Published on August 25, 2017.-

The Tiltil case brought the issue of recycling and waste treatment to the fore, which made us wonder about how they handle this issue abroad. In Europe the trend is to eliminate landfills, recycle waste and turn it into parks, compost and energy. Some countries even buy waste from others, as their energy system is largely dependent on waste.

An example of this is Hamburg, a city that after World War II began to receive a large amount of waste, ranging from rubble to industrial waste. However, in 2013 they took action on the matter and turned a huge garbage hill into the “Georwerder Energy Hill”, which at its top has a renewable energy plant that supplies electricity to 4,000 homes, extracting the methane gas they produce. decomposing waste. 

Today there are 30% of cities and countries that do carry out adequate waste treatment, they began by educating citizens on recycling issues, to conclude with the installation of adequate infrastructures for these purposes, such as compost bins in their residential buildings , to minimize waste before it reaches landfills.

Experts agree that the problem of waste lies in organic waste, so it is important for sustainability to treat it properly and, where possible, use it to generate renewable energy, as they do in Sweden, for example, where one of its cities manage to convert 96% of the garbage into heating, compost, biofertilizers and biogas.

Source: El Mercurio