What is wet and dry waste? How do you segregate and manage waste? These are important questions you should be asking if you don’t already know. At Protech we take our responsibility towards the environment seriously and have wet and dry waste bins at our residential projects. Here’s a quick guide to waste management.
Your mantra should be ‘want not, waste not’. Luckily, growing up in an average Indian household we all have hands on experience in reduced consumption, reusing and upcycling whatever we bring into our homes. This will go a long way in helping us reduce toxic waste that takes a long time to decompose.
Wet or Dry waste?
How do you identify what goes into the wet waste bin and what goes into the dry waste bin? It’s pretty simple really.
Wet waste is all the kitchen waste that we produce. This can include vegetable peels, used tea, fruits, leftovers, etc. These are basically biodegradable organic waste that can also be composted.
Dry waste comprises of things like paper, glass, plastic, cardboard, Styrofoam, rubber, metal, food packaging material, etc. Even milk cartons and packets go into a dry waste bin. But, one must rinse and dry these before you put them in the bin. Make sure whatever dry waste you discard is actually dry. Soiled packaging waste in this bin is a big no. It only takes a few seconds to rinse out milk and food residues. For things like pizza cardboard box that you cannot rinse, use a wet cloth to wipe and clean. If you don’t do it, it will stink and attract insects and cannot be recycled easily. It’s a habit one needs to cultivate. It might seem annoying at first but then it will come to you naturally. Do your bit for mother earth.
Dry waste is recyclable but will be rejected if it is contaminated or soiled. Wet waste is used for composting. Segregation of wet and dry waste is important because dry waste needs to be uncontaminated for it to be recycled.
Sanitary waste
Sanitary napkins, hair, nails, condoms, anything with bodily fluids, etc. should be wrapped in a newspaper and marked with a red cross. You can use a sketch or ink pen, and hand it over to waste collectors.
Why should you do it?
Why not? We generate approximately 36.5 tonnes of municipal solid waste in India annually. This is later dumped into landfills which wreaks havoc on the environment, and can also reach your food. We must reduce waste and contribute to composting and recycling. The best way to segregate waste is at home even before it reaches the appointed garbage collectors. Imagine the difficulties garbage workers face when we carelessly dump all our waste and they must sort it manually fishing through stinking waste. Be considerate of your fellow human beings and the planet.
Try and reuse plastic bags as much as you can. Carry bags for your purchases to the market. Invest in reusable vegetable bags to easily store your veggies. You can also carry them to the market and ask the vendor to put your purchase in the bag directly instead of a polythene packet. Avoid single use plastics as much as you can. Carry a mug/ bottle at all times. Avoid buying single use water bottles. There is a climate emergency, we must pay attention for the sake of our own well-being and that of our children’s. All our residential projects now have wet and dry waste segregation bins. Here is a link to our latest residential projects – https://protechgroup.in/protech-residential-project.php