Waste and recycling tracking
I generally try hard to minimise my environmental impact, but it can be a challenge without being aware of the actual effect that daily decisions have. Now that I live in a one-person flat, I'm much more conscious of exactly how much energy I use, how much stuff I consume, how many possessions I accumulate and how much waste all this activity produces.
I've therefore decided to keep track of how much waste I produce much more accurately. My apartment block in Tampere, Finland, provides bins for six types of waste: paper, card, glass, metal, compost and general waste. Everything except the last of these can be recycled (although whether the council does or not, I don't know). In addition, Finland has an exemplary network for financially-incentivised bottle and can returns, with return stations in pretty much every grocery shop. Each week I therefore find myself splitting my waste into eight different categories. It's a fair bit of effort, so taking weight measurements aswell isn't such a big deal.
The following graph shows my daily waste output based on data I collect roughly once per week. I plan to update it weekly. The area under the graph represents my total waste output. Click on the graph for a larger version.
Some brief points to note about the graph:
- The daily average, calculated since the start, is shown in the vertical bar on the right hand side.
- All of the green items are recyclable and should be recycled by the council. The general waste in red isn't recycled.
- There's only me living in my flat, so this is output for a single person.
- I'll continue updating the graph on this page every week.
- For info about how the graphs are generated, see my Graphs of Waste posts on the topic.
The data is beginning to build up now, allowing a somewhat clear picture to emerge. I'll continue collecting data over time to see how things are progressing, with the aim of reducing my waste output (both recyclable and non-recyclable) over time if I can.
To view histograms showing the actual values recorded for each of the waste types, select one of the graphs below. Be aware that they all have different scales on the y-axis, so they're not visually comparable.
Comments
Uncover Disqus comments