Hello smartcitizen,

In doing our daily activities, waste is something that cannot be separated from us. Especially when traveling to tourist attractions. Various garbage seems to gather together like memories, starting from the garbage of tourists and merchants. The bigger the crowd, the bigger the volume of garbage collected. Holiday seasons such as the Lebaran holiday yesterday make tourist attractions crowded, as well as the garbage.

The Ministry of Environment and Forestry once conducted a survey with a community of nature lovers in 2016, the results showed that there were 453 tons of waste in eight national park tourist destinations. The waste is generated by 150,688 visitors every year, sadly as much as 53% is classified as plastic waste which is difficult to decompose.

The Indonesian Institute of Sciences or LIPI in 2018 also recorded the amount of marine debris in 18 locations throughout Indonesia. The amount reached 0.27 to 0.59 million tons per year. Irresponsible littering and lack of waste management are among the reasons. This is concerning, especially considering that tourism is one of the priority sectors driving national economic progress and the beautiful environment is being damaged.

Therefore, the small steps we can take for the environment mean a lot. Like reducing the waste around us and managing it properly, how can we do it? Let’s take a look at some of these tips.

Sorting out Trash

The first and simple step is to recognize the types of waste, this will make it easier for us to sort them. Waste is divided into 3 types, namely organic, inorganic, and hazardous waste. Organic waste is a type of waste that can decompose and decompose so that it can be processed into compost. For example, food scraps, dry leaves, vegetables, and others.

Inorganic waste, on the other hand, is waste that is difficult to decompose and cannot be decomposed. This makes inorganic waste recyclable into something new and useful, such as plastic bottles, used paper, cardboard, used cans, and others. Finally, hazardous waste is waste that is material that can endanger the health or survival of humans, other creatures, and the environment such as necklaces used for insect poisons, used batteries, used lamps, and mask waste.

Bins according to type

After recognizing and sorting out the types of waste, providing appropriate bins is the next step. Presenting three different bins at home and then marking them can make it easier for us to separate household waste produced every day.

For organic waste using green color, inorganic waste in yellow color and B3 waste in red color. Disposing and sorting waste becomes easier.

Implementing Zero Waste

Have you ever shopped at a stall? Well, every time you shop at a stall and you don’t bring a shopping bag, the stall owner will usually give you a plastic shopping bag. In the concept of zero waste, the use of single-use plastics should be reduced and replaced with cloth shopping bags.

This is because zero waste is a concept that is voiced so that we care about nature, realized by using items that are not consumable. Although it is quite inconvenient to carry cloth bags every time you shop, the changes you make can have a significant impact on the earth and nature.

Nowadays, there are many cloth bags that can be folded into small, attractive designs that are easy to carry anywhere and anytime.

Read also: Tips to Reduce Medical Waste

Implementing the 3Rs

Managing waste properly is one of the important ways to keep the environment clean and healthy. The 3R concept (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) is an effective way to reduce the volume of waste generated and reuse the waste so that it can be recycled.

Smartcitizen, are you familiar with that term yet? Let’s get acquainted again.

The first concept, Reduce the amount of waste generated and replace it with reusable shopping bags. Second, Reuse by reusing items that can still be used, such as glass bottles or plastic bottles that can be reused to store food or drinks. Third, Recycle is the process of reprocessing waste into new materials that can be used to make a product.

Before processing and recycling waste, also make sure that packaging such as glass, bottles, paper has a recycling logo so that it is safer to reuse with different functions without fear of dangerous chemical reactions.

Well, managing waste is easy, right? Let’s take care of the environment together to keep it clean and comfortable by disposing of waste in its place. Don’t forget to also follow jsclab social media to get various other interesting info.