Belarus is in second place. A girl told how she sorted trash in six countries of the world
Belarusian Mariya Ignatenko (name changed) from Minsk has lived in six countries around the world. Everywhere she sorted trash. The girl is confident: if there were a rating for the most convenient place to sort trash, Slovenia would be in first place, and Belarus in second. Together with Mariya, Hrodna.life journalists figured out how citizens' personal responsibility fits into the waste recycling system in different countries.
Container for organic waste collection in Slovenia. Photo: JP VOKA SNAGA (water resources and waste management in Slovenia), vokasnaga.si
There was no sorting in Turkey at all, while in Belarus it is one of the best
Mariya's trash sorting journey began when the Minsk resident was studying for her master's degree in Nova Gorica, Slovenia. It continued in Italy, Turkey, Poland, the Netherlands, and Belarus.
«I sort plastic, paper, organic, and general waste separately. I don't have much glass, so I just take a jar in my hands and carry it to a container when I go somewhere on errands,» Mariya says. «I don't have much space at home, so, of course, I don't use three bins, but just three different bags. For organic waste, I buy special biodegradable bags.»
By the way, systemic sorting of organic waste in Belarus is unlikely to work: only a few percent are composted, while in Lithuania, Germany, or Switzerland, the figure is 18% or more.
But the interviewee is determined to do what she believes is right anyway. Will she give up if told that all the different containers will still end up at the same landfill? Mariya replies: in her yard, she sees at least two different garbage trucks — but she wouldn't mind seeing the entire chain of waste collection and processing.
«Even if we assume the worst-case scenario, that my bags eventually end up in one landfill, it still makes sense to separate organic waste from solid waste even at the landfill. Because that way, it will still decompose faster. In general, I sorted by this principle in 2018 in Turkey, where there was no sorting at all. I still put plastic separately from organic waste and carried everything to one container. I simply couldn't throw everything into one bag.»
Almost half of urban waste in Turkey is biodegradable, but it is not sorted. Moreover, the amount of waste in Turkey has been growing much faster than the economy in the last 12 years, the European Environment Agency writes in its 2025 report. The system's shortcomings give rise to social compensation mechanisms — not only through the actions of conscious citizens.
In Turkey, there are unofficial waste collectors, "çöpçü", who sort and collect valuable secondary raw materials (plastic, paper, metal) from regular trash containers, thereby becoming an important element of the recycling system.
A small town where four trash bins are the norm
Nova Gorica is a city with a population of 13,000 people on the border with Italy. Mariya Ignatenko moved there from Minsk more than ten years ago to study for her master's degree. After a big city, she noticed that everyone knew each other. And also, that in such a small town, there was separate waste collection. Moreover, it was done so well that Mariya calls the collection "flawless".
«I lived in a dormitory, and we simply had four trash bins everywhere – for plastic, paper, organic, and general waste,» Mariya recalls from 2014. «It somehow organically fit into our daily life and required no additional effort.»
According to Mariya, the residents of the town themselves also gave the impression of being very proper.
«They played sports, rode bicycles, sorted trash. After living there for some time, I realized that separate waste collection there was at a state level. It even seemed that the trash containers were from the same manufacturer and were identical in large shopping centers, near small shops, and simply in courtyards.»
Last year, Slovenia sorted almost 75% of urban waste – while in Belarus it was around 38%. How does it work? "Reuse Centers" operate throughout Slovenia. People can bring their unwanted but functional items there: furniture, appliances, toys, clothes. These items undergo minor repairs and are then sold at symbolic prices.
In Italy, citizens didn't want to bother with the containers
After about a year of study, Master's student Mariya decided that since the neighboring country was so close, why not try living there. She moved to the large port city of Trieste, which seemed very beautiful to her, and life there more interesting. She could walk a lot and swim in the sea.
«It was about 50 kilometers to Slovenia, and the journey to study took about an hour. Although it's quite close, the situation with separate collection differed greatly,» Mariya recalls.
At that time, Italy also had separate containers. But most people didn't pay attention to them, Mariya says. She sorted trash anyway but didn't feel like a regular citizen.
«I got the impression that Italians simply don't want to think about which container is for what and follow any rules. When you're new to a country and trying to settle into your daily life, such a situation can be confusing: how should one behave?» she recalls.
Despite the interviewee's impression, back in 2014, the share of separate waste collection in Italian cities was around 45%, which was higher than in Belarus at the same time.
The waste recycling system in Italy has interesting elements: whey from the production of famous Italian mozzarella is processed into methane. In Rome, a program was launched where residents can deposit plastic and aluminum bottles into special machines at metro stations and receive bonuses for public transport fares.
Returned to Belarus — and found raccoons there
After a long break, Mariya returned to Belarus — and found that everything had changed there and the "Goal 99" campaign was in full swing. The campaign was launched in 2015 with the idea that Belarus would eventually achieve the processing of almost all waste. Cities and the internet were filled with images of raccoons and slogans: «Our concern, not the raccoons'!»
In the courtyard of the house where Mariya lived, multicolored containers appeared, and she continued to sort trash just as she had done in Slovenia.
The campaign «Our concern, not the raccoon's!» took place in Belarus at the end of 2015
«For me, sorting trash was already as normal as brushing my teeth. When I visited my mom or aunt and saw only one bin, I would be at a loss as to what to do. The feeling is similar to standing on the street with a candy wrapper and looking for a bin to throw it away, because you wouldn't just throw it on the ground.»
After her studies, Mariya Ignatenko lived in other countries more than once. She spent half a year in the Netherlands twice. In the girl's opinion, they slightly overcomplicated separate collection there.
«At first, there was a huge number of containers — for two different types of plastic, for metal, for paper, organic... As far as I know, even locals didn't fully understand what to throw where, so the government decided that it would be better for sorting to be handled at waste processing plants. When I visited Amsterdam for the second time, there was already a standard system with separate collection for organic waste, glass, and plastic.»
A similar story unfolded in Poland, where Mariya lived for half a year in 2023. Waste containers near houses are locked, cameras hang at entrances, and waste collection rooms have five types of containers — for plastic, paper, organic, glass, and mixed waste. Cans are thrown into the plastic container.
Trash containers in Poland
An average family in the Netherlands pays around 350 euros per year for waste removal. In Poland, the waste removal fee increases 2-3 times if residents refuse separate sorting and throw all waste into one container.
The label «eco» is sometimes far-fetched
Both at home and in other countries, Mariya tries to create as little waste as possible. She doesn't use disposable tableware, rides a bicycle whenever possible, doesn't eat meat, and reads labels. Yet, Mariya believes she doesn't have "eco-habits," and even the "eco" labels themselves annoy her.
«Labels on packaging like "vegan," "eco" — it seems that sometimes it's just far-fetched and used as a marketing ploy. Moreover, sometimes marketers miss the essence and produce some nonsense,» the heroine reflects.
Sometimes labels about eco-friendliness are just greenwashing
To reduce waste, she goes grocery shopping with her own bags. Or at least asks to put all the purchased fruit into one bag. Mariya buys groceries at a regular store or at Komarovsky Market.
«I usually buy from "my" people, and I've never had conflicts because of bags,» Mariya says. «If I buy two lemons, two kiwis, two cucumbers, and a couple of tomatoes, why do I need four separate bags? I always ask to put them all in one. In the store, I also put them in one, and at the self-checkout, of course, I weigh everything separately.»
Does she try to convince people around her? Not really. She talked to her mom and aunt and realized it takes a lot of effort — people are very different. But for herself, Mariya decided that sorting trash is important.
«I sort trash, and I still see that there's a lot of it. A lot of plastic, the amount of which I cannot reduce, because all dairy products, water, almost all food products are sold in a large number of packages. Sorting simply gives me a clear picture of how much I consume and what ecological footprint I leave. In this chain, my area of responsibility is from the store to the trash bin. I fulfill my role correctly. What happens before and after me is no longer my sphere of responsibility. Manufacturers, city managers, and recycling are responsible for that.»
Household waste is more difficult to sort than industrial waste
Despite the problems of the waste processing system, personal stance and individual efforts are very important — says Andrey Golik, an expert with 15 years of experience in waste processing.
But what about the fact that household waste is much smaller in volume than industrial waste? And it makes up by far not the largest part of all waste in the system. Yes, but working with industrial waste is easier, the specialist notes.
«They are usually separated already at the source of generation — whereas household waste is very diverse, and it is very difficult to work with this mix,» he says. «And we as citizens separate this mix at the point of generation.»
How does this help? Sorting waste at home improves the results at the sorting station. By sorting paper, paper packaging, writing paper, a person significantly helps to improve the quality of waste paper produced by the sorting station.
«This improves the quality of the paper factory's products — and this can actually be explained using almost any type of waste as an example,» Andrey Golik explains.
One can also look at organic waste. Without batteries, without plastic elements, it can go directly to composting, and the compost can be high quality, or it can be sent to a bioreactor for methane and energy production. In addition to raw material quality, separating waste at home helps processing enterprises save costs.
Will one garbage truck come and take everything?
The interviewee adds: in many countries, it is legally stipulated that citizen participation is very important; there are strategies and measures to raise citizens' awareness about waste and special budgets for this. One of the strategies is working with tariffs.
«In many developed countries, they introduce a system called PAYT (Pay As You Throw) — pay when you throw. This means if you don't sort and throw your trash into a mixed waste container, you pay quite a lot. But if you sort and dispose of it in colored containers for separate collection, they are mostly serviced for free,» says Andrey Golik.
Even fines can be imposed for throwing waste into the wrong container. As for Belarus, the specialist says, one often hears about a single garbage truck that collects both sorted and regular waste.
According to the expert, it was not planned to collect separately sorted waste with a single truck:
«At the level of the idea of separate waste collection, such a task was never set.»
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