Garbage pollution: causes and consequences

Although when thinking of garbage the first image that comes to mind is that of landfills full of solid waste and large enough to be seen with the naked eye, the concept of garbage is much broader.

To be exact, garbage would be all those wastes produced by human activity that are not managed correctly so that they are reincorporated into the environment or in other human activities. Consequently, we can speak of garbage when we do it about physical objects that accumulate in landfills, in cities or in nature, but also when these physical objects release chemical substances that mix in the environment, whether it is the soil like water or air and pollute it.

Likewise, when talking about contamination by garbage , we are referring precisely to that, to the contamination that occurs as a result of the presence of these residues of human activity that are not managed effectively so that they do not pose damage to the environment environment.

For example, here we can see a World Map of garbage in the oceans .

The main cause of pollution by garbage is found in inefficient or null waste management. It must be taken into account that what causes the waste is not the material itself, but the way it is or is not managed. In this way, if we take a piece of paper as an example, it could be garbage or raw material depending on the way it is managed when it is useless and officially becomes waste. In this way, if the paper is deposited in the environment, it will become garbage, polluting the environment for the entire time that it decomposes. On the contrary, if that same paper is deposited in a recycling container and it is managed properly, instead of being garbage, it will become raw material. That is to say, it is not the nature of the materials, but the management that is made of them that defines whether a waste becomes garbage or not.

Likewise, within the causes it is also worth mentioning that current consumerism plays a predominant role. Not because consumerism necessarily implies the generation of garbage, but because, with greater consumption, also greater quantity of waste, and with greater quantity of waste, the greater probability that it will not be managed properly. In other words, consumerism helps waste management not be adequate, so it can be considered as an indirect cause of pollution by garbage. However, it is essential to clarify that it is the management (good or bad) of the waste that generates the garbage.

The main consequence of pollution by garbage involves a degradation of the health of living beings. It must be taken into account that the garbage releases toxic substances into the environment that spread both through the soil, as well as through the water and the air. When these toxic substances come into contact with living beings (be they people, animals or plants), they negatively affect their health.

Likewise, it is also essential to take into account that pollution by garbage has a very important negative impact on the environment from an aesthetic perspective, since it degrades landscapes (both natural and urban), which is also considered one of the main problems with garbage pollution today.

Expand this information with this other AgroCorrn article on How pollution affects the environment .

There are different solutions to trash pollution . One of the elements that cannot be ignored is the need to clean and recondition the already damaged environments , which implies allocating human and financial resources to carry out these cleanings. However, beyond the curative actions against contamination by garbage, it should also be noted that there are solutions that we can categorize as preventive, and that are intended to avoid or minimize the presence of that contamination by garbage by reducing the amount of garbage that arrives to be released in the environments (natural or urban).

The best means available to act in the prevention of pollution by garbage is the so-called rule of the three Rs (3R) . The 3Rs of ecology is a rule that directs and limits the way in which human beings have to consume and manage the products we use in our day-to-day lives. It can be applied to any type of consumption and has the ability to reduce consumption (thereby reducing the amount of waste that must be managed), as well as to improve the management of the waste generated.

The 3Rs are, in order: reduce, reuse, recycle . That is, according to this rule, before consuming we must ask ourselves if we really need it, if not, we reduce it. If, on the contrary, the answer is that we do need it, we go to the next level, which is to reuse. At this level, before consuming a new product, we choose to reuse one that we already have, either because it is in good condition or because an old one can be fixed, so we also avoid increased consumption and we manage to satisfy our needs without problems. Finally, when a product cannot be reduced or reused, that is when we go to the last phase, which would be recycling.

In this way, it is prevented from becoming garbage, since, by recycling it, we convert it into reusable raw material for other human activities. Consequently, by reducing consumption, reusing what we already have available, and by recycling waste, we avoid much of the impact due to quantity and quality of the garbage and, with it, also the pollution that it generates.

If you want to read more articles similar to Pollution by garbage: causes and consequences , we recommend that you enter our Pollution category .