How to avoid unpleasant aromas in warm weather

With the arrival of warmer weather, when more garden waste is generated, residents are invited not only to sort biodegradable waste, thus reducing their bills, but to put it in a biodegradable or paper bag before throwing it in the brown container, informed the head of the “CleanR” Household Waste Management Department Liene Rumpane.

During this year, the waste manager has installed almost 2,100 organic waste or brown containers, and the demand for them continues to increase at a time when the amount of garden waste – leaves, grass, plants, their roots, mulch, etc. – is increasing more and more. In total, around 3,800 brown containers have already been installed in the territory served by “CleanR”.

“One of the most common concerns of residents regarding the sorting of biological waste is directly related to the spread of unpleasant aromas, the breeding of insects and rodents, however, there is a solution for this – a biodegradable or paper bag in which to throw this waste. Even now, those who do not sort throw away food leftovers in the household waste container, but in this case, the residents are used to throwing the waste in a plastic bag before that, which provides more convenient sorting, isolates odors, and reduces the problem of rats or insects , choosing the right bag,” said Rumpane.

Currently, the amount of biodegradable waste makes up about 40% of the amount of household waste. By starting to sort them, the volume of household waste will decrease, as a result of which residents will be able to apply for less frequent removal or install a smaller container. In addition, biodegradable waste management is 40% cheaper than household waste disposal.

The brown container should contain kitchen waste and leftover food without packaging, such as vegetable and fruit scraps, peels and cores, cereals and their products – bread and confectionery. Shells, solid dairy products such as curd and cheese, as well as coffee or tea grounds can also be placed in this container.

The organic waste includes garden waste – plants and their roots, leaves, grass, branches, the diameter of which does not exceed two centimeters, mulch, as well as indoor waste – houseplants without soil, withered flowers.

Garbage in a plastic bag, food leftovers in plastic packaging must not be thrown into this container. Also, liquids such as soup, milk or kefir should not be poured into it. Also, thuja should not be thrown in the brown container, as they contain various essential oils that inhibit the decomposition process.

To request the installation of containers, residents of an apartment building should contact their building manager. In order to install them, the consent of all residents of the house is not required. However, if, after several requests, the house manager has neither placed the containers, nor provided a reasoned reason why this is not done, residents have the right to appeal to the municipality.

On the other hand, residents of private houses can apply for a container on the self-service platform manai.videi.lv by writing to the e-mail address [email protected] or by calling the number 67111001.

“Our experience shows that in individual private houses the neighbors cooperate by installing one brown container at two or three addresses, then dividing the amount of the bill proportionally. This is a solution for those who want to sort, but do not produce enough organic waste to fill the container in a given period of time “, informed the representative of “CleanR”.