Did you ever stop to think about where all our waste goes after we’ve finished with it?
Once it’s collected from our homes, it might find a new lease of life by being repurposed into another product, or perhaps it is sent to landfill if it can no longer be used.
This infographic from Cleaning Services Group outlines the disposal process for several different categories of waste and, from reading through it, it’s good to see that the amount of waste ending up in landfills has decreased drastically.
As consumers become increasingly familiar with recycling and environmental issues, it would seem that most of our household waste is recycled or repurposed. Almost all food and drink containers are recyclable, something that was certainly not true only a generation ago.
Waste disposal can get a little tricky when it concerns hazardous or healthcare refuse, as these require specialist treatment.
For example, empty ink cartridges must be disposed at tightly-controlled specialist sites under careful supervision, while surgical needles and doctors’ gloves are incinerated at searing temperatures.
Similar treatment is given to information stored on electronic hardware such as USB drives.
Find out more about what becomes of our waste in the infographic below.
