It is common not to know well what should be poured into the grey container, as there is also the brown container in some cities of Spain. Currently, recycling containers are known although there are also some doubts about recycling. The yellow container contains plastic and metal containers, the blue container contains paper and cardboard and the green container contains glass. However, what is recycled in the grey container?
In this article, we are going to clear your doubts about it.
Mistakes with the grey container
The grey container is known as the traditional one where you end up throwing all the garbage you don't know where to deposit. However, it is clear that a certain type of waste has to be dumped since it is one more recycling container.
In the grey container, known as the oldest of all the garbage containers that exist. It is the container that existed from the beginning before the implementation of the rest of recycling containers that cataloged by colors according to the destination and type of waste. Nowadays, many people think that the grey container is for everything that doesn't fit in the rest of the containers. Obviously, this is not the case.
Pouring any kind of waste just because it doesn't go in the rest of the containers is a complete mistake. There are certain types of garbage that are not dumped in any kind of containers, not even in the grey. These residues are normally destined to the clean point. There are also other types of waste that have specific containers for them such as used oil and batteries. For them, there is a specific container. The problem with these wastes is that the containers dedicated to them are much less frequent and more dispersed.
What to pour into the grey container
With all this, we come to the conclusion that what we have to pour into the grey container is biodegradable material that cannot be recycled. The fact that it cannot be recycled is broadly speaking because, although it is not possible to manufacture products from the treatment of the same, it serves to form other products as we will see later.
This biodegradable material is usually taken to an incinerator to manage it as efficiently as possible. Among the residues we find that are biodegradable we have the remains of food, plants (can be remains of pruning of gardening) and other products such as dust, hair collected from people or animals, household waste, cigarette butts, cork stoppers or other hygiene-related products to use and throw away as compresses or diapers.
The latter wastes could not be disposed of in the brown container, as it is only prepared for organic matter such as food and pruning waste. This can be a more detailed classification to optimize the selective separation and subsequent recycling processes in the treatment plants.
Is this waste recycled?
You may be thinking about whether the waste we put into this container is recycled. Being biodegradable material ends up degrading itself. In response to this question, we can say that any waste that we put into a container can be managed correctly. The fact of depositing it correctly in the grey container will make that the garbage is recycled or it is looked for a destiny according to its characteristics and capacities.
It also depends a lot on the protocols that each municipality has with the waste policy. In some municipalities there are protocols that have a greater number of resources to carry out recycling of higher quality than others.
Although some waste can be recycled, there is another that because of its composition and structure is not. For example, with waste made up of leftovers from food, pruning material and in general organic matter, compost can be made by treating this waste. However, as in this container are also collected others such as cigarette butts, compresses, etc.. It is not possible to make compost.
In order for a compost to be made and of sufficient quality to serve as a fertilizer, it must be free of impurities. Impurities are usually all substances that are not organic matter. A cigarette butt cannot degrade into organic matter or have nutrients for plants. Therefore, the existence of the brown container. With hygienic material, cigarette butts, ashes, etc.. Nothing can be done. The best destination for them is controlled landfill or incinerator.
What's the difference with the brown container?
There are some who have doubts about the existence of these containers, how similar their use is and that in some towns or cities there are none. The brown container is not very popular yet because it has to be perfected well the characteristics it has and the use it is given. It is a new container used only for organic waste. The color of this container also varies with some localities. Some are brown and some are orange.
They are being implemented to separate the organic waste that was deposited in the grey container. The great advantage of the power to separate the organic matter is that it can be used as fertilizer or compost through further treatment. In this way, we can make better use of the waste and reduce the nitrogen fertilizer that does nothing but pollute groundwater and soil.
Anything that is better recycling and selective separation will mean less impact on the environment. The rest of the waste that cannot be recycled is taken to the incinerators where it is burned so that there is no chemical contamination when in contact with other types of garbage in the grey container. This proposal is going to become wider and wider until the brown container is next to the grey one in all the towns in Spain.
I hope that with this information you will be able to know more about the grey container and its usefulness.