Waste disposal at home. Making organic fertilizers with your own hands

Separate waste disposal has long been practiced abroad: containers with compartments for plastic, waste paper, food and toxic waste are installed not only by local authorities, but also by the citizens themselves at home. In Russia and Ukraine, environmental responsibility is developing slowly. And in St. Petersburg they recently began to completely eliminate containers for separate collection installed several years ago: management companies did not come for them for months, and residents used them reluctantly. A correspondent for The Village in St. Petersburg spoke with a man who sorts garbage in his apartment and learned what is needed for separate collection at home.

Where to begin

When my girlfriend and I started sorting garbage at home, we immediately made one big mistake - we didn’t think about what to do with it next. They just started putting aside waste paper, plastic and glass bottles in separate boxes and bags. When, after a few weeks, a whole mountain had accumulated, I realized that I had absolutely no idea where to put it all. Remembering my school experience, I thought that handing over waste paper or bottles would not be difficult. I conducted monitoring in my district - Primorsky - and realized: it is impossible to do everything in one place.

Each type of waste has its own collection points, and waste paper is collected only at weekdays from 12:00 to 14:00, which is very inconvenient. Bottles are also different: one type or color in one area, another in another, plastic ones were not taken anywhere at all. As a result, I had a whole mountain of bottles accumulating and I didn’t know what to do with them. Then I found out about the monthly “Thank You for the Trees” campaign, where you could immediately donate everything you have. Now it is no longer held, but there are many one-time events.

Sorting mechanism

Now we are doing the simplest sorting: there are containers for plastic, glass, waste paper and, of course, food waste. They don’t take up much space, just highlight a small corner. True, it was not possible to train all six residents of the apartment to throw everything into different containers. I started alone, and six months ago my sister joined me. At first, everyone doubted the rationality of our actions, but sorting began to be talked about more in the media, and the neighbors showed more understanding.

If you have a lot of energy and are willing to spend a little more time on this, you can collect paper and cardboard separately, divide glass by color, save metal separately, and remove paper clips from tea bags or magazines. This, of course, will make the work of recycling enterprises easier or even increase the earnings of those involved in recycling, but only if everyone else does it. When one person in the city does this, there is not much benefit.

We throw food waste into a regular trash bin. Some people use so-called vermicomposters at home - these are boxes in which worms process food waste dumped there: there is no smell, and the fertilizer is ready. The worms don’t run away, everything is neat. There are other examples: one pensioner who is involved in the “Vegetable Garden on the Roof” project decided to create a continuous cycle of consumption and recycling on the roof of her apartment building. She put compost bins there, where the whole house dumps its food waste. The processed recyclable materials are subsequently used to fertilize the soil in the garden.

Where to take it

To start For those wishing to sort waste, I recommend finding out the location of collection points for glass, paper, food and hazardous waste near your home. I am an environmental engineer by training and I didn’t even know this. Once you get past this stage, separate disposal no longer seems so problematic.

With paper or waste paper it’s easiest now: there are many points and private companies that are ready to come and pick up all the waste paper from your office or home, weighing from 200 kilograms. This is difficult within an apartment. But one of my friends came to an agreement with the management company, and now they collect cardboard and paper with the whole house, which they then take away special services. The management company spends the profits from recycling on landscaping the local area and for technical needs.

Like metal trash tin cans I throw it out in a separate bag, and then take it to the general trash can in the yard, from where it is taken away almost instantly.

The situation with hazardous waste, especially batteries, is also gradually improving: they are allowed to be collected by any company or any person in general. I can walk around the city with a box and collect them to hand over. Many gas stations and shopping centers have special containers for collecting batteries, mercury lamps and medical waste. Like an eco-car, only stationary.

Now there are a lot of waste disposal points in the city; they can be found on the map of the website Recyclemap.ru. There, for each area, there are collection points for glass, paper, hazardous waste and even clothing. For me, the most convenient promotion is “Separate collection”. They recently started to operate - this Saturday they will go around the city for the second time to collect recyclable materials. There is another way for the laziest or busiest - ecotaxi, which is planned to be launched soon. Judging by the reviews on social networks, many people liked the idea. If they do not inflate the price, then for 200–300 rubles this will be an excellent alternative to “Separate collection”.

Recycling

Most often, waste is sent directly to a waste disposal site, bypassing storage facilities. There are two waste sorting stations in St. Petersburg, where workers select useful fractions from the general waste pile. There, the percentage of recyclable materials recovery is very low: from 3 to 15% maximum. Abroad, up to 90% of waste is sent for recycling.

You need to understand: whatever one may say, preliminary sorting is necessary and very important. If the city is not doing this, then we can do it. In any case, food waste must be separated from everything else: it stains, rots and spoils everything around. The same plastic bag can no longer be recycled if it's covered in banana and leftover vinaigrette. Imagine how on a conveyor belt people are trying to pull out a cardboard or a plastic bottle from all our compressed garbage. This is unrealistic and no one will do this.

Greenpeace.org
Greenpeace.org
Greenpeace.org
Greenpeace.org
Greenpeace.org

Education

Officials and the administration have their own opinion on this matter: they claim that no one uses garbage containers for separate disposal and that is why they are dismantled. And residents say that they are ready to use it if infrastructure is created for them and garbage is removed on time, and the lids of the bins are not locked. I heard somewhere that if at least 4% of city residents start doing something, the rest will start to follow them. This will set a trend - such a marketing rule.

There is an opinion: “Here I am alone, what’s the point of this then?” But if a person at least rinses the bottle and donates it to a promotion or at a collection point, this will already be a huge step. If only because it will attract the attention of other people. I went to school on extracurricular lesson ecology and told children about separate recycling and how to make the planet cleaner. Children in grades four and five already understand well the meaning of separate waste collection and recycling. It became unclear to me: if children understand, then why don’t adults do this? Maybe such an irresponsible generation that should be replaced by growing environmental activists? We asked them why people don’t do this then, and the schoolchildren confirmed our theory: people are either lazy or simply don’t know where to take their garbage.

The authorities can influence the consciousness of citizens and their desire to properly dispose of waste. This cannot rest on activists alone: ​​they simply do not have the ability to oversee an entire city. IN European countries They have long been conducting campaigns to inform the population about how to use bins and how to properly sort garbage. And then they just put it on and that’s it. Russia will come to this one way or another, but without government initiative it will take much longer.

Having trouble dealing with trash at home? A little more attention to this and you will learn to manage household waste and recycle waste at home. With proper planning, you can save money and have a smaller impact on the environment.

Step 1: Reduce Waste

Use a cloth bag instead of a plastic one

This small measure will significantly reduce the amount of waste you bring home. No matter where you shop, bring your own reusable cloth bags instead of buying plastic bags from the store. Prepare ahead of time and buy a few reusable bags and keep them in a visible place so you don't forget your bag the next time you go shopping. For example, in the kitchen or in the trunk of a car.

• If you forget to take your bags to the store, you can still reduce your waste! Most stores now sell cloth or paper bags.
• The use of such packages extends not only to products. Take one when you go shopping for clothes, tools or any other goods.

Buy food that has less packaging

Products that come in boxes wrapped in plastic with individually wrapped portions inside certainly generate more waste than can be avoided. Look for foods with minimal packaging, especially plastic and polyethylene, and you'll see your trash pile shrink in size. Here are a few nuances:

• Buy bulk products by weight. It would be good if the store has paper bags for such goods.
• Store food in airtight glass or plastic containers.
• It is better to take dairy products in glass containers; farmers' markets are an excellent option.

Method 1. Recycling food waste - composting with worms

This method of recycling waste at home allows you to quickly compost food waste with almost no odor.

Pick up a box. This will be a home for the worms, and a place where they digest the organic material you put in for them. You can buy it at a farm store or make it yourself. Suitable materials:

• rubber - cheap, simple and durable;
• galvanized containers;
• wood - provides better air exchange, but then you need to use wood that has not been chemically treated;
• plastic buckets 20 liters;

Ventilation. The receptacle for home waste recycling must be well inspected. The holes must be made large, otherwise the worms will remain below and die.

Size. For every 500 grams of worms you need about 1 square meter of area. Depth no more than 60 cm.

Lid. The container should have a lid to prevent light from shining on the compost and preventing the substance from drying out. You can simply use a lid of a suitable size, a tarpaulin with fastenings, wood, burlap (then you can water directly).

Base. At this home recycling station, you can create a fence to separate it from the premises. Suitable:

• old tires,
• boards and bricks and so on.

Room. The container should be in a cool place to avoid overheating. In the yard - in the shade, under a tree, in a garage or shed.

Internal Ecosystem

Fill the bin with pieces of corrugated cardboard or newspaper, straw, dry grass or some similar material. This will provide a source of fiber and support ventilation. Add a handful of dirt and water thoroughly. Let the water soak in for a day before adding the worms.

This flowerbed will eventually turn into a rich nutrients compost.

Avoid putting pine, redwood, or eucalyptus leaves into the box. Most brown leaves are acceptable to worms.

Choose your worms

There are several varieties of worms that are suitable for vermicomposting. Simply digging up earthworms is not recommended. You should buy a pound of worms from a gardening store or online.

The most commonly used worms are:

• Eisenia fetida,
• Eisenia hortensis.

They are able to eat a lot (more than half their weight), reproduce quickly, and feed on paper.

How often to load trash and collect compost

You need to add garbage regularly. Worms eat fruit and vegetable scraps, bread, grains, tea, coffee, shells - almost anything that people eat. If you shred the garbage, the worms will process it faster. It needs to be mixed with the soil in the box to prevent midges.

You need to water the box every other day. You need to add it once a month potato peelings, paper or hay to have fibrous material.

Compost can be made for 3-6 months.

What not to do!

Don't feed the worms too often or too much. If your compost bin starts to smell, it may be because you are feeding your worms more than they can handle.

The following products are not suitable:

• a lot of citrus fruits - no more than 1/5 of the total number of worms;
• Meat or fish;
• Fats or excessively fatty waste;
• Dairy products (except shells);
• Cat or dog feces;
• Twigs.

Cleaning

Composting involves sacrificing some worms. Separate the worms from the mass; you will put them into a new blank in the same box. If you don't need your hands and rubber gloves, there is a long way: tilt the container and add new fibrous materials, water, etc. to the free side. The worms will crawl there themselves over time.

Method 2. Storing garbage in the freezer

If you don’t want to create an exotarium, you can store organic waste in the freezer. It is better to use paper bags or just lay them on the litter. Then, when the space is full, the garbage is dumped into one bag and taken to the country house in a compost heap or to a landfill.

Method 3. Automatic composter for the kitchen

Most often, they look like a trash can, tightly closed so as not to spread the smell, but the trouble is that devices for home waste recycling are expensive. For example, NatureMill will cost about 10 thousand, and finding it in the store is not so easy. Please note:

• what type of waste can be recycled this model;
• what time will she do it;
• what is the permissible volume and is it sufficient for your family;
• what principle is the model based on: there are also vermicomposters that operate according to the principle with worms described above. If this disgusts you, it is better to choose a device that uses microorganisms or heat to process waste at home.

Home toilets with recycling

A composting toilet contains a special tank where the backfill is placed and the sewage can be processed into compost. Such equipment is especially valuable for a country house and an estate with a plot. These toilets are cleaned once a year. There are models that run on electricity, and there are manual ones (you can make them yourself).

Popular options:

• Separett Villa 9000 (dry toilet, works without filler)
• Biolet Mulltoa 20
• Biolan Populette

There are different operating principles:

1. Removal of water, salts and other things from a mass, that is, separation into solid and liquid parts, each placed in its own container. This dry toilet must be ventilated.
2. Peat toilets, in which the mass is filled with granules on top and the smell does not spread: there are devices with a dispenser, and others with manual filling.
3. Toilets in which sewage is burned through an incandescent coil or over an open fire. They require a powerful filter and a high degree of protection to prevent odors and fire from spreading. The result is water and ash (which is suitable as fertilizer).
4. Freezer toilets. They do not allow recycling of waste at home, but only prevent the spread of odors if the house is not connected to a sewer.

For seven years in a row, Chernigov resident Antonina Tarasova and her children - son Maxim and daughter Alena - have not thrown leftover food into the trash. Thanks to a unique container for fermenting food waste, or, more simply, a plastic bucket with a tap, they obtain useful fertilizer from leftover food. If the majority of people became interested in such biotechnologies and everyone had such a mini-factory for the production of compost in their kitchen, then, according to Antonina Nikolaevna, we would not only become considerably richer, but also improve the health of the planet. In addition, they would teach this to their children, who would then take care of the world around them and pass on their experience to the next generations.

We recently visited a social activist, author of many environmental projects Antonina Tarasova saw with her own eyes how a woman uses a container for fermenting food waste, and also heard a lot of positive things about the use of this miracle installation.

“The container consists of a fifteen-liter cylinder, the bottom of which is raised ten centimeters,” says Antonina. - There is a tap in the wall on one side of the bucket. There is a special grille installed in the middle, as well as two covers - internal and external.

In a regular plastic garbage bag, I use a fork to make holes through which the liquid will drain to the bottom. I fill the bag with scraps crushed in a food processor. This could be melon and watermelon peels, potato peelings, apple and pear pits, and the remains of other fruits and vegetables. Organic waste suitable for recycling includes residues bakery products, flour, cereals and cereals, bran, soaked paper and cardboard, sawdust from deciduous trees, residues from processing meat and fish.

Don't put bones and scales in the bag. Egg shells are also not fermentable, but can be used as fertilizer. Then I add a special product that I buy in advance. I close the inner lid tightly and press it down with a large stone. Then I close the bucket with another lid and place the container on the floor. Thanks to bacteria, yeast and fungi that process organic matter, there is no unpleasant odor,” explains the woman.

According to Antonina Tarasova, the container provides two types of fertilizer: compost, which can be stored in the basement, and liquid, which is collected in plastic bottles.

“The liquid generated after processing food waste is very valuable,” continues the owner. - You can water indoor plants with it once or twice a week. To do this, you need to make a special solution: one teaspoon is enough for ten liters of non-chlorinated water. We also use this liquid at the dacha and treat the beds. Organics help fight fat deposits and lime on the walls of sinks, bathtubs and toilets.

I also use the solution in the toilet in my garden in the village. I simply pour 250 ml of the product into the cesspool, and the smell disappears within a week, and after three months, fertilizer is formed there, which can then be used in gardening. The land that I water with organic matter becomes loosened, and subsequently people willingly settle there for permanent residence. earthworms. The soil enriched with liquid from the container gives a much better harvest of vegetables and fruits. And we get all this at almost no cost!”

For two hours the hostess talked about recycling organic waste at home, and how only microorganisms can recycle garbage without harming nature.

“Microbes and plants are the main participants food chain, because they are the ones who close its outermost links,” explains Antonina. - It all starts with plants. Only they form organic substances, which are transformed many times and serve as food and building material for all forms of life.

Just a few decades ago, the word “biotechnology” was associated with sterile cleanliness, various complex instruments, highly qualified employees and even state secrets. At that time, few people thought that biotechnology was one of the manifestations various forms life. This technology is “bio” because living microorganisms work here: bacteria, fungi and yeast. They work not for remuneration (no one has yet thought of paying microbes a salary), but because that’s how they are designed.

People just don't think about how much organic matter they throw it away,” continues Antonina Tarasova. - Having visited the landfill outside Masanakh, seeing real heaps of garbage and flocks of crows prowling in search of food, feeling the unbearably persistent and pungent smell hovering several kilometers from that place, I could not calm down for a long time. We are destroying ourselves! Something needs to be done about this!”

The woman believes that if such a device were used in every home, the environmental situation could be corrected.

“Thanks to containers, a family of three to four people can receive half a ton of organic fertilizer per year, which is five to fifteen times more effective than humus,” says Antonina. - Recycled food waste, instead of landfill, would end up in gardens or flower beds near high-rise buildings. It is not the rotting of organic residues that occurs in the bucket, but their processing with the help of effective microorganisms.

Within seven to ten days, organic matter can be used in crop production, gardening, for the production of fertilizers, and wastewater treatment. For example, Japan has long had a program to clean up the Inland Sea of ​​Japan. In this country, containers are used by almost four million families, and in South Korea in one district of the city of Busan alone there are more than two million people. There has even been a movement in the United States that promotes the use of such installations in schools, businesses and catering establishments.”

“Energy can be obtained from garbage” “The Epoch Times” wrote that they are going to build a grandiose waste processing plant near Kiev. He, like a vacuum cleaner, will clear our capital of all rubbish. This gives hope, but “while the grass grows, the horse will die of hunger.” Therefore, we need to find a way out of this difficult situation now.

Kiev resident Marianna with a “compost bucket” suggests that there are no hopeless situations. She bought 2 20 liter buckets to collect food scraps and compost them. I drilled holes in one so that the resulting liquid would flow into another bucket.

At the bottom of the bottom, the housewife put wet pieces of an egg tray and last year's leaves brought from the street. Marianne put vegetable scraps, eggshells, etc. in the top bucket. When a layer of 3-4 cm had formed, she generously sprinkled it with a mixture of bokashi, which promotes fermentation. In addition to everything, the experimenter watered the future compost with a product to increase the yield of EOs.

Within a month the bucket was filled to the brim. She poured the liquid from the bottom bucket, which had a terrible smell, as Marianna herself writes, into the toilet. The rest of the waste continued to decompose, turning into fertile soil. When the fertilizer was ready, the Kiev woman added it to the boxes on the balcony in which she grew lettuce, basil, parsley, lemon balm and even oak.

Bokashi, bokashi, how good are you?

Let's look at our task more broadly. It turns out that many families in Japan have long adopted a similar method.

The process of making compost at home from food waste was developed by a Japanese gardener. The method has two undoubted advantages:

• recycling of organic waste, and almost odorless;
• repels rats, flies and other uninvited “guests”.

How does the bokashi composting method work?

We put the peelings of vegetables and fruits in a special compost bin; it has a drain at the bottom, like in a wine barrel. Sprinkle a 2-3 cm layer of the bokashi mixture and cover with a lid.

The next day we put the leftover food there again and sprinkle the bokashi generously again. It should be said that meat and dairy waste cannot be processed using this method, it is not suitable for this.

After 10 days, the bucket produces liquid that can be used as fertilizer.

In Japan, entire gardens are grown using bokashi, since the compost obtained in an apartment quickly takes root in free soil. In a short time it produces a lot of earthworms, which perfectly loosen the soil. This is followed by a good harvest.

“Emochki-Bokashi” is one of the most popular EM fertilizers in the world. A kilogram of the product costs about 50 UAH. Also sold in bags of 250 g and 450 g. Type “bokashi mixture Kyiv” (or another city) into a search engine to find a suitable seller. It can also be found in specialized gardening stores.

In addition to organic waste, in order to clean your yard, city and country of garbage, it is worth separating other types of waste and taking them to the appropriate recycling collection points. The Epoch Times has developed a map that shows places around the city hosting different types waste.

We present to you and, which shows the consequences of people not separating their garbage - landfills in Kyiv and the Kyiv region.

Plastic products have become an integral part of our lives, so today the topic of recycling plastic at home has acquired particular significance. plastics, even done in your own home, contributes to the protection environment from huge piles of almost non-degradable plastic (polymer) waste.

The basis of all plastics is polymers (compounds having a high molecular weight and consisting of monomers). The ability to recycle plastics depends on the type of raw material from which the plastic product is made. These days there are many types of plastic, which, however, can be combined into two large groups:

1. Thermoplastic. Approximately 80% of plastic products are made from this material. Includes types: HDPE, LDPE, PET, PP, PS, PVC, etc.
2. Thermosetting plastic. Represented by polyurethane, epoxy, phenolic resins, etc.

It is impossible to recycle the second type of plastic at home, because... Thermoset plastic cannot be re-melted (in some cases, it is crushed in factories and used as a filler).

Thermoplastics, when heated, melt without losing their initial properties and, upon cooling, regain their original shape. That is why “at home” it is possible to process only thermoplastic plastics using special, but “simple” equipment and obtain new useful products and materials from them.

The most common recycled materials are other plastic containers.

Each plastic is unique in its own way, from its structure to its recycling. On our website, comprehensive articles have been written about each type of plastic as waste; you can read them at the following links: , .

What do you need to recycle at home?

Industrial devices, plastic recyclers, expensive and require large areas. Of course, such units are not suitable for implementing the idea of ​​recycling plastic waste at home. To produce new products from waste plastic using a handicraft method, you will need to independently design several special machines.

Following the Precious Plastic project

To recycle plastic “with your own hands,” you will need the following devices (or one of them, depending on your goal):

1. Shredder. Grinds to obtain crumbs of a given size, which are then subjected to further processing. The device includes several main components: a grinding part, a feeding hopper, a frame and a power source. The most labor-intensive stage in the manufacture of the device is the production of the grinding element, consisting of a shaft with blades “strung” on it. The loading hopper is made of sheet metal (waste material, such as old car parts, can also be used here). The required size of the resulting plastic fraction is set using a mesh installed under the grinding part.
2. Compression device (press). The plastic chips loaded into the machine are subjected to high pressure and high temperature, the result of the process is the production of new compressed plastic products of various shapes. The main elements of the device: oven, bed, press and electronics.
3. Injector (“injector”). Principle of operation of this device is that under the influence high temperature plastic chips are melted into a fluid mass, which is then injected into some form. After the plastic mass cools, new solid objects of small size are obtained.
4. Extruder. The heated plastic mass is forced through the channel of the device, as a result of the process the plastic comes out of the device in the form of threads. Using an extruder you can produce plastic granules.

Plastic recycling line from the Precious Plastic project.

Drawings for assembling all these devices can be downloaded for free www.preciousplastic.com. There you can also watch video instructions, which clearly and clearly explain the technologies for creating devices, necessary materials and sequence of actions.

The Precious Plastic project is international. Its creator, Dave Hakkens, improved designs for polymer processing devices found on the Internet and, using his knowledge, designed effective devices that make it easy to produce new products from plastic waste. The project helps ordinary people create machines that recycle plastic, and with their help benefit not only themselves, but also the environment.

We also recommend reading an interesting article about on an industrial scale. The article discusses in detail all the main types of equipment, from crushers and shredders to entire lines for processing plastic into granules. It also covers such an important issue as choosing the necessary equipment to start a business using plastic waste.

A simple mechanism for cutting plastic bottles

The essence of this cutter is that it cuts from the edge plastic bottle(along its circumference) threads having a certain thickness. The result is achieved thanks to a fixed blade sliding along the plastic product. The process does not require electrical energy; the device consists only of a holder and a cutter itself.

From plastic threads obtained with your own hands, you can create various interior items, baskets and other objects for which a person has enough imagination.

A few words about safety precautions

Recycling plastic at home does not require advanced safety knowledge. When melting plastic, it is worth arming yourself with fire-resistant gloves (you can use welding gloves) to avoid burns.

Also When working with plastic products, it is important to know that they should not be burned, because Some types of plastics, when burned, release toxic compounds into the environment.

Of course, it is better if plastic waste is shredded, melted, etc. will take place in a specially designated place, for example in a garage. Do not forget about safety during the manufacture of devices for processing plastic raw materials. Here it is also necessary to use personal protective equipment:

• special glasses for cutting metal;
• welding mask when welding;
• canvas or leather gloves.

How to melt plastic at home?

You can melt plastic waste at home using one of the previously described devices (press, injector, extruder). However, their creation requires certain skills and time.

You can resort to melting plastic using more primitive methods. For example, to obtain a plastic screw cap, you can build a metal syringe and a solid mold.

Process description

Polypropylene (marked “PP”) can be used as a raw material. The crushed material is placed into a manufactured syringe and compacted with a metal piston. A syringe filled with plastic is placed in a conventional oven for about 30 minutes at a temperature of 220-240°C.

Then the molten plastic mass is squeezed out of the syringe into the prepared mold, and the material must be kept under pressure for some time. After cooling, the finished product can be removed from the mold.

Useful video about recycling

Craftsmen produce a variety of products from waste plastic. To learn how plastic molding can be done at home to produce a screw wing, see this video:

You can melt several plastic bottle caps using a hair dryer. The process of molding useful small plastic products is presented in the following video:

Benefit

The main benefit of recycling plastic yourself is that unnecessary and cheap materials are used to create new products that are widely used in everyday life and other areas of our lives.

Having built special equipment, you can organize a small business based on the production and sale of materials for subsequent processing (for example, flex) or ready-to-use items (plastic dishes, wicker furniture, etc.).

Industrial recycling of plastic involves solving many problems. It is much easier to recycle plastic waste at home. It is only important to set yourself a goal and decide on the direction of processing. And it is possible to design plastic processing devices of any complexity with the help of the “omniscient” Internet.