Where does my rubbish go?

In 2010, the independent wrote the following in one of their articles:

“57 million tonnes of rubbish, including industrial waste, are being disposed of in landfill sites each year. With 650 million cubic metres of capacity left in the ground – three times the volume of Lake Windermere – the UK will reach its limit by 2018.”

Today, in 2018, we are beginning to see the effects. Eight years ago, we knew this was coming. Eight years ago, we began to change. But have we been fast enough?

As a people, we all typically seem to forget what we leave behind. Things of the past are hardly remembered– things like old acquaintances, old clothes, and even old knowledge are left for the un-thought-of world of our subconscious. But there’s something else in each and every one of our lives that will not only stay riddled in the past, our present but also affect our future. That’s our rubbish, our trash, our leftovers. These are things that cannot be recycled or reused. They’re things like certain plastics, glass, in some cases, old furniture. They’re things like foil, plastic wrap, and containers. We cannot afford to forget these things.

The only country in the world that can recycle almost everything is Sweden- where their recycling department is so advanced, they’re accepting rubbish from other countries to keep their sites running. They burn their rubbish, in short, to generate energy. The gas emitted from their sites are composed of non-toxic water and carbon dioxide which is then filtered. The sludge left from the filters is used to fill their old abandoned mines. The ash that is left from the incinerators is sorted, all unscathed materials recycled. The one percent of what is left behind is taken to their landfills. Everything is thought of in this system. Nothing is left to waste.

Their Waste Management and Recycling Association CEO, Wiqvis, is a man with great plans. He hopes to achieve zero waste for Sweden. And he’s almost there.

If all countries could strive towards the same goal as Wiqvis does, global issues such as climate change would significantly reduce. We would be fixing our world. Some places around the world, such as Turkey and Chile, have become worse at recycling since 2000, with 33% and 78% declines, respectively. Recycling has not been a priority. But it should be.

Global Citizen states that, “It’s estimated that the amount of waste generated by humans globally will more than triple from 1.3 billion tons today to 4 billion tons by 2100,” That’s a big deal. Something needs to change.

The majority of our waste, in the UK, goes to the landfill, where its toxic gasses emitted can and have affected our land, our water, and the things that live within it. If you simply search up ‘toxic landfills in the UK’ you’ll meet a mass of articles and reports, like this specific one on the BBC, which happened this year-

 They’re conveying the same message- they’re saying the same thing- that what we fear is happening. What we hoped would never happen has begun. Our land is being poisoned, it’s being contaminated by our waste and by our arrogance. Things must change.

Our rubbish is collected, if it has been sorted through properly, our cans and plastics and papers can be recycled. What is left is dumped. Our trucks and vans that collect our rubbish sometimes aren’t equipt to collect all of our rubbish. And so, glass and some plastics are also sent to our dumps, our landfills, which are running out of space. It has been said by the council of Haringey, north London, that, “Half of our residents recycle rarely, or not at all; if we could get them just to use the services we already provide, we could easily get up to 30 or 40 percent,”.

Where does our rubbish go? You may wonder.

Simply put- our waste goes to waste.