WMW - Zero Waste Scotland-Businesses Landfilling Too Many Recyclable

As an organization, we generally work with the public however the private sector must never be forgotten.  As individuals, we often forget ourselves when in the workplace.  I have often seen people, who when at home strive to minimize waste, produce excessive amounts of it in the workplace.  Waste is waste, no matter where you are producing it, so we must always be aware of how much waste we do produce.

This past May, Zero Waste Scotland published a report analysing commercial waste in Scotland, by inspecting mixed waste being sent to landfills.  Retail, education, and health and social work produce over 50% of Scotland's total mixed commercial waste according to Zero Waste Scotland, over half of which could potentially be recycled.  Mixed waste consisted primarily of food, paper, and card waste in all sectors; however other recyclables also showed up in lower quantities.

Regulations passed by the Scottish Parliament require all businesses in Scotland separate paper and card, plastic, metal, and glass for recycling by 2014.  On top of that, those businesses producing over 50kg of food waste per week will be obliged to also separate this by January 2014, with businesses producing between 5kg and 50kg per week following suit by 2016.  According to the report, collections must be available from the council or commercial waste contractor for recycling to be possible.  It must be also noted, that opportunities do in fact exist, encouraging people to increase their use of recycling facilities.

In Ghana, recycling is minimal, though I have found company websites in the past, so it exists.  Now, it is not easy to have this kind of institution where funds are limited, however we have seen in past posts that there is a possibility to recycle from home, even if not in the form of a massive industrial venture.  Possibly my favourite quote in the article is that "it is clear that new waste regulations could boost our economy by getting valuable materials out of landfill and into productive uses."  Regulations may not yet exist in Ghana, but why should that stop us from putting those materials we would otherwise send to the landfills to good use?  Such initiatives as Trashy Bags (I know, I keep mentionning them, but they do great work) or UniquEco in Kenya both take waste and turn it into something people will use, so we know that it can be done!

Tom Udall once said:

It's a national concern, I mean how we dispose of nuclear waste in a safe way, how we deal with this incredible amount of nuclear waste we have created over the years.