Packaging materials
I've been to the Christmas markets. Perfect atmosphere, wonderful smells, lots of vendors and a flood of waste. At every step, the skin was overflowing with a lot of disposable waste. Plastic cups, polystyrene bowls and glasses, PET bottles and plates. Is it possible for so much waste to be produced at one single event?
So I started looking for information. According to Eurostat, 483 kg of municipal waste was produced per EU resident in 2015. Of that, 167 kg were packaging materials. At first glance, this may not seem like a big number. Let's imagine a household of four. In one year, the company produces 668 kg of packaging waste for one family of four. It is not only packaging directly from family consumption, but also all packaging from industry and construction related to 4 people. In uncompressed form, it is approximately 6.68 m3. In practice, waste is compressed to take up less space, especially during handling and transport. The density of compressed waste varies according to materials and different sources.
But let's simply consider the average density of 380 kg / m3. Next, we consider a standard shipping container 20 feet long, i.e. 6.1 meters, with a capacity of 33 m3. It can hold the compressed packaging waste belonging to 75 people per year. Let us now consider a small town with 22 thousand inhabitants. This number of people accounts for 3,674 tons of packaging waste per year.
By a similar calculation as above, we get 293 containers with compressed packaging waste. When we stack the containers on top of each other, we get a better idea of the quantity as seen in the picture.
Let us now imagine the population of the whole of Slovakia, which represents approximately 5.43 million inhabitants. This is already quite a large number and also the volume of packaging waste belonging to the inhabitants of one small state. The weight of packaging waste is 907,000 tons, and in our conversion to containers, we already receive a dizzying 72,313 containers. For visualization, we already have to jump in the scale by one order of magnitude. The figure therefore shows an enlarged representation of 1,000 containers. A human figure for comparison is only recognizable on a block of enlarged 1000 containers. In the overall view, it is already visible as a pair of pixels. For a better idea, a sketch of the Eiffel Tower is shown next to it, which is 300 meters without the transmitter.
Let us now imagine the population of the whole of Slovakia, which represents approximately 5.43 million inhabitants. This is already quite a large number and also the volume of packaging waste belonging to the inhabitants of one small state. The weight of packaging waste is 907,000 tons, and in our conversion to containers, we already receive a dizzying 72,313 containers. For visualization, we already have to jump in the scale by one order of magnitude. The figure therefore shows an enlarged representation of 1,000 containers. A human figure for comparison is only recognizable on a block of enlarged 1000 containers. In the overall view, it is already visible as a pair of pixels. For a better idea, a sketch of the Eiffel Tower is shown next to it, which is 300 meters without the transmitter.
Finally, we will move to the whole of Europe in the comparison. With 510 million inhabitants, the amount of packaging waste produced is a dizzying amount of 85.17 million tons per year. Our conversion to containers gives us a number of 6,791,866 containers. When we place the containers one behind the other, we will create a chain 41,430 km long, which will circle the Earth at the equator 1.03 times.
Well, I have to think about how to help solve this problem. There are many ways, for example by repeatedly using the same packaging, using canvas bags instead of plastic ones, separating and recycling waste, but also using packaging that is easily decomposed in nature or can be composted. And we offer just such products in our store.
Well, I have to think about how to help solve this problem. There are many ways, for example by repeatedly using the same packaging, using canvas bags instead of plastic ones, separating and recycling waste, but also using packaging that is easily decomposed in nature or can be composted. And we offer just such products in our store.
Greenware.sk