Top 5 solutions for garbage pollution

Garbage pollution is the only pollution problem that disturbs us 24/7 if it is not properly managed on long-term basis. Relying on garbage collection service to mitigate this problem is right approach because we pay through our taxes to civic agencies for this facility. But during the process of solid waste generation at our home we can do several things to keep it within limits and remain happy mentally and physical until the garbage collection service provider comes and takes it away.

Here are the top 5 solutions for garbage pollution we can apply in our everyday life at home and office both.

Backward countries treat e-waste as solid waste

Western countries are dumping their e-waste in poor and backward countries of the East. Are they doing so in bias against them? Do they want to destroy them by converting them into the dumping ground of the electronic waste that is not only harmful for the environment but equally hits human life? What benefits they will get by doing so. Absolutely no any benefit. On the other hand they will earn the notoriety of environmentally harming the lands across the border.

Does price matter here?

Then why advanced countries of the west are throwing the e-waste in least developed countries of the Asia and Africa. This is the main question of the debate here. No one is forcing any of them to do so. Actually this is the poverty that is playing a catalyst role in this bad deal. Price matters in every deal. So does it here in this deal.

Cheap prices play key role

Actually poor countries buy the used electronic items of all types from the scrap sellers of the rich countries. We know all that most of the rich countries belong to the West and almost all poor countries hail from the East. Electronic scrap buyers of poor countries import used electronic items from West on cheap prices. They

Is hospital waste not a pollution problem?

Do you believe this? Hospital waste is not considered a pollution problem in most of the backward countries of Asia and Africa. In most of such countries hospital waste is treated and handled as ordinary solid waste. Even no precautionary measures are adopted while handling it. Consequently the workers that are assigned to do this task remain directly exposed to its harmful effects.

Hospital waste is generated in hospitals, clinics, laboratories, maternity homes and other medical care units through its all types of medical and medical care activities including treatment, surgeries, pathological testing, patients waste, bleeding and excretion. It comprises of two types of waste one is infectious waste while the other is common solid waste.

Infectious waste

Infectious waste is the most harmful type of solid waste which directly affects the health of human beings. Most of such waste is infectious by nature and spread the diseases to those who come directly under its contact. It is not only physical contact but its harmful germs and bacteria may also be transmitted to people who are near its stock. This type of waste comprises of;

Is US nuclear waste leakage no big risk?

The recent incident of nuclear waste leakage in US has been declared no immediate risk to human health because of its tiny quantity and also owing to its occurrence far away from the Columbia River and city of Washington.

Is it no problem for environment?

However, the statement issued by state and federal officials is being seen as big joke that is equal to making fun of the requirement of safe environment and ecology. According to experts, the recent leakage of nuclear waste from the six underground tanks at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation must be mixing into the soil. Therefore, it is very right to ask:

• Is it not adding arsenic contamination in underground water
• Is it not hurting the natural characteristics of the soil
• Is it not likely to increase if it keeps on happening

But the Governor of Washington DC Jay Inslee very smartly addressed the concerns of the Washingtonians by putting aside any immediate threat to the life of people of the nearby areas because leakage is occurring about 8 kilometers away from the Columbia River. However, she also expressed concerns about the aging 140 single-shell storage tanks that are obvious to leak because of their almost end of service life.

Once created, plastic pollution can never be removed

This is the main point of difference between plastic pollution and other types of pollution. You cannot remove or even mitigate it once you generate it intentionally or unintentionally. Yes plastic material cannot be decomposed even in centuries. It is non-degradable and will remain in its ugliest shape while hitting our environment.

Why plastic bags

Convenience is the main reason of rising usage of plastic. We want to carry usable items to the maximum possible convenience. Secondly after huge surge in consumerism we want to shop all our needs in one-go and for that we want to carry as much items as possible in our two hands. For this purpose plastic bags and baskets serve our purpose excellently. That is why we use plastic bags without thinking of their harmful effects on environment and create plastic pollution.

Plastic is non-degradable

You would be surprised to know that if we throw away a plastic bottle it cannot be decomposed by itself even in thousands of years. If we burn it then its smoke will create air pollution and directly affect our lungs with its poisonous gases. If we throw it into a water bodies it will release liquid into the water creating water pollution to affect marine life and human beings if it is drinking water. Similarly if we through a plastic bag it will litter around because of its light weight and can choke the drainage system and will cause garbage pollution. If power supply is in open wirings it can also stick into them to create the danger of electric short circuit.

How to control land pollution?

Land pollution not only affects our health but also mars the aesthetic beauty of our surrounding environment. It is mostly caused by:

If there is no system of collection and disposal of domestic waste

In the absence of a proper hospital waste management system

If industries dump their solid waste including the chemical one at any un-designated place

Land pollution is caused in huge volume and clearly visible lying around our residential areas or crop fields. There are two approaches to control land pollution.

Ideal Approach

Adopt a way of life where you generate minimum amount of waste either it is domestic, industrial or hospital waste. When it would be generated less then obviously less of it would be missed to be disposed of properly. Ultimately there would be less land pollution. However, this is so ideal in this age of consumerism where people consume more and industries produce more to meet their demand. Then obviously it is so difficult to generate solid waste less.

Solid waste spoils our life

Solid waste spoils our life if it is not managed at source, destination or both. If it is not managed at the place where it is being generated like homes, offices, industries etc its pileup may directly affect our health by generating harmful bacteria in surrounding which may cause various infectious and even fatal diseases in people of vicinity and of course typhoid, malaria, dysentery and more alarmingly cholera are few of them.

Solid waste at source

If solid waste is not properly managed at the destination, the place where it is finally disposed off – it is technically called landfill site – it may hurt the environment more particularly of our land and its harmful effects may transmit with wind pressure and again can hit us through harmful bacteria and germs.

Moving solid waste

So we can say that solid waste may directly hit us if it is not properly handled even at the stage of its transportation from the source to destination – from our homes to designated landfill sites. During the process of its carriage if precautionary measures are not taken its collectors and carriers may be the first victims of its negative effects. After that the people in vehicles on the road where from solid waste crosses may shift some of its harmfulness to the commuters.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle; Confused?

You might have listened several times the three ways to reduce solid waste and might have been impressed to observe their rhythmic phonic but hardly have understood its real spirit because such words have become quite buzzword in our social sector.

If we talk about environment we simply express concerns over rising environmental degradation, if we talk about human rights we just be alarmed over their flagrant violations and when we discuss the wave of terrorism we just start counting the cost of terror all around the world. Instead of going to the root cause of a malady and do something practical for its eradication we mostly pay lip service to its consequences or look to others for their solution. How apathetic we are getting since we adopt a lavish and luxurious life style after the rapid advancement in our standard of living owing to the galloping development in science and technology.

Garbage pollution

Garbage pollution means littering civic waste particularly household waste into places not designated to dispose it off. It is mainly caused by mismanagement of solid waste when garbage is not lifted from streets and areas to carry it to landfill sites for its final disposal. It all happens owing to poor system of either garbage collection or its disposal.

Causes of garbage pollution

Garbage pollution increases in cities and towns where there is no proper system of garbage collection. Households have to simply collect the entire garbage of their houses and place it to outside home in bin or bag. Its collection is the task of civic agency of the area. If garbage collection agency or contractor does not play its role properly and does not collect the garbage regularly then the problem of garbage pollution would obviously arise.

Improper disposal mechanism is another cause of garbage pollution. If garbage collection agency simply collects the entire garbage of its area of responsibility but does not dispose it off in proper landfill site then it would litter around here and there and most of it would pile up in streets and other areas. It would eventually cause several diseases due to mushrooming growth of harmful bacteria in it.

Land Pollution

Land pollution is not only enemy of land but also of entire habitat of land be it human being, animal or plant. Whatever process, activity, violation, offence or something like that directly or indirectly pollute the land either its surface, its underground, mountains, valleys, cities, towns, villages, roads, bridges, highways, subways, railways etc is called land pollution.

The causes of land pollution are many but we here enumerate most important of them:

·         Solid waste mismanagement
·         Hospital waste mismanagement
·         Chemical waste dumping
·         Industrial waste dumping
·         Wanton use of chemical fertilizer
·         Undue use of pesticide
·         Water logging and salinity
·         Use of plastic bags for carrying small items

Solid waste mismanagement is common in countries where civic system is weak or obsolete. In most of the underdeveloped countries the entire civic system is working on parameters of older times when there was not load of civic waste or garbage and life was not so advanced to make people use everything in package and

Earth pollution

Earth pollution occurs whenever we pollute our mother Earth and it adds to its overall pollution level. It means all our polluting activities jointly increase the pollution load on Earth. Unfortunately while doing this we forget that this is the only planet we have where we can live otherwise on rest of the planets survival of life is not possible.

There are several polluting activities which directly or indirectly in one way or the other way pollute our mother Earth which we sometimes notice and most of the time it all go unheeded and its effects appear when we feel more pollution load in air we breath, in water we drink and on land where we walk. Some of the polluting activities are:

Solid waste mismanagement

This is the worst source to pollute the soil. If garbage, waste and refuse of houses, offices, industries and farming lands is not disposed off properly it litters our soil. There is a proper method to dispose of civic waste which includes garbage from homes and offices. From its sources – homes and offices – to ultimate disposal at landfill site a proper method ensuring the safety of environment and human health is adopted to keep people safe from its harmful effects. If during this whole process any part of the method is not followed properly then people exposed to its effects may suffer from various diseases like cholera, gastro, infections, allergies etc. Similarly disposal of waste generated from industries and factories under prescribed guidelines is very necessary failing which it adds to land pollution.

Hospital waste mismanagement

Entire pathological and infectious wastes of hospital must be disposed of through appropriate method otherwise it could directly hit the human health through its infectious effects and may cause several serious diseases. Therefore, hospital waste must be incinerated – burning through high temperature machines – or through autoclave. Former is the technology which neutralizes the infectious effects of such waste through moisturizing process.

Non-treatment of wastewater and effluent

If effluent coming from industries and factories is not treated to neutralize its harmful effects and let to flow into water bodies including river, sea, lake or water canal it adds water pollution and ultimately hit the water features of land. Similarly if wastewater coming from homes is not treated before its final disposal to water bodies it may also add to the miseries of polluted water. If we consume polluted water we may suffer from various diseases of serious nature like gastro, joint aches, kidney problems, liver diseases etc.

Emissions beyond limits

If smoke emissions from vehicles and factories exceed the limits set by various environmental watchdogs and which are not considered negligible in this way they add to air pollution and ultimately mars the beauty of the air of our mother Earth. Therefore, smoke emitting setups of our vehicles and factories must be scientifically developed to let the lesser emissions. 

Beach pollution

Beach pollution means littering of beach. Beaches are great source of picnic and enjoyment if they are maintained properly and people take care of them. Unfortunately visiting folks don’t think about it and in fun and enjoyment they litter them without any care for it. It mostly happens in third world countries but sometimes it is also observed in quite advanced countries where people in frenzy for enjoyment pollute the beach by throwing garbage, cans, tins, packets, refuse etc  and its seems a messy place quite unfit for picnic.

Who cares?

On beaches civic agencies usually install instructions boards to guide the visitors how to stay on beach and for their convenience dust bins are also put up with clear signs of “us me” inscribed over them to ask people throw the garbage in them. But it all go unheeded and many careless and irresponsible visitors clearly lacking beach awareness instead of following these guidelines do conversely and throw the garbage here and there instead of using the dustbins.

Beach neighbors

Urban settlements of coastal areas in most of the less developed countries releases their sewerage and drainage directly into the sea through rain drains and directly hit the beach as well as sea. It is usually observed where civic agencies of such areas are lethargic enough to provide any alternative arrangement to dispose of civic wastewater after proper treatment or they do not have any facility to do so. Here ultimately our beaches have to suffer because of whatever reason.