organic waste;10 Examples You Must Know

The organic waste  are materials originated from a (animal or vegetable) living creature that are useless or can not be reused. Organic waste is continuously generated by living beings throughout the planet, in addition to being generated from many human activities , such as industrial processes or people’s daily actions (peeling a fruit, for example).

Organic waste is easily recyclable , and if it is separated from inorganic waste and subjected to the appropriate processes, it can be reused as food, fertilizer, building material, ornaments, among others.

      Table with examples.

Examples of organic waste

Eggshells Nail
Animal feathers Chicken guts
Sawdust Animal hair
Fish scales Human droppings
Wet wood Dried tree roots
Straw Tangerine seeds
Grape seeds Melon peel
Dry leaves Human urine
Pruned tree branches Mowed lawn
Animal droppings Rotten eggs
Rotten fruits Pork bones
Banana peel Dead plants
Cow bones Contaminated food
Spoiled milk Poorly frozen food
Watermelon seeds Paper
Animal carcasses Used grass
Hooves Animal urine
Cigarette ash Unused cotton fabrics
Coffee scraps Leftovers
Paper bags Apple peel
Fish bones Cardboard packaging
Human hair Onion peel
Flower petals Melon seeds
Animal guts Coconut shell

Types of garbage

According to their origin, two different types of garbage can be distinguished:

  • Organic waste: Are those wastes that come directly from some living organism, be it a colony of bacteria, a plant, a tree, a human being or any other animal.
  • Inorganic waste: Are those wastes that come from materials, chemicals or substances that do not originate in living organisms, such as iron, plastic, cables, porcelain, glass, etc.

The organic waste is distinguished from inorganic waste in the former it can be disintegrated in a short time from chemical processes generated by bacteria ( decomposers ) representing the final stage of the food chain .

The inorganic waste , however, may require huge amounts of time to be totally disintegrated, which can range from decades to millions of years and can be highly polluting during the decomposition process (as with some plastics or nuclear waste ).

Sources of organic waste

In general, we can say that organic waste can originate in three main ways:

  • In the first place, it can originate from the normal bodily functions of living beings , as in the case of excrement, hair, nails, dried flowers, etc.
  • Secondly, it can originate from a human activity that sought to extract an economic resource from living beings (wood, food, oils), generating in the process organic materials that are not usable, as occurs with sawdust or the guts of the processed animals.
  • Third, organic waste can be generated from organic materials (usually food) that are in a state of decomposition or that are unhealthy because they have expired or have been poorly preserved, as is the case with poorly frozen meat or rotten fruit.
by Abdullah Sam
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