Plastic waste is proving to be a huge danger for Mother Earth and her children. Do you know that one plastic bottle takes around 1,000 years to decompose? Despite the many disadvantages of plastic, we still tend to use it in our daily lives. As a result, unfortunately, every single day, tonnes of plastic waste is left unattended.
Here are a few innovative waste management ideas that some countries are using and that the world should soon adopt.
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Using Solar-powered trash collector
Popularly known as Mr Trash Wheel, the solar-powered trash collector collects all the waste from the Baltimore river, USA. Since the past three years, it has collected around 1.1 million pounds of garbage. The waste includes 372,650 plastic waste and 8.9 million cigarette buds. Clearly, Mr Trash Wheel has proved to be a great success.
It runs on solar and water energy. Thanks to Mr Trash Wheel, the Baltimore river is now a lot cleaner and debris free. The river current provides power to the machine and turns on the functioning. If the river current is not strong enough, then it works on solar energy.
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Redecorating using plastic bottles
Instead of throwing away used plastic bottles, Brazilian design studio Rosenbaum is using them to decorate your house. Located in Sao Paulo, this design studio uses plastic waste for its client projects. This smart plastic waste management idea has been appreciated across the world.
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Rewarding people for giving back their plastic waste
Colombia came up with a very cool waste management idea by rewarding people who recycled their waste. This initiative is called ECOBOT and is also known as Reverse Vending Machine. It is a waste management initiative to encourage people to recycle their waste.
At one time Colombia had serious garbage issues – it was generating around 28,800 tonnes of waste every day. With the installation of reverse vending machines in locations such as city malls, amusement parks and other public areas, this number has greatly reduced. When people deposit their plastic waste, they receive restaurant coupons, shopping vouchers, or movie tickets in return. Isn’t that a wonderful bargain?
All the plastic waste thus collected is then sent to waste recycling companies.
Appropriate implementation of such innovative ideas can definitely help us manage the severe problem of plastic waste management in the long term.
Are there any other innovative ideas that you’d like to share with us? Do let us know in the comments section below.
Mr. Trash Wheel is cleaning up Baltimore’s harbor. There is not Baltimore river.