Waste Management is an elaborate form of
garbage collection, and depending on the
country and city you live in. In most countries in the world there is no garbage collection scheme or the garbage is collected all together. In
the Netherlands and a few other countries though, garbage collection evolved into
Waste Management.
The following boxes for different garbage exist (in each
household):
- Colourless
glass (except refund bottles of course...)
- Coloured glass
-
Cans, lids and other
metals
-
Paper
- GFT (
organic waste from the garden and kitchen)
-
Chemicals (batteries, paint etc.)
- Reusable
furniture
- Reusable
clothing
- Remaining garbage
When the waste management
business started in the eighties, the garbage was put together again because the
logistics and
processes weren’t put into place (except for the glass, that was going smoothly since the seventies). Since the beginning of the nineties, the different waste-categories are processed and
recycled separately.
I grew up with these divisions so it makes sense to me, but
foreigners living in the Netherlands tend to think the
Dutch freaked out on the whole waste management approach.