domestic waste

Domestic WasteHausmüll

Basuras domésticasLes déchets domestiques

Rifiuti domesticiLixo doméstico

14–19 English

teacher’s notes page 1

Domestic waste Science Across Europe [GB] © ASE/BP 1999

Domestic waste

What is waste?

Waste can be defined as matter forwhich society no longer has anyimmediate use – something that isrejected because it is considered to beworthless or not needed.

This unit deals specifically with wastemanagement in homes and schools.Discussion is focused on solid waste,namely paper and paper products,plastics, organic materials such as foodwaste and garden refuse, glass, metalsand other household and school waste.

It asks students to collect information onhow waste is collected in their homesand schools; what happens to wasteafter collection and what individualcitizens, the government and otheragencies are doing to deal with theenvironmental problems caused bywaste.

Some users of the unit adopt a short andsimple approach by concentrating oncollecting data, completing the form,exchanging information with schools inother countries and finally reviewing thefindings. Others use the unit as the basisfor more a elaborate project with arange of further activities such as visits,speakers and exhibitions. The unit canbe a focus for cross curricular worklinking science to geography, modernlanguages and IT.

This unit is in six partsPart 1 Introduction Students begin to consider what sort of waste they create.

Part 2 How much waste do YOU create? Students survey the solid domestic waste produced in their own homein the course of a week, and categorise the waste.

Part 3 What happens to collected waste? Students investigate the ways that the local community deals withwaste.

Part 4 Collating and exchanging information The class collates information and exchanges it with schools in othercountries.

Part 5 What happens to waste across Europe? The class considers the information received from schools in othercountries and discusses similarities and differences, and how countriescan learn from one another.

Part 6 Information section Information about waste production and treatment across the world.

The aims of the unit are:❏ to increase students’ awareness of solid waste generated in homes

and schools, and its impact on the environment:

❏ to develop an understanding of methods available to minimise theenvironmental impact of domestic waste;

❏ to relate individual and community responsibilities to wa s t eproblems and waste management:

❏ to raise students’ awareness of the ways in which domestic waste isdealt with in different European countries.

Prior knowledge and skillsThe unit is intended for use by students aged 14-19 years. It isassumed they will have the following prior knowledge and skills.

❏ Concepts and knowledgeecosystemspercentagecategories of materials

❏ Skillsmeasuring massreading thermometersinterpreting diagrams and tables

❏ Safetyprecautions to take when measuring waste



Instructions to teachersRequirements

Before beginning the unit:

❏ provide photocopies of the student pages for eachpair of students;

❏ make a few copies of the Exchange Form tosend you information to other schools.

When you have received the Exchange Forms fromother schools:

❏ copy the Exchange Forms you received fromother schools and the class’ own ExchangeForm for comparison and analysis.

Summary of the unit

Part 1 IntroductionAn introduction to the problem of waste. Studentsshould think about their activities during the courseof a day and the waste that their activities generate.Table 1 can be used to help them focus on theactivities that generate waste. This is a ‘thinking andwriting’ activity in preparation for the waste audit inPart 2.

Defining the 4Rs is tricky. Industry and politiciansare not yet agreed on definitions when it comes towaste. Note that the term recovery often includesreclamation of solvents, regeneration of chemicals, aswell as recycling and using waste as a fuel to recoverenergy. In this unit we have restricted the termrecovery to the use of fuel to generate energy.

Part 2 How much waste do YOU create?Students should preferably carry out the datacollection over a full week (to include a weekend).They may need some help in planning this work. Oneapproach is to provide students with different coloursof plastic bag to take home so that they can collectthe different types of waste hygienically and weigh it.

Students may not have access to suitable means forweighing the waste so it may be easier for them tocount the items of waste and weigh typical samplesat school. This could certainly apply to cans, bottles,newspapers and plastic containers. However, organickitchen waste may be more difficult!

Some may find that collecting and sorting waste for

a whole week is unmanageable. If so, ask members ofthe class to audit the waste produced at home in oneday (this is the procedure suggested in the Asia-Pacific version of this unit).You will have to modify the tables in Parts 2 and 4 ifyou adopt this approach. The Exchange Form asksfor the amounts of waste per person per day so thatschools in different regions of the Science across theWorld project can exchange comparable information.

Table 2 should be completed at the end of the week.

Part 3 What happens to collected waste?This activity considers the treatment of waste after itleaves home. Students will need to do some localresearch. The list of references on page 4 suggestssome starting points for finding out about methods ofmanaging, processing and disposing of waste.

A visit to a local waste disposal site can be veryhelpful. Also useful is a survey of local recyclingcentres. It is worth pointing out that some materialscannot be recycled over and over again. Paper, atbest, can be recycled only four times before the fibresare too short to be used to make more paper. Lowquality waste paper can, however, make such thingsas insulating materials and cat litter. Metals can bereprocessed more or less indefinitely, as can glass butthe energy saving for glass is much less.

To help you research the rules, regulations andmanagement problems related to waste disposal inyour local community, it would be helpful to ask anappropriate official to give a presentation to yourclass. You could also ask a representative from anenvironmental organisation. Encourage the studentsto prepare a list of questions to gain the informationthey need. Ask two students to act as ’recorders’during the presentation.

By the end of this Part the class should hav esufficient data for you to complete the ExchangeForm.



Part 4 Collating and exchanginginformation Using a copy of the Exchange Form (perhaps on anoverhead projector), collect together the results theclass have generated in Parts 1-3. The class shouldhelp decide which information goes on the form.

The form provides the basis for a consistent exchangeof a minimum amount of information. Students findthat the exchange process is greatly enriched byincluding more information such as photographs,leaflets and newspaper articles to give a much richerpicture of the situation in the locality. Studentsparticularly enjoy receiving photographs of studentsin other countries with examples of their work.

Part 5 What happens to waste acrossEurope?The class considers the information received fromother schools in other countries and discussessimilarities and differences, and how countries canlearn from one another.

There are some suggestions for further activities onStudent page 7.

Part 6 Information sectionInformation about waste production and treatmentacross the world.

Ideas for further work

❏ In Part 1 issue students with envelopescontaining pictures of household articles stuck oncard. The envelope represents a waste bin and thepictures types of waste. Ask students to classifythe types of material in the waste items. Alsoinvite them to sort items according to the waysused to dispose of them such as burying, burning,recycling and composting.

❏ Study in more depth the science of materials andthe processes involved in recycling, building onthe interest aroused this unit.

❏ Produce charts or posters to illustrate the variousmethods of processing and disposing of waste.

❏ Design a process for recycling waste materials,such as paper. Find out the chemical processesinvolved in recycling paper. This could be donepractically.

❏ Design and carry out an experiment to comparethe decay rates of organic matter, paper andplastic bags. What implications do the findingsh ave on the methods that could be used tomanage waste of this sort - such as compostingand landfill?

❏ Make and test a model biogas digestor.

❏ Investigate what happens on burning very smallsamples of various types of solid waste. (Note theimportance of taking appropriate safetyprecautions.)

❏ Make a video about waste disposal in the localityof the school.

❏ Cooperate with a local bookshop to put on adisplay of literature about domestic waste.

❏ Organise campaign to make people more aware ofwaste issues, some students working on this unitdesigned and printed T-shirts with a logo relatedto waste.

Acknowledgements

Maggie Thurgood, Editor, WARMER Bulletin, WorldResource Foundation

lan Dent, BP UK



For further information contact:

WARMER, Bridge House, High Street, Tonbridge,Kent TN9 lDP

Waste Wa t ch, National Council for Vo l u n t a r yOrganisations, 26 Bedford Square, London WClB3HU

Friends of the Earth, 26-28 Underwood Street,London Nl 7JQ

Aluminium Can Recycling Association, 1 Mex House,52 Bulcher Street, Birmingham B 1 lQU

British Glass Manufacturers Confederation,Northumberland Road, Sheffield S10 2UA

British Steel Tinplate, c/o Daniel J Edelman Ltd,Kingsgate House, 536 Kings Road, London SWl OTE

British Waste Paper Association, Alexander HouseBusiness Centre, Station Road, Aldershot, HantsGUll lBQ

The Tidy Britain Group, The Pier, Wigan WN3 4EX

Pulp and Paper Information Centre, 1 RivenhallRoad, Westlea, Swindon SN5 7BD

A model biogas digestor can be made using theapparatus normally found in a science laboratory.

For further information see SATIS 14- 16 unit 201 orSATIS 16-19 unit 63, available from: The Associationfor Science Education, College Lane, Hatfield, HertsAL10 9AA

exchange form page 1


Science Across the WorldDomestic wasteDate

To(teacher’s name)

School

Address

Tel: (with international Faxdialling code)

E–mail

Web address of school

From(teacher’s name)

School

Address

Tel: (with international Faxdialling code)

E–mail

Web address of school

We understand that your class is studying the problem of domestic waste. We wouldlike to exchange information about the causes and effects of domestic waste - andwhat is being done about it - at national and international levels. We enclose theopinions of our class in answer to some of the questions in this unit.

Our students are looking forward to hearing from your class. Please reply.



We would like to know details about how your community deals with domestic waste. Please give answers tothe following questions. We are asking the same questions of students in other European countries. We haveincluded our own answers below.

Waste at home

1 On average how much solid waste is generated per day per person in the homes of students in your

school? ........kg.

2 What is the average percentage (by mass) of the different types of the waste produced in students’ homes?

Waste Average percent (by mass)

Paper productsOrganic wasteGlassMetalPlasticsOther (e.g. batteries & packaging made of composite materials)Total

3 Do most students separate waste at home? Yes ❏ No ❏

If yes, into what categories is it most commonly separated?

newspaper ❏

cardboard ❏

glass bottles ❏

plastic ❏

fabrics (such as old clothes) ❏

aluminium cans ❏

steel cans ❏

kitchen waste ❏

garden rubbish ❏

hazardous chemicals (oil, paint, spray cans and so on) ❏

batteries ❏

medicines ❏

others, please specify . . .



4 Is waste normally collected from students’ homes? Yes ❏ No ❏

If yes, who collects it? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

If waste in your area is not collected, how do you and your community dispose of it?

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5 What happens to the waste from home?

Please indicate with: C any treatments provided by the community

F any treatments carried out by individual families

Treatment Type of waste

paper organic matter Glass metals plastics others

Recycled

Landfill

Burned - in the openin an incinerator

Composted

Others

Waste at school

6 What happens to the waste at school? Is the waste at school separated? Yes ❏ No ❏

If yes, into what categories is it separated?

newspaper ❏ aluminium cans ❏

cardboard ❏ steel cans ❏

office paper ❏ kitchen waste ❏

glass bottles ❏ hazardous chemicals ❏

plastic ❏ batteries ❏

others, please specify . . . .



Waste in the community

7 What are the major issues concerning domestic waste in your community? (If possible, please send us some labels, leaflets, or articles dealing with waste issues in your community.)

8 What actions has your local community authority taken to:

a) reduce waste

b) reuse waste

c) recycle waste

d) recover energy from waste

9 What policies have been put in place to improve waste management by your

a) local community authority

b) National or State government

10 List the organisations involved in reducing, reusing, recycling or recovering energy from domestic wastein your community and indicate how they are involved. (If possible list reasons why the organisations are involved.)

Organisation Involvement

11 What action has your class proposed that the school should take to cut down on the amount of waste orto improve the management of school waste?

student page 1


Domestic wastePart 1 Introduction

A ’throw away’ society

Waste is a major environmental issue for all European countries. Itis part of all our lives. In this unit you consider how waste isproduced and the ways in which we deal with it. It seems that the way we produce and consume things in today’sindustrial societies is based on a ’throw away’ principle. We do notknow exactly what harm we do by dumping or burning waste. Nor dowe know how recycling affects the environment.

Dumping and burning

Nature recycles waste materials by rotting them, but artificialmaterials, such as plastics, can take a very long time to rot away, ormay not rot at all. Rotting waste in landfills can cause pollutionunless the gases and liquids escaping from the decaying materialsare carefully managed. Methane, which makes up 50% of landfillgas, is a major contributor to the greenhouse effect. Some peopleargue that only materials which do not rot, such as glass andplastics, should be dumped in landfill sites.

By dumping waste we throw away valuable raw materials. Burningto recover energy does at least avoid a total waste of materials but,once burned, materials are lost for ever. Besides, we can’t fill everyhole in the landscape with waste.

Avoiding waste

So our society has to find ways of cutting down or avoiding waste sothat there is less to get rid of. We could buy things that are designedto last longer, or which can be repaired when they break. We couldmake more goods from renewable materials and reduce the extent towhich we rely on fuels such as coal and oil. We could simply buyless. Do we really need new fashionable clothes when the old onesare not worn out?

The four Rs of domestic wastemanagement

ReduceTo reduce is to avoid buying overpackaged or disposable items

ReuseTo reuse is to clean a product and thenmake use of it again for the purpose itwas used the first time

RecycleTo recycle is to use old products to makenew ones

RecoverTo recover can mean using waste as afuel by burning it for heating or togenerate electricity

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What waste do you create?

Consider an ordinary day in your life? What kind of waste does that daygenerate? What happens to the waste?

Draw a table, similar to the one below. For each activity during yourday, think about the waste you might generate and what happens to it.Record your ideas in the table.

Table 1: Creating waste

Activity Is waste produced? Type of waste produced What happens to the waste?

At home:cookingeatingdrinkingwashing/cleaningwatching TV

In the community:meeting friendsentertainment(films, concerts etc.)sportpart-time work

At school:lessonsbreak times

Other

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Part 2 How much waste do YOU create?

In this part of the study you are going to carry out a ’waste audit’ to obtain a clearer idea of how much solidwaste is produced in your household in a week, including a weekend. You will need the co-operation of yourfamily so you must explain to them what you are doing. Perhaps they will record the rubbish as they throwit away. Or perhaps you will have to do it all yourself

You will need to plan how you collect the data. Prepare containers to collect the different types of waste andlabel them. Make sure that there is a note pad and pencil nearby so that people can easily record what goesinto each container.

It may be more convenient to ’count’ some items rather than attempting to weight everything. Your familywill want to throw away waste with the usual frequency so make sure it is counted or weighed beforedisposal.

At the end of the week, complete the table below to show how many kilograms of solid waste your homeproduces each week. The totals should be in kilograms - though they need only be approximate.

Number of people in the household ....

Questions1 Look at the table you completed in Part 1 where you showed some of the types of waste you produce in your daily

life. Compare that to the results of your ’waste audit’. Were there any kinds of waste produced that you had notthought of originally?

2 What were the sources of paper in your audit?

3 How much of the metal was aluminium and how much was cans (plated steel)? Were there other metals in the waste?

4 (a) Which materials took up the most space in your waste bin? Which materials weighed the most?(b) Is mass or volume more significant when measuring domestic waste?(c) In Europe about three quarters of all waste is dumped a6 landfill. the cost of disposing of waste in landfill sites isusually based on the volume rather than the mass of waste. Why do you think this is so?

5 (a) How might the waste produced differ when comparing households with babies or very young children tohouseholds with only adults?(b) How might the waste produced differ when comparing households with young children and parents at homewith households where everyone is either out at work or in school during the day?

6 What types of waste are created at your school?

Total solid waste Average waste Average wasteWaste for the household per person per person

kg per week kg per week kg per day

Paper productsOrganic wasteGlassMetalPlasticsOther (e.g. batteries and packaging made of composite materials)TOTAL

Table 2: Waste audit

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Answer the questions below to track where your waste goes.

1 Is your waste separated? Yes (Go on to Question 2) No (Go on to Question 3)

2 Who separates the waste? Which categories are separated out?What happens to each of these categories? (Go on to Question 4)

3 Why is the waste not separated?

4 Is your waste collected? Yes (Go on to Question 5) No (Go on to Question 6)

5 Who collects it? (Go on to Question 7)

6 If waste in your area is not collected, how do you and your community dispose of it?

7 What happens to the waste from your school? 15 it sorted and collected?

8 Compare your answers to the questions with the rest of the class. Are there any differences in how your household waste is treated?

9 Together with your class carry out some research to find out what happens to the waste produced by your community. When your researches are complete, you should be able to complete table 3. Indicate with:

C any treatments provided by the communityF any treatments carried out by individual families

10 Choose one item of waste from Table 3 and draw a flow chart showing what would expect to happen to it from when it first becomes waste?

Part 3 What happens to collected waste?

Everything must go somewhere . Most of us never bother with what happens to the waste we throw away.When we do not see the results of living wastefully, we are not troubled by the rate at which we producewaste.

Waste is not useless. Useful materialsand fuels can be reclaimed from waste.This is easier if people separate theirwaste into different components.

Recycling is often tricky. The weight ofmaterial is only part of the story.

Recycling glass is not easy if bottles arecontaminated with food or dirt. In parts ofEurope waste glass may have to travelhundreds of kilometres from the recycling

centre to the reprocessing plant. If thebottle bank contains materials which shouldnot be there, such as china cups or lightbulbs, the whole load has to be dumped in thenearest landfill, or even sent back to where itcame from by road or rail.

Waste disposal

student page 5


Domestic waste management: A shared responsibility

The problem of waste management appears to be everywhere . Different types of waste create differentproblems. Governments, local authorities and even some schools and households have developed policies to

improve the management of waste. In addition many organisations,institutions and companies also play a role for various reasons. Perhaps theyare interested for one or more of the following reasons.

• conserving energy and other natural resources• save money of even make money• establishing a reputation within the community

Make a list of all the different ways in which people and organisations inyour community and country are involved in reducing, reusing, recycling orrecovering domestic waste.

Major issues

List what you believe to be the major issues concerning domestic wastedisposal in your community or country.

Make a collection of newspaper articles relating to waste disposal. Do thestories covered by the newspaper articles match your list of issues?

Future action

Our society has to find ways to change attitudes towards wastemanagement. We have to find ways of reducing or avoiding wasteso that there is less to get rid of. We could make more goods fromrenewable materials and use energy resources which can be easilyreplaced. Being aware of the value of materials in waste meansthat we can set up systems for sorting and recycling them.

• In your class brainstorm ways to reduce, reuse, recycle and recover energy from waste in the school.

• As a class decide which actions you would like to put into practice. Organise a publicity campaign to persuade others inthe school to support your action plan.

Treatment Type of waste

paper organic matter Glass metals plastics others

Recycled

Landfill

Burned - in the openin an incenerator

Composted

Others

Table 3: Treatment of waste

BUY LESS

BUY LONGER LIFE

BUY RECYCLED

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Part 4 Collecting and exchanging information

You are going to exchange information about waste with schools in other European countries. To give thema better idea of the waste produced in your community, you need to pool your results with those of the restof your class. Collect the data together so that you can complete the class table below.

Total number of people in all the households surveyed ........

Percentage of waste types

Use your results to calculate the percentage by massof the types of waste produced in each category perweek per person and complete Table 5.

Exchanging information

Your teacher has an Exchange Form that containssome questions similar to those you answered inParts 1-3. As a class, decide what information to put

Send the form to students in other schools acrossEurope. Your school has a list of classes in othercountries that are studying the same unit of work.Your class will receive Exchange Forms from otherschools in return.

Table 4: Average waste per person for your class

Table 5: Percentage of different categories of wasteper person per day

Total solid waste Average waste Average wasteWaste for the household per person per person

kg per week kg per week kg per day

Paper products

Organic waste

Glass

Metal

Plastics

Other (e.g. batteries and packaging made of composite materials)TOTAL

Waste % by mass

Paper products

Organic waste

Glass

Metal

Plastics

Other (e.g. batteries and packaging made of composite materials)

TOTAL

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Part 5 What happens to waste across Europe?

When you have received replies, answer these questions.

Further activities

1 Prepare a wall display of your findings about domestic waste.Include such things as posters, photographs, newspaper featuresand artwork.

2 Carry out a survey of attitudes and actions in your school andlocal community to see how concerned people are about wasteand the environment. Table 10 in Part 6 will give you ideas asyou plan your survey. Do people’s attitudes and behaviour withregard to waste change as they get older?

3 Most waste materials are broken down into ’simpler’ constituentseither by natural processes or by man-made technology. Some ofthese ’simpler’ compounds may be toxic or dangerous, others maybe beneficial.

(a) Discuss the implications of harmful compounds entering:

i. the food chain

ii. the natural cycles (e.g. water cycle)

(b) Give examples of valuable breakdown products of waste.

1 Are there any differences in the average amounts and types of waste generated per person in differentcountries? Can you suggest reasons for any observed differences?

2 Are there waste collection services in all countries? What alternatives are there?

3 Do all countries dispose of the same items in the same way?

4 What differences did you notice in the type and amount of waste that are recycled in different countries?How do your findings compare with the information in Figure 1 and table 6 7, 8 and 9 in Part 6 of this unit?

5 What new ideas did you learn about the problems of disposing of domestic waste?

6 Are there any organisations, institutions or companies that are involved in recycling programmes acrossseveral European countries?What role do they play and why have they become involved?

7 Are there any similarities between the action plans for schools in each country?

8 The EC is moving towards a common policy on waste. The policy is described in the "Packaging andPackaging waste directive". This directive aims to achieve similar recovery and recycling targets in Europe. Is ita good idea to have a common European policy on waste? Do you have any evidence that a common policyis having an effect?

student page 8


Part 6 Information section

organics paper plastics glass textiles metals residue leather,rubber,wood

Hanoi 51.9 2.7 – 0.5 1.3 0.9 41.4 1.3

Paris 16.3 40.9 8.4 9.4 4.4 3.2 16.5 0.9

Budapest 34.7 20.0 5.7 6.1 – 4.4 29.1 –

Hong Kong 32.0 21.0 16.0 3.0 5.0 3.0 17.0 3.0

Vienna 23.3 33.6 7.0 10.4 3.1 3.7 16.1 2.8

Figure 1: Typical composition ofhousehold waste in Europe –percentage by mass

Quantities of municipal waste – 1980/90 (kg/inhabitant)

Country 1980 1990

Austria 222(5) 320Belgium 313 343Canada 524 601France 260 328Germany 318(3) 348(1)Greece 259 296Italy 249 348Japan 355 408Luxembourg 351 448The Netherlands 489(4) 497Norway 416 472Portugal 214 287Spain 270(6) 322(2)Sweden 302 374Switzerland 351 441United Kingdom 319 398USA 723 803

Table 6: Typical composition of waste in five cities around the World (Sources various)

Table 7: Quantities of municipal waste in 1980 and 1990 (Source: Eurostat)

(1) Situation before 3/10/1990

(2) 1988

(3) 1987

(4) 1982

(5) 1979

(6) 1978

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Table 8: Waste disposal routes expressed as percentage by massSources: TNO OECD IWM *MSW levels in Japan are calculated after the removal of recyclables

Waste disposal routes (expressed as % by weight of MSW)

Country Amount (ktonnes/yr) Combustion Landfill Composting Recycling

Austria 2800 11 65 18 6Belgium 3500 54 43 0 3Canada 16000 8 80 2 10Denmark 2600 48 29 4 19Finland 2500 2 83 0 15France 20000 42 45 10 3Germany 25000 36 46 2 16Greece 3150 0 100 0 0Ireland 1100 0 97 0 3Italy 17500 16 74 7 3Japan 50000 75 20 5 –*Luxembourg 180 75 22 1 2The Netherlands 7700 35 45 5 16Norway 2000 22 67 5 7Portugal 2650 0 85 15 0Spain 13300 6 65 17 13Sweden 3200 47 34 3 16Switzerland 3700 59 12 7 22United Kingdom 30000 8 90 0 2USA 177500 16 67 2 15

Country glass paper

Denmark 60 35.4Germany 45 (FDR) 39.6 (FDR)UK 21 31Spain 27 51Portugal 30 39.1France 28.5 45.7Italy 48 n.a.The Netherlands 66 n.a.Sweden 44 42.9Norway n.a. 26Belgium 55 14.7 (1980)Greece 15 30Ireland 23 3Australia 17 (1985) 31.8 (1985)Canada 12 (1985) 20Indonesia n.a. n.a.New Zealand 53 (1985) 19 (1985)Singapore n.a. n.a.USA 19.9 28.6

Table 9: Percentage of national production coming from recycled waste (Source: World Resource Foundation)n.a. = not available

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“Which, if any, of these things do you ever do?”

Belgium Denmark France Germany% % % %

A Avoid dropping papers or other waste on the ground 85 86 90 88

B Save energy, for example, by using less hot water, by closing doors and windows to save heat 62 77 87 88

C Sort out certain types of household waste (glass, paper, motor oil, batteries) for recycling 58 71 58 87

D Save tap water 50 53 54 67

E Not make too much noise 49 43 65 54

F Buy an environmentally-friendly product, even if it is more expensive 41 54 45 54

G Use less polluting means of transport(ie walking, cycling, public transport) than your car, whenever possible 35 36 41 50

H Have your car fitted with equipment to limit the pollution, for example, a catalytic converter 15 18 7 46

I Go on a type of holiday that is less harmful to the environment 32 13 32 26

J Take part in a local environmental initiative, for example, cleaning the beach or park 11 7 8 16

K Demonstrate against a project that could harm the environment 12 5 13 12

L Financially support an association for the protection of the environment 15 23 5 13

M Be a member of an association for the protection of the environment 10 16 5 7

Table 10: Results of a MORI Social Research Institute survey to test “green” responses in European countries

Source: EUROBAROMETER: Europeans and the environment in 1992, Spring 1992.

Actions taken to protect the environment

domestic waste

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