Today, part of the population continues to work from home and it is very possible that after the end of the pandemic this trend will continue, this makes us directly responsible for everything we do at home, including the separation of waste and the possibility of recycling. The Covid-19 pandemic multiplied the use of packaging, however, the same has not happened with the recycling rate that remains very weak, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean where we recycle less than 5% of the total solid waste that we generate . It is clear that we have an environmental responsibility, but are we really aware of the impact that each one of us can generate by separating waste correctly?
Here’s why separating waste is so important:
- The consumption of renewable and non-renewable natural resources for industrial production is reduced. Using larger amounts of recycled materials reduces the need to extract natural resources and gives the Earth time to regenerate them.
- Gas emissions that contribute to global warming and climate change are reduced. To the extent that industries use a greater amount of raw materials from recycling, the energy consumption required to produce virgin materials could be reduced, which is much higher. For example, producing recycled PET plastic (the type of plastic used to make soda bottles and other beverages) requires 60-90% less energy than making virgin PET.
- Save energy, input and waste burial costs. When all the recovered recyclable materials re-enter the commercial and industrial circuit, the costs of inputs, energy and water, which the industry needs for their production, are reduced, which makes them cheaper than virgin materials, in some cases.
- Promote decent work. The separation of waste at source contributes to the creation and maintenance of decent work and the integration of a sector of the population that has been largely marginalized.
- It is a legal obligation in Colombia. Resolution 2184 of 2019 of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, in Colombia it is mandatory to separate waste by a color code, established as follows:
White color: To deposit usable waste such as plastic, glass, metals, paper and cardboard.
Black color: To deposit unusable waste such as toilet paper, napkins, papers and cardboard contaminated with food, metallic papers, among others. This bag or container should also dispose of COVID-19 waste such as face masks, gloves, among others.
Green color: To deposit usable organic waste such as food scraps, agricultural waste etc.
Papelsa invites you to think about small actions, actions that depend on you. To take charge of what is in your hands and is part of your day to day, if you correctly separate the waste in your home, you can generate a change: What would happen if many of us separated correctly and recycled? It would be a great sum of small efforts generating a real transformation.
Today humanity needs 1.7 planets to satisfy its consumption rate, so what am I doing to avoid this overdraft?