Garbage removal providers face different challenges depending on whether they are dealing with household, construction or business rubbish removal. There will also be complicating factors depending on what kind of waste needs to be disposed of.
Have a read below at the top 3 different types of rubbish:
Household Rubbish
Under the broad umbrella of “household waste” is a whole range of different kinds of trash. There’s regular garbage (plastics, wrapping paper, food waste); recycling (further broken down into bottles vs paper); garden; large (i.e. anything too big for a bin – broken furniture, kitchen appliances, old mattresses etc.) and electrical.
Each of these kinds of garbage needs to be disposed of differently. Things that decompose naturally, such as foodstuffs, can be put into a landfill, safe in the knowledge that they will quickly degrade and not harm the environment. The standard recyclables (whatever goes in your recycling bin) are also fairly easy to sort out and send to the appropriate recycling plant.
Things like electrical waste and large waste items are harder. Your rubbish removalist will need to break these down into their component parts, in order to send every material to the right place.
Your fridge, for example, will have a lot of copper in it that can be melted down and reused, while depending on how new it is the plastic frame may be recyclable as well – but at a different plant. The coolant fluid also needs to be taken out and disposed of safely.
Garden waste also breaks down easily, but it can be better used by turning it into mulch. This will not only prevent the garbage men from having to take the greenery to somewhere they can leave it and will up a landfill (however temporarily, given how quickly it breaks down) it’s also a good fertiliser!
Business Rubbish
What “business waste” is will of course depend on what the business does – offices produce a lot of paper waste, for example, while a pub will be throwing out huge amounts of bottles. Regardless of what the garbage actually is, business rubbish removal needs to be a far more regular service than household.
There will generally be less sorting associated with commercial waste compared to household, although of course every category of household garbage can of course come from a business. Apart from the routine waste associated with the day to day running of the business, there will also be more large and electrical waste.
This is purely because a business will have more computers, tables and other appliances or furniture items than a house will, and they will be used more intensively and thus need replacing more often.
However, a business will still need both more routine and irregular rubbish removals, because of the amount of garbage generated. The waste disposal team will therefore need to make routine stops at the office or shop in order to take everything away, and have time available to get rid of things like computers and tables.
Construction Rubbish
Construction sites need a different kind of waste to be taken away. Unlike household orbusiness rubbish removal, construction site waste collectors will be taking harder debris, such as brick or concrete slabs.
They will also need to clean up the site, rather than just picking up bins. When a construction site has too much dirt and rubble lying around (for example, when a demolition or excavation has preceded construction) the crew just can’t work. The clean-up team has to get everything out of the way and properly disposed of before work can continue.
Another problem with construction rubbish is that often the materials can be hazardous. Asbestos, for example, is still far too common in old buildings, and it is often found during a renovation or demolition job. Silica dust, which is present in sandstone and concrete, is also very harmful if breathed in, so it needs to be disposed of very carefully so that no one is harmed (as does asbestos).
In renovations and demolitions items like carpet and tile, which are usually not thrown out, need to be disposed of. Depending on the material of the carpet it might decompose, and whole tiles are reusable, but by and large these need to be put in a tip or landfill.
There are also, of course, the usual suspects present in construction sites. Labourers eat, drink and read newspapers, so there also needs to be routine garbage collection to make sure these are disposed of appropriately.
