Due to the various projects carried out by human beings, a lot of waste is generated that, depending on its use and composition, can be very polluting. In addition to this, there is the high accumulation of solid waste, causing environmental problems for both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. This post shows what the Causes and Consequences of Garbage are, so I invite you to continue reading.
The trash
Before knowing its causes and consequences, the term Garbage can be specified as the dispossession of things or objects that are discarded because they have no use. Garbage originates from various projects and human activities, which produce a large amount of materials that no longer have any value, as well as any type of utility, or way to be recycled.
Garbage originates from domestic, industrial, agricultural, mining, urban and other activities, which lead to the production of garbage or waste that may or may not be toxic. However, regardless of its toxicity, garbage is one of the main causes of environmental pollution. The large amount of garbage that humans generate every day causes the development and cultivation of different pathogens, which are sources of disease. Likewise, the poor selection of sites for its final disposal, cause aesthetic and public health problems.
Causes of Garbage
The dominant economic model promotes the consumption of goods and services, leading to it being the structural cause of the high production of Garbage. This high accumulation of Garbage or waste is caused by population density, the creation or foundation of populated centers from where a lot of Garbage is generated, due to the various activities, the growth of the population that together with poor Garbage management causes great collection of waste that is a source of environmental pollution.
The environmental contamination caused by the poor disposal and management of garbage causes a negative impact from the aesthetic point of view, release of bad odors, occupation of land and sea spaces, among other impacts. This contamination can be reduced and even avoided by applying good garbage management that includes its final disposal. In addition, this management of garbage or waste has to be linked with a socio-economic policy that leads to a change in the pattern of consumption by society.
Search management alternatives such as the 3R, which means, "reduce, reuse and recycle", has to be systematized and taken to the different social strata as well as economic and productive areas, which would help reduce the pollution caused by it. . In order to safeguard places both on land, sea and space.
Due to the fact that, at present, space debris has accumulated even in the stratosphere, at the bottom of the oceans you can find remains of discarded objects such as sunken ships and also on the surface you can see the garbage islands and even the liquid waste such as fuels, oil spills. All this accumulation is less visible to the common citizen and, if it is the large amount of Garbage in many cities of developing countries. This leads to highlight that the Causes of the large amount of Garbage occur due to:
The pattern of consumption
The consumption pattern of society is determined by established economic development. In the world sphere, since the mid-eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, industrial-capitalist economic development prevails. This development is based on the generation of goods and services in great quantity, through mechanization powered by different energy sources. The consumption of goods is promoted through advertising.
Also, industrial projects that have been carried out in recent times, apparently have been applying the method of planned obsolescence. This planned obsolescence has to do with the design and manufacture of goods and products with a short useful or utilitarian life, with the aim of being able to obtain greater economic performance. In some cases, it happens that the products or goods purchased end up being discarded due to lack of spare parts or that they were made with poor quality parts.
The consumer tends to discard the goods or products in view of the lack of spare parts, or also because the creation of increasingly advanced technological models means that they constantly acquire more updated equipment and the old models are left behind. This cycle of acquiring products, discarding them as obsolete and buying a more up-to-date one has resulted in the generation and accumulation of waste or garbage.
In addition to this, there are still few countries that have a well systematized timely processing of garbage, the consequence of this is that it tends to be disposed of in a disorderly manner. This combination of high consumption of goods, which are soon obsolete, and the garbage management and handling system produces great pollution caused by the generation of garbage.
Population increase
The increase in the amount of Garbage is directly proportional to population growth. This in view of the fact that as the rate of the population increases in sufficient age to acquire more products and services, it leads to Causing Waste, due to the increase in the demand for goods and services. In response, industrialists accelerate the production of more products to offer to this growing population of consumers and can be purchased by them, which in the end Cause Waste.
In addition to the population increase, it is also necessary to take into account the increase and concentration of the population density of the earth, at present, 75% of the planet's inhabitants are concentrated in small geographical regions of the planet, located in the middle latitudes. with warm and temperate climates. Some of these regions are: Japan and China in South Asia, Indochina, India and Pakistan in East Asia, and in Eastern Europe and northeastern North America.
Bringing as a consequence the high generation of Garbage, which to keep it under control, a complex management of it has to be applied. However, many of these densely populated countries are managed with developing economies and unsuccessful waste management plans.
Poor Garbage Management
One of the main Causes of the accumulation of Garbage is its poor management, this is because the waste that is produced by the industrialization and production of goods and services, is transformed into Garbage by not being processed satisfactorily. Such is the case of glass bottles of wine, juices, soft drinks or other products. Glass is a material that can be recycled many times and, if once used instead of throwing it in the trash can, it can be recycled as raw material to produce new bottles.
In case of choosing the recycling of the glass bottle and becoming raw material to produce new bottles, the accumulation of Garbage will be reduced. This will lead to less pollution due to the extraction of silica sand for the manufacture of glass, reduce the time of the industrial process to manufacture glass bottles, and reduce the amount of Garbage due to the accumulation of glass bottles or containers.
It should be noted that the poor management of waste or Garbage is one of the main environmental pollutants worldwide. According to statistics, around 8 million tons of plastic material waste are currently accumulated in the seas and oceans. Causing that these accumulated plastic objects as Garbage, are almost 80% of the Marine Garbage, which due to their decomposition have been transformed into micro plastics of sizes less than 5 millimeters. Causing serious pollution problems for the different marine ecosystems.
Trash Consequences
The Consequence of Garbage is pollution, such as the visual and aesthetic pollution that is caused by its poor disposal in open-air dumps, caused by the waste produced by human beings in cities and fields. This is also due to the contamination that it causes in the soil, water and air due to the chemical substances that it releases. Coupled with ineffective waste management that can result in serious environmental damage.
in public health
The large amount of Garbage and its leachates that are collected in unsuitable places are a direct source of the proliferation of pathogens that negatively impact the health of living beings and therefore become an epidemiological risk in the population. This is due to the fact that dumping waste in a disorderly manner allows the proliferation of animals such as insects, rodents, and other animals that are vectors of diseases to other living organisms.
This occurs, given that the large amount of garbage gathered in one place favors certain conditions of temperature, light and humidity that allow the easy reproduction of pathogenic microorganisms. These pathogens can be carried to other places by wind and water and infect people who live near these garbage dumps or landfills.
One of the consequences of the accumulation of garbage in landfills, as indicated by the figures handled by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2017, was the high infant mortality rate, around 1,7 million children. deaths as a result of environmental pollution. Environmental contamination occurred largely due to the inadequate management of garbage in underdeveloped countries.
According to these statistics, poor garbage management has led to the death of some 361.000 children due to gastrointestinal diseases caused by the consumption of infected water or food contaminated by garbage. Likewise, the high proliferation of pest insects that develop in poorly managed garbage dumps caused the death of some 200.000 infants who suffered from diseases transmitted by these insects.
in biological diversity
The problem regarding the disposal of garbage, each day has a greater negative impact on the environment of the different ecosystems of the earth, such as the accumulation of plastic waste in aquatic ecosystems that, due to water currents, go from the rivers to the seas and oceans, causing the death of living organisms in these ecosystems.
This brings as a consequence, in addition to the death of the aquatic fauna and flora, the transmission of contaminating agents through the food chain. Due to what happens with plastic waste, because when they decompose they are transformed into such small parts that they become microscopic and these small plastic particles are ingested by zooplankton, crustaceans and fish, believing that they are living organisms. This can kill them by the accumulation of chemical agents in their organs.
It can also happen that they indirectly enter the food chain, by being consumed by living organisms, which in turn are consumed by larger ones that are from the higher levels of the chain until they reach human beings. Arriving negatively impacting some of the people who feed on marine animals contaminated by plastic waste.
In the same way, these plastic and aluminum wastes, which are slower to decompose and remain in their original size, cause the death of marine fauna and birds that feed on it. An example of this is the mortality of around 52% of sea turtles that have been affected by plastic garbage.
Another consequence of Garbage on biological diversity is that Garbage accumulated in natural and even urban habitats can be a source of food and cause animals to change their eating habits by facilitating the acquisition of food. Foods that provide carbohydrates and end up altering the natural diet of the animals that consume it and consequently alter their metabolism and health.
In addition to the above consequences, the accumulation of Garbage sometimes contributes toxic substances such as heavy metals and other chemical compounds that are transferred to the environment by wastewater, such as detergents. These Garbage that are transferred by the waters causing the contamination of the water sources and in the soil, the most harmful components are the radioactive waste.
in the quality of the environment
Due to the decomposition processes of the materials that are accumulated in the garbage heaps, a series of chemical reactions take place that generate gases into the atmosphere, some of which are harmful to the health of humans and animals. As are carbon dioxide and methane, both greenhouse gases.
Methane is a very volatile gas that can cause fires and when burning plastic waste, they release toxic gases that affect humans, due to which, as a consequence, they cause diseases in the respiratory tract and even cancer. In addition to the release of toxic gases, this is the deposition of the leachate from the waste, contributing heavy metals, oils, detergents and other toxic chemical compounds to the water that deteriorate the quality of the water. This affects its use for drinking water or as water to irrigate crops.
This leaching of chemical compounds that come from the Garbage that reaches the water bodies, sometimes alters the concentration of oxygen in the water and therefore this alters the aquatic ecosystem. In addition, the Garbage leachate in its decomposition process can reach the water table, which results in the contamination of groundwater. Likewise, the soil is also contaminated and affects the chemistry of the soil, its salinity that alters the physics of the soil and its fertility.
Proposed Solutions to the Garbage Problem
To improve the management of solid, liquid and toxic waste or garbage, several action strategies have been proposed and implemented, including the disposal of garbage in open-air dumps or deficient incinerators. Garbage has to be seen as an integral system and therefore its management and possible solutions have to be considered in an integral way, managing to solve the problem from its Cause. Some solutions can be:
Sustainable economic proposal
A proposal that allows to solve the Cause of Garbage from the root, is the proposal of a change in economic management moving to a more sustainable one, this proposal has to teach consumers to reduce the unnecessary acquisition of goods and services. This will have the purpose of obtaining a balance between the economic, social and environmental requirements of the entire society.
Reach a proposal to systematize the recycling of consumer goods and also propose that products with a longer useful life be gradually developed, in order to reduce planned obsolescence. As industrial practices are incorporated that reduce the continuous substitution of products, it will lead to the reduction of waste or Garbage by citizens.
education and awareness
In order to achieve a comprehensive solution to improve waste management, it must be proposed that the environmental standards for waste reduction be carried out in an institutional and systematic manner, where various social actors are part of the solution. . It is also suggested, environmental education policies that lead to a change of habit in the consumption of products and systematize recycling. Promote fiscal policies to encourage more sustainable production plans, among others.
If human beings are the cause of the environmental problems caused by Garbage, we have to be responsible for putting solutions in place and committing to carrying them out. In this way, the good quality of the environment in which we all live is guaranteed.
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