Self-Service Waste Disposal

A sore issue with single-use plastic is its improper disposal and lack of substantial recovery from consumers. This has led to pollution of our oceans, soil, and water supplies. To rectify this, a shift in consumer disposal behavior is needed to increase recovery and promote proper disposal.

It is proposed that municipalities cease door-to-door waste collection services and opt for the establishment of smart micro-waste compact centers in every community and major buildings. There, consumers can dispose of their sorted waste in a clean, sterile environment with the use of an app or touch screen. Organized waste is collected, trucked or freighted to local or regional facilities for recycling or safe destruction.

In the end, the shift away from door-to-door waste collection services to self-service waste disposal will lead to, among other things, greater single-use plastic recovery plus the discontinuation of dumps and land-fills as a part of future cities waste management system.

More often than not, plastic waste is discarded along with other household waste daily and forwarded to local dumps and land-fills where they are burnt or just left to seep. It is at this point that it seems like a very ‘tall order’ to sift/swim through mounds of mixed and potentially hazardous waste to extract plastic spoons, forks, cups, bags, and bottles. Here lies the problem we are solving – how to curtail waste management systems to recover consumer-sorted plastics and other recyclable waste at the front end?

The shift to self-service waste disposal is a bold one and may not be appropriate for certain populous like rural communities for public health reasons. However, a pilot program at locations where lots of single-use plastic waste accumulate daily such as at stadiums/arenas, schools, or malls would introduce and expose the larger populous to its simplicity and convenience. Their participation through this pilot lessens the likelihood of indiscriminant disposal of plastic waste at dump sites and land-fills so to support a cleaner, healthier environment.

A sore issue with single-use plastic is its improper disposal and lack of substantial recovery from consumers. Plastic waste is found in our oceans, landfills/dumps, and in our environment because plastic waste is discarded along with other mixed household waste. This has led to pollution of our soil, and water supply. To rectify this, a shift in consumer disposal behavior is needed to increase recovery and promote proper disposal.

It is proposed that municipalities cease door-to-door waste collection services and opt for the establishment of smart micro-waste compact centers in every community and major buildings. There, consumers can dispose of their sorted waste in a clean, sterile environment with the use of an app or touch screen. There also, specific waste like plastic, paper, and aluminum cans can be disposed of as well as volatile waste such as batteries, bio-hazards (needles, bandages, sanitary napkins etc.), electronic devices (mobile phones, computers, blenders etc.), and automotive liquids, oil and grease that would have otherwise been mixed together with household waste at the local dump site or land-fill. Organized waste is then collected, trucked or freighted to local or regional facilities for recycling or safe destruction.

You may ask, “Why is this needed? Aren’t there already recycling centers and designated recycling bins for single use plastic and other wastes?”. To which I fully agree, however as we continue to recover few and fewer plastics from the consumers on the front end and witness the expansion of dump sites and land-fills, plastics in our oceans and forests, one must consider other means of single-use plastic waste recovery closer to home. Curbing consumer behavior to recycle as a daily activity is a growing discipline for the Caribbean and Latin America.

In the end, the shift away from door-to-door waste collection services to self-service waste disposal will lead to, among other things, greater single-use plastic recovery plus the discontinuation of dumps and land-fills as a part of future cities waste management system.