The waste we produce every day has a value and by virtue of this they should be divested

It seems that the withdrawal of plastic waste, glass, paper, metals and the damp hamlet from our homes is a kind service that the municipalities arrange to do us a favour, that of freeing our homes from waste on a daily basis. But is that so?

We are beginning to say that today, probably, we do not even do favours anymore, but what the citizens have in mind, in relation to the waste collection service, is a concept that is not entirely correct.

It is not often seen, in the real market, a sale of an asset without an economic consideration paid by the buyer and, probably even less, you see even fewer transactions in which the seller has to pay the buyer to sell his product.

In the world of waste, on the other hand, it happens with a certain frequency and the reasons arise from a distorted view on the part of the people of the concept of rejection of our property. Already the word rejection is assimilated to all these products that, in our homes or companies, end the life cycle that we have attributed to it, becoming an urgent problem of space and decorum.

With this concept, failing to see any value to the product at the end of life, we are willing to pay as long as it is taken away from our scope of life.

Entrepreneurial activities in the collection, treatment and disposal of waste thank for the delicious opportunity offered by citizens (although the logic of raw material auctions sometimes cool these enthusiasms) and municipalities, which are tasked with collecting waste, cover the costs of the service, far from market logic, through our money.

In fact, with this system, the citizen is mocked 3 times:

he gives up the refusal of his property without getting any economic benefit

pays for the sale and withdrawal of the refusal at your home

buys back an asset that's probably done with a share of the waste that has succumbed in an expensive way

Many years ago, when household waste was mostly buried in landfills or passively burned, the economic contribution to collection and disposal could make sense because, through specialized companies, the municipality offered an unprofitable service to the citizen.

Today, waste has an intrinsic value in that it produces, through its processing, by-products with which a new value is created. Glass, paper, plastics, the wet fraction of our kitchens create a virtuous circle expressed in second raw materials or energy that are offered back to the market in a normal commercial activity.

So it can easily happen that the waste that we have, perhaps naively paid to get rid of it, we will repay it a second time when we go to buy a bottle of detergent made of recycled plastic or turn on the light in our house, using the energy made with the damp fraction of our kitchens.

In some parts of the world we are beginning to think that this approach to the burdensome divestment by citizens of their waste is something that makes little sense and that its reversal could create an important social economy and concrete help to protect the environment.

But how is it possible to change this mentality and what advantages would it bring? Let's see some points:

The citizen must be accompanied by a radical cultural change, shifting the concept of rejection from a burden to a resource for himself and his family.

By acquiring a value, domestic waste allows to create an additional income to the family budget by reducing the taxes paid by it, as already happens in some countries, by focusing the citizen on the correct approach to differentiated collection.

A substantial reduction in waste dispersed in the environment could be created as a new economy could be generated that enhances collection and recycling.

The increased burdens that recycling industries and municipalities will be forced to bear could be offset by an increase in the share of labour waste placed on the market, a reduction in the burden of environmental remediation or economic consequences in relation to the increase in the rate of circular pollution and dependence on virgin raw materials.

Think about it, it might be good for everyone.

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