flypig.co.uk

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:

1. The daily average, calculated since the start, is shown in the vertical bar on the right hand side.
2. All of the green items are recyclable and should be recycled by the council. The general waste in red isn't recycled.
3. There's only me living in my flat, so this is output for a single person.
4. I'll continue updating the graph on this page every week.
5. 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.