It is known as organic waste to waste originally from some living being. It is all the matter that has come from nature, and that no longer fulfills a defined function for people, but due to the characteristics that it has as natural, it is very frequent that a reusable function is found. The most common is that organic waste is directed to agriculture or to feeding and fattening animals. For instance: fruit and vegetable scraps, litter, used tissues.
The origin of organic waste can be domestic, commercial or industrial, and together they make up a very important portion of the totality of waste generated by societies, especially after the social processes of recent centuries, where industrial production and consumption have multiplied on a planet that has constant physical limitations.
In this sense, the reuse of organic waste is very positive for the care of the earth, based on the double function of replacing a new product that should not be produced, and at the same time not generating the known trash, and with it the usual very large contamination that occurs in its accumulation. There are definite techniques for the treatment of organic waste, and poor treatment can be very harmful to the environment: proof of this are hundreds of rivers and lakes polluted around the world by natural waste.
The most common way to take advantage of organic waste is through the compost production for the earth, a nutrient-rich supplement that ensures and enhances soil fertility: this is a simple task that can be carried out in the home itself, where the waste uses almost its nutrient potential to the full. Another treatment, somewhat more complex and delicate, is that of the production of gas with organic waste: decomposition under certain circumstances generates a particular class of gas, known as marsh gas.
The use of these wastes is due to a strong discipline in consumers, that in the case of not practicing recycling on their own, they should be educated to learn to classify waste between organic and inorganic. As recycling is often not a profitable activity for companies, education in this sense is usually the task of public bodies.
List of examples of organic waste
- Remains of fruits and vegetables, including the skins.
- Bones and meat scraps.
- Thorns and all kinds of fish rest.
- Shells and discarded elements of shellfish.
- Leftover bread.
- Spoiled food.
- Different types of chopsticks (ice cream, Chinese food).
- Eggs shell.
- Urine from domestic animals.
- Leaf litter.
- Waste of all kinds of nuts.
- Used kitchen paper.
- Used napkins.
- Domestic animal droppings.
- Handkerchiefs used.
- Flowers, even in a withered state.
- Any cork material.
- Leaves, even dried.
- Lawn and weeds.
- Bags (particularly those that can be used for compost, called ‘compostable’).