OK. So what happens to all of that really grotty private waste inside household garbage? The stuff that makes you blush: like ear buds, nappies, sanitary pads, those little rubber things and the like.
There's a bit of a myth they just rot away without anybody else ever having to see them, let alone touch them. It's a myth.
The truth is as waste technology advances so too does the revolting likelihood that other people will have to see this waste and pick it up. Over and over again. For hours and hours. Day after day.
Currently about 70 percent of household waste goes to landfill. But that figure is decreasing. So more and more waste is being treated by Alternative Waste Treatment (AWT) facilities and Materials Recycling Facilities (MRFs). AWTs treat unsorted household waste. MRFs treat sorted household recyclables.
By 2014 state governments across Australia hope that only about 30 percent of household rubbish will go to landfill. The reasons for this are pretty simple: governments wish to encourage recycling and land is too expensive to be used for dumps.
So what now happens at AWTs and MRFs is a fairly good illustration of where the household waste industry is headed.
By and large AWT and MRF technology is extremely impressive. They efficiently regain vast amounts of materials, convert other waste to energy and also produce compost.
But when it comes to all that unpleasant stuff, we would rather forget about, the situation is not pretty...particularly for AWTs.
Here's a very quick summary of how AWTs process mixed household waste. The bin is picked up by a truck. The waste is compacted and transported to the AWT. There it is received and slowly moves along a conveyor belt. This is where the manual sorting takes place. Nappies, bloodied bandages, incontinence pads, tampons and those little rubber things roll along in front of people employed to pluck them out with gloves. This waste is dropped into special bins. After that water, magnets, wind, screens and vibations and the like sort through and process the remaining waste.
The manual sorting situation is gross. Its made worse by the fact potentially dangerous waste is mixed up in a sludge of rotting food and (all too frequently) used syringes. In fact needle stick injuries are common in waste facilities.
MRFs also have to sift out grotty personal waste. Even though recycling bins should only contain paper, cardboard,metals and plastics. MRF operators have to contend with nappies, condoms and the normal gang of potentially contagious human filth. Often bottles are stuffed with syringes. It seems some households believe this will prevent harm. It doesn't. Hidden away inside bottles, the needles can stick into the unsuspecting waste worker.
The waste companies are well aware of the problem. But they cannot fix the problem while people keep on tossing this stuff into bins; and manufacturers, retailers and government share no responsibility. For instance the promotion and supply of containers or easy to identify color coded bags would mean waste workers recognised potentially harmful human body waste.
WSN Environmental solutions runs an AWT at Jacks Gully, Sydney. The facility has trialled the use of coloured easy-to-identify bags. These bags have withstood the compacting pressure of the trucks and have rolled along the conveyor belt, largely intact. But the waste processors biggest problem is gaining public, business and government awareness and assistance. And so far not much of that has happened....
http://www.wasteservice.nsw.gov.au/dir138/wsn.nsf/Content/Medical+and+Hygiene+Waste
http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/warr/07226_WARRreport07.pdf (NSW Waste Avoidance and Resource Recovery Strategy)
http://www.wasteservice.nsw.gov.au/