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.