Waste Management in the Home – Why Should We Bother?

The latest data shows that South Africa sends 95 million tonnes of waste to its landfill sites, and only 40% of waste material is recycled. By now, there’s probably no need to alert consumers to the dangers of greenhouse gas, but the numbers show that it is now at a record high. 

Oceans help keep the Earth’s carbon cycle in balance. The absorb a lot of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere as the levels rise. The reaction with the seawater causes acid levels to rise. 

As we go about our daily activities, working, eating, playing, and generally just living, we’ve managed to increase the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere a hundred times faster over the past 60 years than previous natural increases. This has caused a 30% increase in the ocean’s acidity levels, affecting the health and survival of all marine life. What to do?

Reduce, reuse, recycle 

Recycling is one thing, and absolutely necessary. But to effectively manage waste in the home, there’s a hierarchical approach to how to deal with it. 

Besides the everyday waste that is generated, did you know that electronic waste is the fastest growing waste stream in the world? E-waste is anything that runs on electricity, from electric toothbrushes and television sets, to batteries and light bulbs. The problem with electronic waste is that their parts contain toxic substances that are highly harmful to the health of humans and the environment. It’s also the most difficult to recycle.

Reduce as much as possible 

The hardest for most people is a mind shift to change our old habits. We live in a throw-away society, where we buy more than we need, and even beyond what we can afford. The manufacture of cheap (usually plastic) products don’t help, because they seem affordable, but tend not to last long, ultimately ending up in landfills soon after. 

The principle is simple though. And only requires us to ask ourselves, “Do I really need this item?” And if the answer is yes, then “What’s the best quality I can afford?” Especially when it comes to items like clothing, toys, and household items, the more wear you can get out of them, the more value you’ll get in the long run, and the less rubbish lands up in the dump. 

Reuse as much as possible

Make everything you buy and own last as long as possible before throwing it away, or giving it to someone else in need. From plastic bags to washing machines, the single-use mind set has gone out the window. 

Think how to get more use out of anything:

• Plastic shopping bags can be used as bin liners.

• Old, holey rubber boots can be used to plant flowers.

More tips:

• Repurpose glass and other containers for storage.

• Buy products such as grains, nuts, oils, lotions, etc. from refill stores like The Refillery if you have one near you. 

• Keep used up coffee jars to store nuts, flour, tea, cookies, etc.

• Large wide-mouthed jars can be used to make your own healthy sauerkraut. 

• Strong, clear plastic containers are good to store small hardware items like nails, screws, bolts, buttons, safety pins, etc.  

• Repurposed credit or loyalty cards make excellent food scrapers for dish washing.

• Gift bags can be used a couple of times and still look new.

• The unprinted side of paper is very handy for shopping lists, writing notes, or doodling.

• Left over candle wax make excellent fire starters and don’t smell like paraffin like the store-bought firelighters. 

• Build an Ecobrick, which is essentially a 2 litre soda bottle stuffed with non-recyclable packaging such as potato crisp foil bags, sweet wrappers, polystyrene, and wax paper. Once stuffed until you can get no more in, drop it off at your nearest collection point.  

Recycle as much as possible

Two bins. One for recyclables and one for non-recyclables. Wash or rinse out containers before throwing it in the recycling bin. Smaller households should have less to recycle because, logically speaking, they would consume less, and therefore need less space to store waste until the next collection day. 

Some municipalities provide a recyclables collection service. For example, PickitUp in Joburg makes it convenient for households by providing large plastic bags that households can throw all recyclables (glass, tins, plastic, and paper) into one bag. Saldhana Bay Municipality also offers a free door-to-door recycling collection service for residents.  

If you don’t have the convenience of the municipal collection yet, find your local recycling centre or drop-off points nearest to you. The SST provides a recycling and waste location map that indicates where and what type of material is taken at specific drop-off points. These points are mainly for glass or paper/cardboard.

The state of recycling in South Africa

Who would have thought that our country’s rate of plastic recycling fares better than Europe by a substantial 31%? Furthermore:

• We’re one of the world leaders in metal packaging recycling, recovering over 75% of all waste metal packaging.

• We have 4,017 glass banks and 82% of glass bottles were diverted from landfills.

• 30% of waste plastic is recycled.

• 6% of hazardous waste is recycled. 

Sadly, these figures are not a reflection of the level of recycling that takes place in South African households, and the conscientious citizenry has a long way to go. But as children become more educated about the importance of sustainability at school, reducing, reusing, and recycling will slowly become a lifestyle and a habit. 

In the meantime, as responsible citizens of the planet and as devoted parents of future generations, we continue to do what we can to change our old habits – only buy what we actually need, reuse what we already have, and give away what we don’t really need.

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