Planning the waste management and recycling for all of the rubbish produced in this country is an enormous task which involves both logistical planning and scientific knowledge and understanding in order to balance the impact on the environment and the cost effectiveness of the process.
Waste management and recycling companies are also feeling an extra pressure to perform their role in the greenest ways possible. It is important to remember that the UK’s resources and landfill sites are limited and this has a major bearing on the kind of activities that are carried out.
Waste collection and rubbish disposal play an extremely important role in the global cleanliness and sustainability drive, with people’s health and the conservation of resources being the responsibility of every government. To ease the pressure on government agencies, numerous privately-managed organisations also play a part in these waste management and recycling programs. In many cities it means that local government agencies have been left with the responsibility of overseeing the work done by these privately held organisations.
Thousands of years ago humans simply dug a hole and buried their refuse and waste. This was an effective technique for these early people because their population was relatively small and they did not produce waste on the same scale or with the levels of complexity that modern humans do. Burying the rubbish helped to prevent bugs and rodents from becoming a nuisance and spreading diseases.
In the modern world burying all of our rubbish is not a sustainable solution. While primitive humans produced very little waste, and that which was produced would biodegrade quickly, modern humans produce much larger amounts of waste, much of which is not biodegradable. Additionally, many types of waste may be damaging to the soil, ground water and surrounding habitat.
The most important reason for waste collection is the protection of the environment and the health of the population.
