Waste sorting and recycling in Lithuania

Presentation made by students from “Žiburys“ gymnasium2012-2013 m.

Why do we need to sort waste?

A lot of secondary materials

accumulated;

Saves natural resources and

energy;

Reduces the expense of waste

management;

Litter decomposition takes a very

long time;

Litter pollutes nature, does harm to

plants, animals and people.

How to sort your waste correctly?

Paper containers can contain:

newspapers;

magazines and other printings;

envelopes, flyers, printing and writing

paper, books without hard covers;

cardboard boxes;

corrugated cardboard boxes;

packing paper.

Paper

Glass containers can contain:bottles;jars;other glass waste.

Bottles and jars should be clean, without plugs, rings and foil.

Glass

Plastic

Plastic containers can contain:

plastic PET bottles;

plastic containers from sauces,

mayonnaise, dish detergent,

shampoo;

polyethylene film;

other plastic packets, toys,

dishes.

Packets should be clean.

MetalIn Lithuania, we collect metal waste and take it

to metal buying points or put it into

containers for glass.

The following items can be put into containers

for glass :

Food tins;

Cans of drinks;

Aluminun plates and baking tins;

Metal covers, boxes and all other metal

packing waste.

Household wasteWe can put into household waste containers :

Inappropriate paper for recycling (like

wallpapers);

Inappropriate glass for recycling (like mirrors,

porcelain);

Inappropriate plastic for recycling (like oil

tanks);

Inappropriate metal for recycling (like cans

with paints, aerosol cans);

Other household waste.

We also sort:

Medical waste;

Organic waste.

Sorting in Lithuania

Lithuania is considered a

beginner country in sorting;

Lithuania is one of the last

countries in the European Union

in terms of sorting waste;

In the EU, we are the second

from the end in waste sorting.

Containers

In Lithuania waste is sorted into

containers which are called bells.

Number of containers

600 inhabitants in Lithuanian towns

and 800 – in villages share one set

of containers.

However, in Šakiai district there

are even 2,5 times more containers

then there has to be: 192

inhabitants in town and 724 – in

villages use one set of containers.

Waste management companies

Ltd. “Ekonovus”, which has

its own subunit in all

Lithuania and also, in our

town Šakiai.

Ltd. “Marijampolės

apskrities atliekų tvarkymo

centras”, which also manages

waste in our town Šakiai.

What is waste remaking?

Remaking is a

process, which allows

repeatedly use

recycled waste.

Why do we have to remake waste?

Manufacturing new things from secondary

raw materials, we not only protect nature,

but also we save its resources;

Each ton of recycled paper or cardboard

saves 17 trees, 26 460 liter of water and

enough energy that an ordinary house

would be made winterproof for 6 months;

Even one third of truncated trees are used

for paper production in the whole world.

Probably, only few people think that the

same paper can be recycled even 4-6 times;

Glass can be recycled for thousands of

times without any harm to its quality;

It is enough to recycle just one glass

bottle and you will save enough quantity

of energy for your computer to work for

20 minutes. Three recycled bottles – an

hour already;

If we don‘t change the attitude fowards

sorting in the society, barely within a

few years we will have filled

completely all the existing dumps.

Lithuania has high industrial capacity of recycling paper

Taken together the Pabradė,

Klaipėda, Grigiškės and Naujieji

Verkiai, could recycle about 40

thousand tonnes of paper and

cardboard waste a year.

However, in Lithuania only 25%

of all this quantity is collected

and the other part is imported.

Thank you!