Yes, but the main issue is how mixed the materials are in our consumables. Mixed recycling is basically bullshit. We should have more standardized packaging and more categories of separation strictly enforced. Japan does this pretty well.
You could opt in to pay extra for sorting if you can afford it sure.
And emissions need to be better taxed, and illegal dumping and discharge into rivers and such a jailable crime with big fines for businesses with accountability going right up the chain to investors.
Japan’s ultra-organized and visible garbage separation is mostly for show and establishing “social harmony.” 80% of their municipal waste is thrown into incinerators- the highest of all countries in the OECD.
That’s a result of Tokyo and the other biggest cities only separating into recyclable bottles, non-recyclable or non-burnable material (i.e. inorganics) and all the rest which is as you say incinerated.
They also have some, if not the most clean burning incenerators in the world, and they use the waste material for construction and land reclamation.
Burning plastics at very high temperatures is far more environmentally friendly than sending them to landfills or attempting to recycle them.
Nevertheless they are known for excess packaging and obviously my arguments about standardization still apply to Japan as much as anyone else.
The UK Government are taking steps to address this, whilst also charging the companies for the material they use as well as charging extra if it’s a mix.
The situation is currently a mess with the rules being different only a mile down the road, so even just to have some standardisation is appreciated.
Washington State does this well too. Almost every bin you see, from downtown Seattle to upstate near Victoria to Mount Rainier, everything is separated by trash, metal, and paper
Edit: or something similar. Haven’t been up to Washington in a bit
Yes, but the main issue is how mixed the materials are in our consumables. Mixed recycling is basically bullshit. We should have more standardized packaging and more categories of separation strictly enforced. Japan does this pretty well.
You could opt in to pay extra for sorting if you can afford it sure.
And emissions need to be better taxed, and illegal dumping and discharge into rivers and such a jailable crime with big fines for businesses with accountability going right up the chain to investors.
Japan’s ultra-organized and visible garbage separation is mostly for show and establishing “social harmony.” 80% of their municipal waste is thrown into incinerators- the highest of all countries in the OECD.
That’s a result of Tokyo and the other biggest cities only separating into recyclable bottles, non-recyclable or non-burnable material (i.e. inorganics) and all the rest which is as you say incinerated.
They also have some, if not the most clean burning incenerators in the world, and they use the waste material for construction and land reclamation.
Burning plastics at very high temperatures is far more environmentally friendly than sending them to landfills or attempting to recycle them.
Nevertheless they are known for excess packaging and obviously my arguments about standardization still apply to Japan as much as anyone else.
Japan is also very short on space which i think is a major factor in why they use incinerators more than traditional landfills.
The UK Government are taking steps to address this, whilst also charging the companies for the material they use as well as charging extra if it’s a mix. The situation is currently a mess with the rules being different only a mile down the road, so even just to have some standardisation is appreciated.
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/simpler-recycling-household-recycling-in-england
This is nice to see. I wish they’d actually do something about our water companies too.
Washington State does this well too. Almost every bin you see, from downtown Seattle to upstate near Victoria to Mount Rainier, everything is separated by trash, metal, and paper
Edit: or something similar. Haven’t been up to Washington in a bit