Garbage in different countries of the world. Environmental problems in Brazil and environmental policy. Japan: zero-waste “philosophy” in action

Details Created 04/03/2013 12:35

It would seem that we already know almost everything about life abroad, and yet, when we come to visit friends and relatives, we are surprised by many things. Among these “amazing little things” is the technology of separate waste disposal. How to properly dispose of garbage different countries? And who makes sure that garbage is thrown away according to the rules?

The problem of waste disposal today is recognized as one of the most important for humanity: every year there is more and more waste, and landfills are gradually expanding into human habitats. By sorting waste, foreigners help the state reduce disposal costs and reduce the space required for waste disposal. How can you avoid making mistakes when throwing out trash when you come for a visit or permanent residence?

Germany

Germany is a European leader in waste recycling and was one of the first to introduce a separate waste disposal system. The Germans sort their garbage at home, putting it into colorful bags and containers. Separately separate glass, plastic, paper, food waste and other household trash. For each type of waste, different containers are placed near high-rise buildings and in private neighborhoods and a separate collection day is provided.

Return plastic bottles for 10-25 cents apiece at the nearest grocery store, and throw away used batteries in special boxes that are located in stores and office buildings. First of all, the Germans themselves monitor how you throw out garbage, but there are also special “garbage” police. Take the waste sorting system very seriously: if anyone notices that you are throwing everything in a pile, you will face a rather large fine.

USA

America celebrates International Recycling Day, which is used as an opportunity to draw public attention to the importance of this problem. The country has also developed separate waste disposal, and has a system of fines for violating the rules. IN last years Another method of dealing with waste has become popular - waste minimization. Manufacturers produce more economical packaging, and you, as a consumer, must accustom yourself to reuse purchased items.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, you are required by law to sort waste, and if you violate it, you will pay a fine. There are containers with inscriptions placed on the streets that will not allow you to make a mistake. Printed products take it to a waste paper collection point, of which there are many in every area.

Separately, throw away batteries - in special “birdhouses” near schools, press cans using a home press, which is found in every Swiss home, take old electrical appliances to collection points. The trash control system doesn't just work at home: try throwing something out of your car window and you'll immediately get a fine.

Sweden

In Sweden, it will be much easier for you to hand over waste paper: it is put out the door once a week on the appointed day. But you will have to tinker with the bottles: they need to be sorted by glass color. In order to get rid of hazardous waste(batteries, batteries, aerosol cans, etc.) walk to the nearest gas station, having previously placed everything in containers with the appropriate colors.

Japan

In Japan, household waste will most likely need to be separated into two containers labeled “combustible” and “non-combustible”. A special approach has been found in the country to the disposal of used household appliances: manufacturers have recently been responsible for solving this problem, which means that in the near future companies will either have to change production technologies or develop a scheme for receiving and recycling electrical equipment.

Vatican

Even the Vatican preaches separate waste disposal! A significant part of the Vatican garbage is waste from luxurious gardens: palm branches, pine cones, pine needles and grass. The Vatican tries to limit the amount of paper consumed, and the press service's cartridges are refilled many times.

Waste disposal – serious problem even in economically different countries. More and more waste is being generated, and scientists are not tired of looking for new methods for the safe disposal of waste, since storing it in specialized places (landfills) is economically impractical and environmentally unsafe. Today we want to tell you how to solve this problem in different countries of the world, whose experience we should learn from.

General principles of waste disposal

Each country has its own methods of waste disposal, which are conventionally divided into three global approaches.

• Liquidation. The most popular option involves isolation and gradual destruction of waste. This includes the removal of solid waste to landfills, specially designated sites, dumping into technical reservoirs, and mines.
• Partially liquidation. The waste is pre-processed and the recyclables are separated for recycling. The remaining ones not subject to reuse waste is destroyed in some way.
• Recycling. All waste is recycled. Combustible parts, flammable components, and organic substances are separated from the waste, and the remainder is burned to produce energy or steam.

Civilized, economically the developed countries strive for a complete transition to the recycling method of waste disposal.

How garbage is neutralized in different countries of the world

Modern waste disposal technologies can easily compete with the latest space developments. The emphasis is on environmental friendliness and mechanization of processes for extracting components for reuse.

Italy: unique way solid waste separation

Separate collection of solid waste is a specialty of Italy. For example, in Rome, garbage is taken to plastic bags, recyclable materials are extracted from them, then divided into three fractions:

— large ones are allowed for magnetic separation;

— small ones are processed in a composter;

— the remains are burned.

Food waste goes to enterprises that produce feed for ruminant animals. Organics are sterilized, processed and dried, then mixed with cornmeal, vitamins and microelements, and granulated.

Sweden: automated waste recycling

In the Swedish city of Strömstad there is a waste processing plant where all generated solid waste is received. The waste is crushed and sorted using a cylindrical screen. Fine fractions are mixed with sediments Wastewater in a special container and then stacked.

Japan: zero-waste “philosophy” in action

The island state values ​​its territory and cannot allow the land to be used for landfills. The separation of waste is somewhat different from other countries: 4 types of waste are placed in separate containers: combustible, non-combustible, recyclable and bulky. For each type of waste, separate transparent bags of different sizes are produced and a certain color. People sort the waste, but the bags are not collected if the waste is not sorted correctly. The main part of the waste is burned by a plasma flow with a temperature of 1200ºС and above: during this treatment, no resins are formed, and toxic waste is destroyed. From 30 tons of garbage, about 6 tons of ash are obtained, which is used in construction after cleaning.

Holland: maximum use of recycled resources

The country operates a unique waste recycling plant that produces tons of paper, metal, plastics and organic components for composting from waste.

Germany: Foucault current sorting

The country has successfully used a unique technology for separating waste from non-ferrous metals using a Foucault current. Modern equipment processes waste and prepares it for recycling.

England and USA: organics from food raw materials

An experimental technology for producing ethyl alcohol pulp grown using food waste has saved millions of dollars, decontaminated waste and reduced landfills.

Finland: recycling everything that can be recycled

All waste is collected in separate containers, and in large parks you can find special containers for compost - sort of mini-factories for the neutralization and processing of organic matter. Sorting waste is the responsibility of people, and they do an excellent job of this job, carefully placing waste in different boxes. In addition, all packaged products are sold with a deposit for the container: if you return an empty drink can to the store, you will be refunded its value.

Recycling of garbage and waste, including construction, medical, and chemical waste, has already turned into a successful sector of the economy, allowing for the saving of primary resources. This process is well established in Belarus, however, there are still places of unauthorized dumps, and not only the owners of private houses, but also employees and organizations are guilty of this. Recycling and removal of waste always constitute a separate line of the estimate when carrying out, and some, in order to save money, dispose of waste in the nearest forest. In accordance with the Code of the Republic of Belarus on administrative offenses fine for unauthorized release, storage and disposal of waste - up to 1000 basic units (1 basic unit is 24.5 rubles). Is the unjustified risk of such consequences worth it? It's up to you to decide!

Benefits, banknotes and garbage teleport

Back in the middle of the last century, the problem of garbage was not so acute. The most developed countries simply brought it to Africa and continued to develop further. But very quickly nature showed that everything in it is cyclical. IN medieval cities people simply threw garbage out the window and ended up with the plague. Europeans and Americans received garbage islands on their territories and many other problems from garbage arriving from Africa, which they sent there. Waste dumped in the desert could not simply dissolve in a vacuum. Since then, most developed countries have made great progress in terms of disposal and recycling. They approached the issue pragmatically, as always, and very quickly learned to make huge money from it.

Has begun garbage business from separation. But not territories or financial flows, but garbage. In European cities, there was massive propaganda about how good it is to put garbage in different bags, and how bad it is to dump it in one pile. Separate collection made it possible to separate organics, household waste, glass, plastic, paper, batteries, and metals at the consumer stage. Secondary sorting took place directly on the conveyor, and then each recycler sent the waste to where it saw fit.

But if you don’t want to give it away, but to receive a few banknotes, collect and sort not only your own, but also other people’s garbage. This is how some German schoolchildren earn money. Waste-to-fuel plants are also popular in the Netherlands. And here you can get coupons for a discount on payment for collecting and separating waste utilities, and even for the purchase of housing.

The Spaniards, unlike other European residents, are not so thrifty. It's common for them to have trash on the streets. Some cities decided to deal with this in a very original way. There are special teleports on the streets of Barcelona. When you throw garbage at them, it immediately ends up in an incinerator.

Surprisingly, the British, who are prim according to legend, are also not the cleanest. In some areas, trash may only be picked up once or twice a week. The authorities are fighting against dirty people, punishing them with a pound. Even improperly placed bins on your front lawn can result in a fine of around £1,000.

Plastic is one of the most important pollutants of our time.

Plastic is one of the most polluting materials for environment. Polymers are cheap, they are universal, they can be used literally anywhere. As a result, almost half of human waste is polymers. Under natural conditions, they take hundreds of years to decompose. During the decomposition process, harmful substances are released, such as styrene, phenol, formaldehyde, etc. However, plastic is difficult and unprofitable to recycle. This way, not even 10% of plastic waste is recycled in the world.

One of the global solutions in the fight against plastic is the creation of biopolymers. Already, many of them are actively used in various areas of life. In medicine with surgical operations water-soluble polymers are used that are assimilated without harm human body. There are much fewer of them in other areas. However, with the development of technology, bioplastics are increasingly appearing among conventional packaging and household products. This happens because previously it was simply not profitable for manufacturers to invest in this industry. The production of bioplastic was many times more expensive. But with the development of technological progress, obstacles are gradually being eliminated. In 2013, the biopolymer market was just under $65 million. Now it has approximately tripled. Projected by 2020 total number bioplastics will account for 5-7% of all polymers. Now it's about 1%.

One of the most common this moment Biopolymers are considered to be polylactide. It is extracted from lactic acid. The Swiss company Sulzer has created a plant for the production of such plastics in the Netherlands, where about 5,000 tons of biopolymers are produced per year. Interestingly, the company did not have to completely change the technology. To produce bioplastics, it was enough to slightly modernize the enterprise for the production of conventional polymers. Even more interesting is that one of the main shareholders of this company is a financial group from Russia - Renova.

Plastic recycling is also cultivated in Switzerland itself. To simplify the process, it is customary in the country to separate waste not just by quality, but also by color. In this case, the lids from the containers are stored in a separate container.

In the United States, polymer waste is dealt with in different ways. For example, in Minneapolis and St. Pau, it is generally prohibited to sell food in plastic packaging, if it is not made of biopolymers. States have a triage program polymer waste which is encouraged by the state. For collected bottles, citizens receive various preferences - from monetary rewards to benefits and bonuses. And one of the US universities has come close to technologies that in the future can help get rid of plastic in principle. The plastic is placed in a barrel with a catalyst and heated for 3 hours at a temperature of 700 degrees. The plastic is then turned into carbon, which is used to charge the batteries. They say that they work much better and longer than others.

In Japan, 20 years ago, laws were passed that strictly limited the use of hydrocarbon polymers. Legal entities They pay much less taxes if they sort or recycle such waste themselves. Individuals receive various preferences, for example, in the form of reduced utility bills, etc.

In Germany they approached the problem differently. In addition to their cult of sorting and separating waste, German clothing brands also use recycled plastic. The Puma brand has produced a special range of clothing called InCycle. The German “circle” (that’s how the name is translated) included traditional sportswear made from natural fabrics interspersed with polyester, which was obtained from recycled materials. plastic bottles. The entire collection was created from biodegradable materials. The company has installed special bins in its stores where worn-out shoes can be thrown away. The part that is not biodegradable will go into production new clothes. The other will become polyester granulate, which, according to the manufacturer, is not dangerous to nature.

In Edmonton, Canada, they have learned to make biofuel from plastic waste. It is mainly used for racing cars. Methanol is obtained from waste, which allows the car to reach great speed. Processed products are also used to heat the city.

In China, scientists conducted an experiment with the decomposition of plastic using petroleum ether and iridium. The plastic is heated with this catalyst at a temperature of 150 degrees. What is obtained as a result of decomposition can be used as fuel. The real drawback is that part of the catalyst can decompose 30 parts of plastic. Considering that iridium is an expensive material, its commercial use is currently not profitable. Scientists continue to work to reduce the cost of technology.

Plastic recycling in Russia

In Russia, the problem of recycling plastic, like many other types of waste, is quite acute. One of the main problems is that we do not fully understand what to do with plastic, how to sort it, etc. This is not counting infrastructure problems, lack of technology, and laws. At the same time, Russia is still taking certain steps in the fight against plastic.

For example, scientists at Samara University have developed a technology for creating bioplastics based on organic waste, herbs and fruits. At Kemerovo University, work was carried out on a genetically modified plant based on tephroseris (field cross), which is capable of decomposing plastic.

In the Komi Republic, in the city of Yemva, there is a plant for the production of paving slabs from recycled plastic. There are special bins in the city where the population throws away plastic containers. As a result, 30 m2 of plastic paving slabs are produced every day.

Polymer waste is one of the main problems of the 21st century. Different countries deal with it differently. But one thing is clear: waste recycling is possible on a par with virtual reality, IT, gadgets are becoming one of the most promising areas of business.

ANNOTATION

This article presents a generalized experience of waste management and considers the problem of waste recycling of various origins, their impact on human life and ecology. Ways to solve these problems are also given, statistics are presented on the number of emissions and the volume of waste disposal both for individual countries and for Russia.

Keywords: waste, garbage, recycling, recycling, emissions, ecology, recyclables.

The problem of waste disposal of various origins is one of the main challenges of our time. Air pollution, emissions from industrial enterprises, energy systems into the atmosphere, as well as waste resulting from the processing of raw materials of animal origin have a negative impact on the environment. In many large industrial centers, pollution levels are several times higher than permissible sanitary standards.

Waste is the remains of products or additional product generated during the process or at the completion of a particular activity. Industrial waste is the remains of raw materials, materials, substances, products, items generated during the production process, performance of work and which have lost their original consumer properties, can be reused. These include slag, ash, plastic, leather, rubber, glass.

According to statistics, every inhabitant of the planet produces from 0.5 to 2 kilograms of various waste per day.

In our country, various enterprises generate up to 4 billion tons of waste every year. Of these, about 3 billion industrial waste, up to 40 million - solid household waste, the rest is biological waste.

Every year, one average family of four throws away about 150 kilograms of various types of plastic, about 100 kilograms of waste paper and about a thousand glass bottles.

Plastic waste that enter the ocean kill about 1 million marine life every year.

Rotting household waste provides a favorable environment for the development of pathogenic microorganisms. As a result, the quality of the environment is deteriorating. Construction waste such as concrete, wood, metal can damage the balance of the ecosystem. Metal is the most commonly recycled material, while wood supplies local landfills.

Although almost all construction waste can be reused or recycled, construction waste constitute more than 20% of all waste. Their decomposition time can be several hundred years.

Modern building materials contain many hazardous substances that have a negative effect on the human body. Table 1 shows the harmful effects of harmful substances on people.

Table 1.

The influence of waste derivatives on human organ systems

The occurrence of diseases is also influenced a large number of landfills, the total area of ​​which throughout the country more than four million hectares The annual increase in landfills is almost 10% of this value (approximately 0.4 million hectares). Taken together, this is the total area of ​​Moscow and St. Petersburg.

To improve the situation in the country, from the end of the 2000s, separate waste collection began to be practiced in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Smolensk. The experience was considered negative, because, firstly, it is expensive for processing enterprises, and, secondly, people reacted irresponsibly to this fact. Not now legislative framework and the practice of applying such laws in order to encourage the population to separate waste collection. There is a well-known European practice when the homeowner is billed an order of magnitude higher for the disposal of mixed waste than for separate waste.

The largest landfill in the world is located in the United States and occupies 1,200 hectares, which is equal to 1,700 football fields. Every day 13 thousand tons of waste are brought there, and the daily methane emissions from this mega-dump are 2,700 tons.

There are countries that lack waste. For example, Sweden, which actively processes and burns about 2 million tons of waste for use in central heating systems. The kingdom takes garbage from its neighbors Scandinavian countries and is already planning to import solid waste from Eastern European countries, where they prefer to bury waste. About 40% of the fuel in the Swedish CHP plant is municipal waste, and waste from the wood processing industry and biofuels are also used. Petroleum products make up only 3% of the fuel burned at thermal power plants.

To combat waste, San Francisco adopted a project to reduce waste to zero by 2020. At the moment, 75% of waste is recyclable.

There are facts about waste management practices in San Francisco:

• all food establishments are required to sort food waste;
• 99% of the population uses separate waste collection, which consists of sorting waste;
• sorted separately hazardous waste and are disposed of;
• Sorted textile waste is subject to recycling;
• The city has banned the use of disposable plastic bags.

Waste in the city is sorted into wet, dry and other waste. Sorting waste is mandatory, otherwise fines will be collected.

Slovenia has set a target of 50 kg per person for waste reduction by 2030. At the moment, the mass of waste that is subject to burial annually per person is 121 kg.

An alternative to waste incineration is the recycling of raw materials. One of the ways to achieve this goal is the fact that a special employee comes to each apartment to collect consumer waste. At an early stage of collection, waste must be sorted, which greatly simplifies the further processing procedure.

Residents of Kamikatsu City ( Japan) plan to get rid of garbage by 2020. Already, 80% of waste is recycled in the city. Citizens independently sort all garbage into more than 30 categories.

Created to control the garbage separation process special center, whose staff advise residents and assist in triage. Recycling of textiles and the work of enterprises for the reuse of household items led to savings of 30% of the budget.

In Estonia, a tradition of garbage collection began in 2008. 50,000 people took part in the first one-day large-scale cleanup, all of whom together cleared the country of 10,000 tons of garbage. 620 volunteers and more than 500 organizations contributed to the success of the event. Research shows that as a result of the “Let’s Do It!” pollution natural lands landfills decreased by 75%. The first countries to borrow the Estonian version of cleaning up the whole world were Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia and Portugal. Today, cleaning based on the “Let’s Do It!” model Almost 20 million people around the world have already participated.

Starting from the current 2018, Novosibirsk also joined the international campaign; on September 15, Cleanup Day was celebrated in the city’s parks, all residents had the opportunity to hand over garbage, namely: batteries, mercury lamps, paper and other waste suitable for recycling and get refreshments.

As you know, each battery pollutes about 20 square meters soil or 400 liters of water with heavy metals. The substances contained in any battery are very dangerous for nature and people, which is why they should not be thrown away with household waste; instead, batteries should be taken to special items recycling

For recycling, energy resources are sent to factories where they are processed into secondary raw materials. When brought to factories, they are selected and then undergo a crushing procedure. During this procedure, batteries go on a conveyor through special grinders, and pieces of iron are selected from the flow using magnets. The remaining mass, containing a large number of various chemical elements, sent to the workshop for hydro- or pyrometallurgy.

Concerning mercury lamps, they are disassembled in special machines. Lamps are fed into a sealed apparatus, where they are crushed and mercury vapor is extracted from the resulting scrap, which must be captured by a special condenser compartment under the influence of sorbents.

The thermal vacuum method is mainly used, in which waste lamps are sent to a special vacuum trap unit, which allows the vapors to be condensed and then frozen out with liquid nitrogen. Next, the defrosted mercury is fed through special channels into a special receiving storage facility.

Less commonly used is the reagent method, which is based on treating metal-glass scrap from lamps with special means, demercurizers, which convert mercury into other, less dangerous compounds.

It is important to especially mention the fact that all of the above methods are dangerous, because any broken lamp “ daylight» is a source of mercury vapor. By recycling a lamp weighing 140 grams, when recycled, you get up to 45 grams of glass (usually used to make lamps or abrasive materials) and almost 6 milligrams of mercury (used for re-development of lamps). In addition, almost 4 grams of phosphor are released, which will simply be buried.

Thus, the environmental situation around the world is not in the best position, however, there are countries that take a very responsible approach to the problem of environmental pollution and its solution through various activities. Practice in Russia separate collection garbage has not yet taken root, however, an understanding of the need to take these measures is gradually being introduced into the consciousness of citizens.

Bibliography:

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2. Recycling waste and garbage is the main direction of ecology in the fight for a clean planet. [Electronic resource] Access mode: http://greenologia.ru Access date 10.15.2018
3. The pile is not small: how Russia deals with garbage. [Electronic resource] Access mode: https://mir24.tv Date of access: 10.15.2018
4. Top 10 interesting facts about garbage. [Electronic resource] Access mode: http://www.bagnet.org Date of access 10.15.2018
5. Production and consumption waste: teaching aid/ comp. S.Yu. Ogorodnikova. – Kirov: LLC Printing House “Old Vyatka”, 2012. – 94 p.
6. Ecological network “Zoi” “WASTE in graphs and diagrams”, - 2012
7. The garbage problem in Russia: terrible statistics! [Electronic resource] Access mode: http://alon-ra.ru. Access date 10/15/2018
8. Sweden targets neighbors' garbage [Electronic resource] Access mode: https://www.pravda.ru Date of access: 10/15/2018
9. 3 examples of how to solve the garbage problem in different cities peace! [Electronic resource] Access mode: http://alon-ra.ru. Access date 10/15/2018
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With its history, garbage shows how ideas have changed not only about hygiene and health issues, but also about urban planning, social structure society and even international relations. This becomes clear not only from the composition of the waste, but also from the changing methods of its disposal.

The selection tells how garbage has come a long way - from piles of broken clay pots outside the settlement to tons of nuclear waste - and what people have learned along the way. A village of waste collectors in China, an electronics dump in Ghana, a ship graveyard in India - how the world gets rid of waste.

The first municipal trash bins were recorded in Athens in 400 BC. e. Then all waste was collected in special baskets, which were then emptied in designated places outside the city. IN Ancient Rome garbage was also transported outside city boundaries. In the southwest of Rome, the artificial hill of Monte Testaccio, one of the largest ancient dumps in the world, still remains. Monte Testaccio, almost 50 m high, consists entirely of fragments of 25 million broken amphorae.

In the Middle Ages in Europe, garbage on the streets became one of the causes of mass diseases. Only in the 15th century, after the plague epidemic, many European cities began to consider the issue of paving streets: before that, citizens had to wade through puddles of mud, feces and food waste. However, the first wastewater systems began to appear only with the advent of the era of industrialization.

The first system was built in London, in the Thames Estuary, in late XIX century. Engineer Joseph Bazeljet developed a system of ten sewage canals that flowed to North Sea. Previously, all waste was poured directly into the Thames.

In the 20th century, with the development of technology and production, the composition of waste changed qualitatively. Now cardboard, plastic, chemical and medical waste. But at the same time for a long time the method of disposal remained the same: garbage was buried, thrown into the ocean or burned. Only in the second half of the 20th century, along with the growth of the hippie movement in America, interest in the problem of ecology appeared. On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day event took place, in which several thousand took part. educational institutions all over America. Peaceful demonstrations called for the development of environmental protection methods.

Today, depending on the region, the issue of garbage is solved differently. In some countries, residents are busy diligently separating paper from cans at home. Other countries, like Switzerland, import their neighbors' waste and burn it in their factories. Thirdly, people work in landfills, sorting out garbage brought from Europe and America, sometimes in containers under the guise of humanitarian aid.

In Switzerland, everyone pays a fee for a certain size of their rubbish bin. As a result, to save money on waste, many businesses buy compactors that compact waste into cubes and thus allow them to pay for an additional bin. Both residents and businesses have become so adept at compacting and distributing their waste that modern waste incinerators are running out of raw materials. Many of them aim to burn waste and generate electricity. To recoup and justify the construction of factories, some Swiss cantons have to import waste from Italy.

In Japan, garbage rules are determined by the municipality, or more precisely, by the garbage plant that it owns. On average, each resident has to divide their waste into the following categories - plastic, glass, cans, cardboard and paper. Garbage must be separated separately into combustible and non-combustible. If you bought a cutlet in a plastic wrapper and then washed the container, then it should be placed in plastic trash, and if not washed, in combustible trash. When the Japanese want to recycle large electrical items, they buy a special stamp and stick it on the item before throwing it away. The value of the stamp depends on the item. For example, throwing out a refrigerator can cost between $50 and $100. That's why many Japanese don't throw away large trash, but give it to friends for free.

In Beijing, all types of recyclable waste - from plastic bottles to iron cans - do not have to be taken to collection points; they just need to be taken out onto the street in the morning and sold to a passing garbage collector. The scavenger, in turn, will take the loot to the outskirts of the capital, Dong Xiao Kou Village, known as the scavenger village.

In this small village, near new buildings, mountains of cardboard, old tires, dishes and paper waste rise. Residents of the village, mostly visitors from remote, poor provinces, spend 24 hours a day here, clearing away the rubble. Some live in huts they built themselves from boards or metal plates found right there in a landfill.

In the vicinity of Accra, the capital of Ghana, there is the world's largest electronics dump - the Agboshbloshie dump. Here, on the Atlantic coast, computers, televisions, monitors, old cassette recorders, sewing machines and telephones are brought from all over the world and dumped in one big pile.

The trash of some turns here into the wealth of others: people from all over the country come to electronic waste to make money. Landfill workers break equipment into pieces or burn its individual components and collect aluminum and copper parts. At the end of the day, for copper and aluminum they get monetary reward at the reception point. Average earnings per day is $2-3. Most Agboshbloshi workers die from diseases and poisoning caused by poisonous substances, toxins and radiation.

The city of Alang on the northwestern coast of India is known as the largest ship graveyard in the world. Along the 10 km coastline, just like dolphins washed up by the waves, old cargo and passenger ships. Over the 20 years of the enterprise’s existence, more than 6,500 ships have been dismantled here.

Old ships are brought here from all over the world, often without prior disinfection, and then workers dismantle them here into pieces with their hands or using simple tools. On average, 40 people die on the territory of the enterprise each year due to chemicals and accidental fires.

The artificial island of Thilafushi, filled to the very edges with garbage, stands out brightly from the paradisiacal landscape of the tropical Maldives. The country's government decided to create this island due to the growing amount of garbage caused by the influx of tourists.

Since 1992, garbage has been brought here from all the islands of the archipelago, and today its amount reaches several hundred tons every day. Thilafushi lies just 1m above sea level, increasing the risk of chemicals and other waste entering the ocean and gradually destroying the ecosystem.

According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, 40% of food produced in the United States is wasted. At the same time, food is wasted at all stages from production to consumption: on farms, during transport, in supermarkets and in the kitchen at home. According to statistics provided by the council, the average American family spends up to $2,000 a year on food that ends up being thrown away. In addition, many US states are suffering from severe drought, while in neighboring states 25% of water is wasted, namely to irrigate fields with grains that are ultimately not consumed. The problem also arises with landfills garbage waste: they produce gases into the air that are no less dangerous to the environment than carbon dioxide.

Garbage in modern world often finds a second use - in art, the restaurant business and even construction. But one way or another, all the original garbage ideas and projects are aimed at once again drawing people’s attention to the overabundance of waste production in the modern world. For Copenhagen, for example, the architectural bureau BIG designed incinerator new generation. The plant will not only process waste into electricity, but also remind citizens of the amount of electricity generated. carbon dioxide. Every time 1 ton of carbon dioxide is produced, a smoke ring with a diameter of 30 m will be released from the plant chimney. At night, the ring will be illuminated different colors. The roof of the plant will be used as a ski slope. Lifts to the top of the slope will run along the sides of the plant. Construction of the plant is scheduled to be completed in 2016.

Spanish artist Francesco de Pajaro travels the world with his project Art is Trash and creates art installations from trash in different cities. Francesco finds a pile of rubbish on the street and in a few hours repaints and moves the objects in this dump so that they turn into an installation. As a result, discarded boxes, pieces of furniture and plastic bottles are turned into playful characters.

First in the United States, and later in Europe, the dumpster diving movement - in other words, picking through garbage cans - has become widespread in the last few years. Followers of the movement search for scraps of food and suitable clothing in the garbage, thereby trying to contribute to the fight against overproduction and excessive consumption of goods. Many divers manage to find kilograms fresh vegetables, and someone even made a boat from found building materials.

There are many other examples of non-trivial uses of garbage. Artists collect paintings from it, photographers create entire series of portraits of people surrounded by own trash, entrepreneurs open restaurants with dishes made from products not purchased on time in the supermarket, architects and planners use garbage as building material, as, for example, in Japan during the construction of the artificial island of Odaibo. Throughout its history, garbage has gone through a long path of transformation - from a foul-smelling landfill to a gallery contemporary art. But, unfortunately, the very basic attitude of people towards waste has not changed, and people have not really learned anything in thousands of years: we still do not stop consuming immoderately.