, this can become a reason for a fine.

Two-finger rule. The weight of waste is also regulated by law — so the government is trying to reduce the amount of garbage produced by the British, and teach citizens to consume wisely. For this purpose, such a concept as the "two-finger rule"was even introduced. According to it, the weight of the garbage bag that is sent to the tank should not be too large — so that you can easily lift it with two fingers. The container should also not be overfilled-otherwise, again, you can get a warning sticker or a fine. It is believed that too heavy a tank is dangerous to people's lives and can also break the hydraulic system of the garbage truck.

Biofuels from garbage. Speaking of garbage trucks. Almost all of them in England are electric. And in some cities, they also work on electricity generated by garbage. The first such eco-friendly garbage truck appeared in 2009 in the English city of Kirklees. The garbage truck-a modified 3.5-ton Ford Transit with 40kW/h lithium-ion batteries-cruised through the Central part of the city. He collected garbage from the bins and took it to a special power plant. There, the waste was burned and electricity was generated from it, which was used to charge the garbage truck's battery. After charging the batteries for 6-8 hours, this truck could easily travel about 160 km. Currently, electric garbage trucks operate in several cities in the UK, including the capital. The capital's garbage will soon become fuel not only for garbage trucks, but also for planes. As part of a program to reduce the area of landfills surrounding the city, the London government has signed a contract with British Airways. According to this agreement, the city will supply garbage to the airline and pay extra for its disposal. In turn, British Airways will turn it into biofuel and refuel its planes with it. The launch of the waste-to-biofuel plant is scheduled for the end of 2015. This scheme will help reduce the number of landfills around the capital and halve carbon dioxide emissions on all cycles of British Airways operation.