Waste Sorting Myths

No, after sorting the individual materials will not be mixed together in any case. Today, as each ton of waste disposed of in a landfill is charged, no one is interested to mix sorted wastes again. In the Czech Republic there are enough processors, who can convert sorted waste either into secondary raw materials and place it on the market, or into certain final products that have become already common in daily use.

Unfortunately, here and there are people, who are able to contaminate the whole charge of sorted waste with undesirable admixtures, such as, most commonly, mixed municipal waste. If it happens and the whole content of the container of sorted waste has been contaminated so much that it cannot be handled as sorted waste, it must not be loaded on the collection vehicle in order the whole load to be prevented from spoiling. Such contaminated waste should be handled as mixed waste and is to be transported to either an incineration plant or a landfill for disposal.

However, one should note that such incidents are relatively rare and people try to sort their waste out with care.

The average distance of containers for sorted waste from your home gets shorter every year and currently amounts to 92m. According to various surveys, citizens are willing to walk there a way longer by additional 40 meters. The collection network is continuously gets denser, at present it counts as many as 354 000 coloured containers!

Every municipality may set its own, partially modified system for waste sorting. Somewhere they do not sort out all plastics, but PET bottles only, or sorted glass waste is divided into clear and coloured glass, at other areas the system of bags is used. Therefore, it is useful to read information shown on the containers or ask information concerning proper waste management, sorting and collection directly from the department of environmental protection of the competent municipality.

Waste sorting belongs to one‘s social responsibility and we only should choose the system of sorting to be used in our household. We should give the waste a good chance for recycling and reuse by sorting it out.

Waste sorting is not any issue of fashion – it is the problem of social responsibility and in fact, all people should sort their waste. It should be noted that waste has been sorted out from time immemorial. Even in the past the utilisable waste (particularly of agriculture) was further processed. Mainly at the village people chucked used items and materials very rarely and tried to make use of them again and again. In kitchens, for instance, almost all wastes, including, e.g., egg shells and potato peels were reused. Maybe, you remember the times, in which so called “igelite” carrier bags were rare and were regularly washed and repeatedly used.

Waste sorting saw its wide development in fifties in the form of competitions in scrap paper and metal collection organised at schools. In the course of 1970‘s it was possible to find the first containers for glass waste collection in the streets, while coloured containers designed for collecting other waste types were put in service twenty years later. More than ten years ago we have got the possibility to sort different wastes, by type, using specific coloured containers. Compared to other European countries the system of waste sorting established in the Czech Republic has been set efficiently and comfortably for the citizen, making the process of waste sorting an easy way for recycling the utilisable fractions of municipal waste.

Waste production grows continuously every year and it is necessary to provide for the recycling and reuse of any utilisable raw materials. Moreover, every year the Czech Republic shall meet the per cent proportion of recycled waste to comply with the applicable EU legislation. All the obligations concerning waste sorting and recycling ensue from the Act on Wastes.

It’s a mistake. The system has been established for everybody and everyone can use it. It is true that the positive impact of sorting will be felt more by younger generations. Waste sorting systems have been set to make the sorting process simple and controlled by simple rules.  That is why each municipality establishes their own system of waste sorting and waste management to fit to local conditions and customs. Every citizen should sort waste as a part of one‘s civic responsibility, not related to his (her) age. In developed countries it is the thing of course. Surely, one can find a lot of excuses that can be used by people, who do not want to sort waste. Wastes are produced by everybody and everywhere. Without a proper and strictly observed system of waste sorting and further management, in which every citizen takes its part, we would live soon surrounded with landfills and flooded with waste. For waste sorting you need not be young. You can sort waste in the same way you take care of your teeth or of your dogs or other pets. We should also take care of the environment and keep it nice, tidy and clean.

Wrong! There are two thirds of Czechs, who actively sort their wastes. Also the majority of people deem waste sorting a common part of their everyday life. Even in spite of the crisis in the market for secondary raw materials occurring in the last year in the Czech Republic, we were able to maintain the system of waste sorting and reuse to the extent and in the quality in which it had been built in the years before. We need not begin with sorting all the waste, but we can demonstrate our good will by joining themselves with people, who are not unconcerned about useless wasting of sources.

Your decision to commence sorting will not increase your production of waste, of course. Consequently, it will not increase the frequency of your walks to drop waste off. The opposite is true. Your trash basket will not be filled up so often, as the sorted waste will be stored elsewhere. Then the vessels with sorted waste may be emptied in respective containers not more frequently, than once a week, if not located close to the way to your work.

You need not access to waste sorting as to your favourable sports activity - you will require neither adrenaline nor physical effort. It will suffice to acquire a few principles that will soon become the thing of course for you.

It will depend on individual people and their customs, how wastes will be sorted at the household level. No special baskets or vessels should be acquired. A paper box and two plastic carrier bags would suffice. In case you let your imagination run wild or let your inventive children come to the fore, the store of sorted waste may become a unique piece of furniture. The place given to waste in your home will be saved several times in the environment. Moreover, it applies quite well that the more waste is produced the more space is required for its storage. (People living in flat will generally produce less waste than the family house owner, who, in turn, will produce less waste than the farmer in the country.)