Why is so little organic waste separated? And why is that a problem?

 

 

If you move through our cities, you will notice countless amounts of organic waste bins. "Great, people use their bio bin for kitchen waste". one would think.

But the reality is very different. If you take a closer look or even dare to look into the organic waste bins, you will quickly find a gaping emptiness inside the brown bins.

In fact, a large part of the kitchen waste still ends up in the residual waste. 1

Really! Kitchen waste accounts for almost 50% of our residual waste. 2
Why is this problematic? Because large amounts of energy have to be used to incinerate the kitchen waste in the residual waste. Organic waste consists of around 80% water. That is why it goes into a rotting process in a short time. And wet waste burns badly.

The paradox of the story: wherever we should use organic waste to generate energy 3 , we incinerate it, consuming a great deal of energy . So doubly bad for the environment.

Now some will (rightly) ask: “Why is this my problem”? Is not it. Your problem lies elsewhere.

Because if we didn't have an organic waste problem, organic waste bins wouldn't be so empty - and residual waste bins wouldn't be so full.

So what is the consumer organic waste problem?

If you lean back and think about it, you realize: it has many faces.

Following situation:

You reward yourself for the strenuous week and make yourself a fine meal on Saturday:

Asparagus with potatoes, plus avocado salad and mango puree for dessert.

You peel the asparagus, potatoes, avocado and mango - all ingredients that are already wet after peeling.

Just ask yourself:

What to do with the peelers?

  • Go straight down to the organic waste bin? That might be fun once, twice, or three times. After that it gets annoying.

  • Wrap it up in newspaper and leave it in the kitchen until the next time (on Monday because of work) you go downstairs? It's going to be a wet (and stinky) mess in the kitchen.

  • Collect in a container or bowl? Then you'll have a lot of stinky bacterial soup in your bowl the very next day. And then how do you clean the bowl after disposing of the waste? With the dishwashing brush that you use next time to clean your dishes? Not advisable, mainly for health and hygiene reasons.

  • Aha! To prevent the stench in a plastic bag? Better not, because you run the increasing risk that the garbage disposal will leave your bin behind. 4 Municipalities are increasingly charging substantial fines in such cases 5 . Even bioplastic bags are unsuitable because bioplastic takes too long to decompose. Modern biogas plants cannot cope with this. 6

    After the biogas plant or the composting plant, the plastic ends up on our fields as microplastics, where it remains for hundreds of years, from where it is flushed into the groundwater, into our lakes or seas, or eventually finds itself in our food 7 .

    • Then just back in the residual waste?...

    Consumers obviously feel powerless and do not know how they can effectively separate organic waste in a short time without harming the environment or their own health or the hygiene of their kitchen.

    The remedy for all these problems is provided by the organic waste dryer from the Japanese company Shima Sangyo, which is sold in Germany exclusively by Espuente GmbH in two different sizes. "We decided to enter into a partnership with Shima Sangyo because the devices offer our customers the perfect mix of beautiful design, high quality, excellent efficiency and optimal value for money," enthuses Tomo Yuki-Hesse, Managing Director of Espuente GmbH. The close cooperation between the two companies offers further plus points, such as the integration of feedback from European customers in the development of future product generations. Or the ability to repair the devices or replace individual parts at a reasonable cost if something breaks. "Thinking and acting in terms of circular economy is extremely important to us - not just because of the environment. We have to change the throwaway society, especially since this will also relieve the burden on our customers' wallets. We have understood that and use these points as a benchmark when selecting our partners”.

    Secure your organic waste dryer in our web shop and bring a completely new attitude to life into your home. 

    1 https://www.nabu.de/umwelt-und-RESOURCES/Abfall-und-recycling/biowaste/biomuell.html

    2 https://www.op-online.de/offenbach/biotonne-offenbachhaeufig-unutilized-9641464.html

    3 https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biogasanlage

    4 https://www.arag.de/service/infos-und-news/rechtstipps-und-gerichturteile/heim-und-garten/09246/ _

    5 https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/auf-der-jagd-nach-dem-plastikmuell-in-der-biotonne,T5y3nuf

    6 https://www.duh.de/fileadmin/user_upload/download/Projectinformation/
    Circular economy/packaging/180920_DUH_result report_
    Composting Survey.pdf

    7 https://www.rbbonline.de/Kontraste/ueber_den_tag_hinaus/wirtschaft/oekoirrweg-biotonne.html

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