Waste collection sites: useful for everyone
Why are more and more people across Lithuania using waste collection sites, while the country’s forests and roadsides are gradually becoming cleaner? On the one hand, many residents increasingly value cleanliness, treat nature with greater respect, want to relax in a pleasant environment and understand that by polluting the environment we harm ourselves. On the other hand, waste collection sites are a great opportunity for residents to get rid of unwanted items free of charge.
Pre-sorted waste is accepted
Bulky waste collection sites can be found in almost all of the country’s municipalities. That means not only free tyre collection in Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys, but also a convenient way to get rid of metal, concrete, wood, polystyrene and plastic waste, old unneeded furniture, windows, textile waste, contaminated packaging and other materials, as well as, of course, electronics, gas-discharge lamps, and batteries and accumulators.
It is certainly worth finding out where the nearest waste collection site to your home is and what its opening hours are. It is also advisable to find out whether all waste is accepted free of charge without limits, or whether you will have to pay for amounts above a certain limit, for example if you bring more car tyres than the set quantity.
Some residents hurry to bring various kinds of waste without realising that it should be sorted before it is brought. The waste site is definitely not the place where it should be sorted; this should be done before the waste is loaded into the car. Sorted waste means items that can easily be distributed into the containers intended for specific waste, without wasting the time of staff and other customers of the site. Hazardous or liquid waste must be brought tightly packed or poured into sealed containers. It should also be remembered that your waste will be accepted only in the municipality where you live – where you have declared your place of residence.
At the sites, waste is placed in separate containers by type, to make its further handling and recycling as efficient as possible. Valuable materials will be recovered from some of it to make new products, while other waste will go to incineration plants, where heat energy is obtained from it in a safe burning process. The fact that some waste is incinerated rather than recycled does not at all mean that we could burn the same things in household stoves or in a bonfire by the house. Waste burned in specialised facilities does not release toxic substances into the environment, and the chimneys of such plants capture everything that could harm the environment in the smoke. Household chimneys do not have such properties – they have no professional filters or traps for solid and toxic particles.
Electronics are accepted intact, not dismantled
Please note that residents bring various types of waste to bulky waste collection sites at the same time. This is especially convenient when doing a general clean-up at home, moving or renovating, when it turns out how many unneeded, unused things we have accumulated. So, despite the various other options for disposing of electronics, gas-discharge lamps, batteries and accumulators, such waste is brought together with other items. This solution can be convenient, but you should remember that e-waste collection at specialised sites is carried out on the condition that the waste is intact (not dismantled). In other words, you will not be able to hand in just an old television’s picture tube or the plastic part of a fridge here. This rule has been established to prevent illegal and unsafe dismantling and recycling of electronics and to comply with the waste accounting that is mandatory in the European Union and adopted nationally in the country.
When bringing larger amounts of waste to such sites, it is recommended to phone the staff of the particular site and check whether it will be possible to accept so much waste and arrange for its efficient unloading.
Recently, bulky waste collection sites have been complemented by item-sharing platforms, so items that are still usable and working are also accepted at such sites. So if you have a still-working fridge, electric cooker, microwave oven, extractor hood, vacuum cleaner or other electronic appliance, make sure to bring it in the best possible appearance and clean – then it will have a better chance of becoming a useful household item for someone else again. This is very important for reducing the amount of waste, saving raw materials for new products, pursuing sustainability and stopping climate change. The same goes for items you no longer need such as furniture, dishes, interior decorations, clothes, books and toys. You should also consult the staff in advance about accepting these items at waste collection sites.
Collected from your home free of charge
It is important to note that there are various ways to pass items you no longer need on into second hands. Many people know about online classified portals that help to sell or give away such items. You can also turn to charities or to various sharing or item-selling accounts on social networks.
If you have no other waste at home, only an electric washing machine or fridge that has reached the end of its life cycle, and you cannot carry the item out into the yard and take it to a waste collection site, Lithuania offers a free service for collecting bulky e-waste from homes. The Distributors of Electronics Association (EPA) has been organising free collection of electronic waste from homes for more than a decade. This service also includes carrying appliances out of the living space. This makes it possible to get rid of an old electric cooker without any trouble. In addition, special containers for bulky e-waste have been placed next to some shopping centres. You can look for the locations of the specialised containers in the list on the website www.epa.lt, phone +370 695 55111, or register a collection on www.epa.lt.
All the ways that help you say goodbye to e-waste safely are good for you and for the environment: they help items reach new owners, steer e-waste management in the most efficient direction by recovering useful materials or energy, and help us live cleaner and more sustainably, protecting the environment, the planet and the health of ourselves and our loved ones.