One of the greatest problems with any recycling scheme is knowing what can be recycled and in which recycling bin to throw it. Some residents in the UK have 4 different bins.
In the south of Germany they have solved the problem by giving every resident a 60-page booklet which lists EVERYTHING they can recycle. This might seem a slight ‘overkill’ but it is remarkably practical. If you have, for example, a pile of old DVDs you want to throw away, you can simply look in the list and see, in a matter of seconds, which domestic bin to place it in, or, where in the local area you can recycle them.
Here in the Esslingen region of Germany, residents already pay fees to have their rubbish collected. One of the bins is for ‘Restmüll” (everything else which cannot be recycled and will go to land fill). This bin is collected every 4 weeks, or you can pay extra for it to be collected every two. It is in the residents’ interest not to fill this bin too quickly, otherwise it will cost them more for extra collections. Not surprisingly, these extra fees encourage people to make sure they place their rubbish, which can be recycled, in the other bins. The ‘rubbish’ booklet certainly helps.
If, and when, separate fees for rubbish collection become charged in the UK, we might also find ourselves thumbing through a directory to work out what goes where.
Help with Recycling
Bash Your Trash
Many of us in the UK now have green bins for garden rubbish, collected every two weeks. A positive step in keeping this type of biodegradable material out of the normal bin but they fill up quickly.
If you are out in the garden this weekend just half an hour of ‘trimming’ will probably fill your bin, so you might like to know about TrashBasher.
This simple metal attachment clips onto your bin and allows you to compress the green contents so you can get more in. If you have a council which fines you for your bin lid being open (or refuses to empty the bin), the TrashBasher can compact your contents and allow you to get the lid closed.
It is easy to store, lightweight, easy to use and costs £19.99 online from Maplin.
Solar Rubbish
We featured these a while ago (installed in Devon, UK), and now it seems that the use of solar compacting rubbish bins is starting to spread. Milford, located in the USA, has installed two BigBelly solar-powered litter bins, partly paid for by local residents.
A large solar panel on the top of the bin collects energy from the sun which charges an inbuilt battery. Power from this battery is then used to operate a compacting system. As the bin if filled and the rubbish reaches a pre-determined level inside a mechanized arm compressed it so that it takes up less space and leaving more room for other rubbish.
Once completely full the bin door is locked to prevent overflow and a red light shows it needs to be emptied. Compacting like this means that the bin can hole up to six times the amount of rubbish and, therefor, does not need to be emptied so often which, in turn, saves on fuel in the collection vehicles.
Denise Zambrowski, Environmental Affairs Coordinator for the Department of Public Works in Milford commented "It's a really interesting invention to help us deal with solid waste management in public places.”
Funding for the $4,000 bins (about £2,000), came from Franklin residents who donated $5 to $12 on their electric bills over several years, and a grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, which matched the contributions.
[Via: Milforddailynews.com ]
