Two bins. Wet and dry.
Keep wet kitchen waste and dry recyclables in separate bins. Mixed-up garbage is far harder to compost or recycle.
Mix them once and two useful things become one useless, dripping heap.
Here's the science
- What happensNot segregating wet (biodegradable) and dry (recyclable) waste at source
- HowMixed waste cannot be composted or recycled cleanly, so more of it is contaminated and sent to landfills; segregating at source is a legal duty under the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016
- SoLess material recovered and recycled, and more waste to landfill
How it works - the size isn't measured hereIN
“Every waste generator shall, - (a) segregate and store the waste generated by them in three separate streams namely bio-degradable, non bio-degradable and domestic hazardous wastes in suitable bins and handover segregated wastes to authorised waste pickers or waste collectors as per the direction or notification by the local authorities from time to time;”
This is a legal duty and its intended benefit - more recycling, less to landfill - not a measured quantity.
Source: The Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 (as amended to date) - Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India(checked 2026-07-18)
And when we do it
Sorted at home, wet waste can become compost and dry waste can actually be recycled - instead of all of it rotting together in one heap.
You couldn't have known. Now you do.