Try as we might, getting everyone into recycling won’t stop recyclable materials from reaching the landfill. Come rubbish collection day, the rubbish that ends up in a landfill is sure to have a combination of plastic, glass, or paper that should rather have been recycled. 

While this is a fact of life, the other fact is that all those materials are doing untold damage to the ground that they are buried in. Little do we know, but they take ages to break down. Their environmental footprint remains there for ages while the added danger of their toxins leaching into the earth is always there. 

Rubbish removal isn’t something we enjoy doing. But it is part of daily activities and must be done to keep an office or home clean. Fortunately, there is a rubbish collection service nearby and it is required, a waste management company can do the rubbish removal and rubbish disposal. 

But the actual sorting and separation is up to us. It is, after all our responsibility to ensure that the right junk goes into the right container for rubbish collection. We can’t expect the junk removal company to do this for us. 

At Junk Removal Wirral we do our best to ensure that all materials that should be recycled get to a recycling facility when we perform a junk collection on behalf of a client. Mixed junk makes it difficult to do so, and we work with the community to try and get the separation of waste done correctly. 

Many of us will be shocked to know how long the various recyclable materials that reach landfill take to decompose. Perhaps when they read this, they may be convinced to prevent them from entering the landfill!

Decomposition in a Landfill  

As we know, a landfill site has a limited lifespan which is determined by the size of the ground that was allocated to it originally. It means that whatever is dumped there will render the ground useless for future use, like nature-based activities or agriculture. 

If the landfill mostly has materials like garden waste, these will decompose quickly, and the landfill won’t be rendered unusable for too long. But materials that take ages to decompose and that shouldn’t be there at all are responsible for prolonging the rehabilitation of the landfill.

• Builder’s Rubble
  
  Materials from construction and demolition activities are all recyclable. Concrete can be crushed and broken down into its constituent parts and reused again. Doors and windows can be refashioned in such a way that the wood, glass, or metal can be put to good use, reducing the need for new materials.
  
  But when they reach the landfill, they take a long while to decompose.
  • In the case of glass, it will not break down for a very long time, for many human lifespans. This is because glass is an extremely hardy material. This is why it is so vital to keep the glass, even glass bottles and glass containers out of the landfill. 
  • Soft wood like plywood decomposes much quicker than lumber. However tough wood may take more than ten years to decompose, and if it has been treated, it will last even longer. 
  • All Metal is recyclable and should never reach the landfill. Beer cans for example, which are made of aluminum lie there for over 200 years while other steel will take more than fifty years to break down. In the case of stainless steel, it will take centuries to decompose, and should always be recycled.

Nature’s Enemy: Plastic 

The biggest culprit of all is plastic. Even banning shopping bags at the supermarket level won’t undo the damage already done. While shopping bags are thin and light, they still take over twenty years to decompose. Landfills are full of plastic, of all types.

More sturdy plastic like the ones used in other forms of packaging takes far longer to break down. Examples include bottles used for water, made from PET, which are bought by the millions every day. This kind of single-use packaging is probably the most damaging and takes forever to decompose. 

The silent killers are microplastics or nano plastics, which are small beads that find their way into waterways and are swallowed by creatures living there. 

Getting disciplined in plastic recycling is a hard ask, this is because the universal use of plastic and the high consumption rate of consumers generates so much plastic. It makes it hard to keep up. Rubbish collection and rubbish disposal teams work very hard to get on top of the problem. 

Other recyclables

The two other materials are e-waste and cardboard. Neither of them should end up in the landfill because both can be reused and recycled. On the positive side, cardboard does decompose quickly and needs some water and heat to do so. But electronics are another matter entirely and often contain hazardous substances. 

So, now that you are armed with this information ask yourself if you are going to be a bit more discriminating with your waste and ensure that it ends up where it should. 

If in doubt, call Junk Removal Wirral for advice and their friendly team would be more than happy to assist. 

They can recommend ways to increase your recycling and help you fill your self-promise not to discard anything unnecessarily into the landfill. 

Consult the Junk Removal Specialists. 

Help us get the community environment looking great by doing the right thing with your junk. If you need some advice consult the junk removal specialists. The Junk Removal Wirral professionals normally consist of a team of two and a vehicle that is suitable to handle any load. 

Help by separating your rubbish collection load and making it easy for the rubbish removal team to do their job according to the correct principles. 

Be assured it will be disposed of in the right way, with minimum waste going to the landfill. We are sure you will be happy about that! 

When you need a junk removal service, call us at 0151 808 0407. The Junk Removal Wirral team will be there when convenient for you. 

We will be glad to hear from you.

Email: enquiries@junkremovalwirral.co.uk

www.junkremovalwirral.co.uk