The need for having a sustainable system to manage waste products in place is escalating! There are over 7 billion people alive on the planet that are consuming and wasting the resources or are letting the items go stale. The stale items are of no use and they just add to the always-rising piles of the dump that have been created at numerous locations around the globe.
The need to learn and integrate sustainable waste management has risen with the increasing pile and also, since the waste had started affecting the lives of people around it. But, what is Sustainable Waste Management? Well, to understand the concept we need to understand that massive amounts of resources are being wasted in any form either natural or processed all around the world, which are needed to be managed properly. Therefore making best out of kitchen waste is very important to save environment and be healthy.
Though everyone wants a clean city, a clean surrounding but only few of them are bothered in maintaining the same. As a society we are responsible towards the cleanliness of our surroundings.
Every time we work in the kitchen, we produce waste. While some of it should be thrown away, some food scraps could actually still have some use in them, if we give them a chance.
Recycling or reusing the kitchen to turn out something valuable is always great idea. Rather than throwing these materials into waste, we can always use them to create something best out of it.
There are some common types of waste in every kitchen, which can be categorized into three categories:
- Organic waste
- Toxic waste
- Recyclable waste
Let us take a few examples, which can be converted into something useful.
- Organic Waste: Kitchen waste, Fruits, vegetables etc.
- Organic waste could be turned into compost for crops which is a very general waste control used almost everywhere. This is just not done as it helps in reusing but also because the compost produced by all these things is very helpful for production.
- It could also be used to feed animals.
- Just like banana peel can be used for teeth whitening, skin problems.
- Potato peels can help relieving sunburn.
- Apple peels can help against the stains on aluminum utensils and also to make tea.
- Egg shells can be used as natural fertilizers.
- Watermelon rinds can be used to cure acne.
- Garlic skin can be used while making soup.
- Coffee grounds can be used while gardening.
- Squeezed lemon halves can be used to clean microwave.
- Cucumber peels can be used as skin moisturizers.
- Pumpkin seeds can be used to make pie or soups.
- Orange peels can be treated for glowing skin.
- Toxic waste: Spray cans, Fertilizers, batteries etc.
Toxic waste are not decomposable and should be immediately disposed of. Such waste can pollute the air and contaminate soil and water. These are highly hazardous to environment which is the reason should be disposed completely as soon as possible.
- Recyclable waste: Glass, paper, plastic, cardboard, metal etc.
Recyclable waste could be used to create something decorative.
Just like the ice-cream sticks can be converted into bookmarks or a pen holder.
The empty bottles can be used as flower vase.
Foil paper art is always a good option.
Wine corks can be used to make a tiny creative garden.
2. Left over Food
Even left over food can also be reused with some new recipes. Community help can be done by distributing left over clean and neat food to needy people or food banks.
All these things will help in development of innovation and creativity. The best part about this is that there is no harm to nature and the waste materials are being used at their best. No additional cost is involved.
Another important thing is which can be reused is of course water. Water is one of the most important substances on the planet, it covers almost 71% of the Earth’s surface. But what percentage is available for drinking?
We all are aware about the shortage of water these days, “drinking water” to be precise. If we really want this issue to be resolved, we should take some necessary steps in order to resolve this.
Most of the people use potable water these days for literally everything whether it is for making food, for washing vegetables and fruits. We are wasting potable water doing such things, where we can avoid its usage.
The water which we use to clean veggies or fruits can be stored and later on used to irrigate the garden during drought or water restrictions or maybe in toilets. While washing the clothes the extra water can be used for cleaning. Instead of throwing that water away we can use it in maximum possible good ways.
Another most common resource of water wastage is “Aqua Purifier” these days. I am sure almost every household has this facility available these days at their respective homes. However the water, which comes from the municipal supply, is generally full of chlorine and tastes unpleasant. The basic idea of removing such particles from water is to purify it. Water Filter systems remove unwanted tastes and odors from water to provide clean, fresh-tasting water straight from the tap.
Although water purifiers with zero water wastage are available but still many households cannot afford them. Most of the families are using water purifiers with some water wastage.In this whole process of purifying the water, the waste water is almost 3 times of the potable water. For every liter of potable water produced, the purifier’s dumps 3-4 liters of water. The amount of water wasted in such a process can be used in many other useful things. This water can be reused almost everywhere. You can use this water in your kitchen or home garden, car washing can be done, should be used for floor mopping, can be used for washing clothes, and even for cleaning and flushing in toilet.
Reusing kitchen waste is just not only helpful for you but is helpful for the environment as well. So try to reuse as much as possible to create a better world.