World Recycling Day
Today, March 18, is World Recycling Day. It was established in 2018. The idea was initiated by the Global Recycling Foundation. The holiday aims to highlight the importance of recycling raw materials in the context of limited natural resources, circular economy and environmental protection. It is an important topic because it is estimated that in Poland only about 30% of waste is recycled. The basic problem is the selective collection system and Poles’ awareness of where to put used packaging. As a reminder: the blue container is for paper, yellow for plastics and metal packaging, green for glass, brown for biodegradable waste and black for mixed waste. It should be noted that if you sort your waste properly right away, it will provide a valuable source of raw materials for industry. In addition, you should also be aware that some waste should be delivered to the Selective Municipal Waste Collection Points (PSZOK) in your city. This type of waste includes, for example: tires, electronic equipment or old paint. The introduction of a packaging deposit system in Poland could be an additional incentive for the public to sort packaging correctly. It should be noted that the paper industry in Poland uses recycled raw materials to a large extent. There are plants that use 100% recycled paper for paper and paperboard production. In addition, representatives of the paper industry in Europe have signed the voluntary declaration on recycling “EUROPEAN DECLARATION ON PAPER RECYCLING 2021-2030.” The goal is to achieve a 76% recycling rate for paper and cardboard by 2030. Finally, it should be noted that corrugated packaging is biodegradable, recyclable and has a very wide range of applications.
Graphic source: https://www.wroclaw.wios.gov.pl/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/recykling.jpg