Assignment 2:
Review of Personal Ecological Footprint

Part 1:

Introduction:

I have chosen to attempt to reduce my waste for a monthly period from the 5th of February. I have chosen waste over travel as I believe this is the more practical of the two for me as I don’t drive and I will not be flying this month, also in assignment number 1 the waste component of my ecological footprint was significantly bad at 0.239 gha/tonne.

Plus, in my Ecological Footprint in Assignment one it is clear that I am not using my recycling bin effectively, Landfill is much higher, from the figures calculated and it can be highlighted that general waste is at 0.124 (gha/tonnes) whilst recycling is at 0.102 (gha/tonnes).

In this review of assignment one I hope to reduce my waste that goes to landfill, thus increasing the amount that goes to recycling. The bin company we are with is called “Clean Ireland” as explained in assignment number one:

“Clean Ireland Recycling’s mission is to conserve resources and reduce waste by encouraging the efficient use of materials, developing and promoting source reduction and reuse strategies and integrating these strategies with recycling.” (Clean Ireland, 2009.)

It supplies a general waste bin (personal items, non-recyclable items), a recycling bin (paper, cardboard, plastic, tins, etc.) and a compost waste bin (garden clippings, cooked and raw food, wet toilet paper, egg shells, teabags, etc.). This is called the three bin system. They also have a glass bin that we did not avail of as it only takes jars and we already make a monthly visit to the bottle banks in our local area.
Calculations:

Recycling:
Material Monthly consumption (tonnes) EF Conversion Factor (gha/tonne) Personal EF (gha) aluminium 0.0302 0.18 0.005 plastic 0.0031 1.14 0.003 paper 0.0016 0.85 0.001 glass 0.0048 0.52 0.002

Compost:
Material Monthly