Things that pollute the environment

We start this list of things that pollute the environment with one of the best known environmental pollutants : GHGs or greenhouse gases . These are gases that are naturally present in the atmosphere, the most important being methane, chlorofluorocarbons, ozone, carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and sulfur hexafluoride. Learn more about them with this other post about What gases produce the greenhouse effect and where they come from .

These gases in their natural concentrations are not harmful, but they are increasing due to actions that pollute the atmosphere , such as the burning of fossil fuels, the burning of biomass, provoked forest fires, increased transport by automobiles or industrial processes. The increase in these causes the energy from the ground to be retained by gases, thus increasing the temperature of the planet.

Since this is one of the things that pollutes the air in large quantities, we consider it very important to be well informed about it, so we suggest you read this other article on How to reduce greenhouse gases .

One of the objects that pollute the environment are cells and batteries . These, if they are not deposited in places destined for their collection to be treated, are highly polluting , since they contain heavy metals . A single mercury battery, which is a small button-shaped battery, if it ends up in the sea or the river, can contaminate up to 600,000 liters of water.

Here we explain what to do with used batteries so that they do not contaminate .

A mismanagement of waste can cause serious problems to the environment: the decomposing trash emits toxic gases into the atmosphere, stored incorrectly contaminates the soil causing it to lose fertility and their physicochemical properties and are changed, too, garbage can end up in seas and rivers polluting the water. In addition, it also generates a very bad smell and visual pollution , leaving images of the polluted environment that can be devastating.

In this link you can learn more about Garbage Pollution: causes and consequences .

There are many illegal or accidental discharges that are dumped into rivers and seas, polluting the water and living beings that inhabit these ecosystems. The problem is that many companies that dump this waste illegally, and sometimes they are toxic, since due to the policies colloquially called “Who pollutes pays” it seems to them that it is more economically profitable for the company to dump them so that they manage their own waste by a manager authorized to manage them well, avoiding contamination as much as possible. Sometimes oil tanker accidents also occur , producing oil leaks that contaminate the water, the coasts and the living beings that inhabit that place.

If you want to learn more about these topics, here you can read about What are industrial discharges in water and its treatment and also the Causes and consequences of water pollution .

It is very common to go to the mountains and, above all, to the beach and find cigarette butts lying on the sand and the big problem with this is that, in the end, they end up in the rivers and in the sea . A single cigarette butt can contaminate up to 10 liters of seawater and 50 liters if it is fresh water ^[1] . Due to its composition with cadmium, arsenic, toluene or tar, they end up poisoning some animal species because they mistake cigarette butts for food. Smoking harms human health, but it also harms the environment .

Pesticides are used to isolate and kill crop pests, but the problem is that they not only kill target species, in many cases they also kill other species that do not harm crops as they are sprayed over entire agricultural fields . They are also products that pollute the environment , as they end up contaminating the soil and both surface and groundwater.

Here you can learn more about Soil Pollution: causes, consequences and solutions .

Glitter , almost always present in leisure events and celebrations in which it is typical to dress up, has a great impact on the environment because it falls within the group of things that pollute water . Glitter is nothing more than small fragments of PET , that is, microplastics that end up contaminating bodies of water, in the stomach of aquatic animals and, ultimately, in that of human beings, since we also eat Marine animals.

The microspheres are made of plastic and are present in cosmetics used for personal hygiene and cleaning (creams, scrubs, lotions, detergents, shampoos, toothpaste …). These plastic microspheres replace natural materials and eventually end up in rivers, seas and oceans, as occurs with glitter and causing the same problems in the environment and our health.

Here you can learn more about what are microplastics and their types .

The coffee capsule machines were a real revolution, in just a few seconds with it you can prepare a good quality coffee, as well as being able to choose between different types (black coffee, coffee with milk, cut, with caramel, etc.). However, this type of coffee maker is causing a real impact on the environment, since the capsules cannot be recycled as such and end up in landfills.

There are countries that have already banned them, such as Germany in 2016. Currently, some coffee capsule companies have implemented collection and recycling actions , so, depending on the company, we may return used coffee capsules to some establishments. However, the most sensible thing to do is to use the traditional coffee maker, but if we already have a coffee maker of this type we also have the option of buying reusable capsules and we would only have to fill them with coffee every time we need it.

Here we talk more about the topic of Where to recycle coffee capsules .

For some years now, we have been dumping up to 8 million tons of plastic annually into the sea , polluting seas, oceans and killing many animal species that mistake it for food. In addition, plastic, when consumed by animals, ends up not only destroying the ecosystem in which they are, but also entering the food chain and reaches our body when consuming these marine animals contaminated by microplastics. In addition, this single-use plastic, like the rest of plastics that end up becoming microplastics in water, not only comes through the ingestion of marine animals, but also through the water we drink, whether it comes from the bottle or from the tap, as it just changes the amount of it in the water. According to a study commissioned by WWF ^[2] , which deals with an analysis of the human ingestion of plastics present in nature, people currently consume around 21 grams of microplastics per month.

Although all kinds of plastic reach the sea, those for single use generate a greater problem, since many cannot even be recycled well and many others are not recycled. Among the single-use plastics we find balloons (which also pollute the air), cutlery and plates for parties, plastic bottles of water and soft drinks, canes, straws or straws, etc.

We encourage you to discover more about this topic with this link to our article on Plastic Pollution: causes, consequences and solutions .

The wipes are often used to clean babies when they are changing diaper and good hygiene of intimate areas, but there are also disinfectants for surfaces, makeup removers and others, some are used as refreshing deodorant or replace to soap for hand washing. Although they are comfortable to use and leave us smelling good, the reality is that they end up blocking the sewer network when they are flushed down the toilet, representing a problem in treatment plants and very serious water pollution .

There are too many actions that are bad for the environment and sometimes it is difficult to know what pollutes the environment the most, but there are also many actions that we can take to reduce pollution .

• Do not use plastic bags, we can always use a cloth one.
• Opt for public transport or use the bicycle to get around.
• Reduce the consumption of things that are really not necessary.
• Recycle all those wastes that can be recycled.
• Buy energy efficient products and energy saving light bulbs.
• Choose reusable products.
• Buy local products.
• Buy products that contain no or less plastics.
• Go back to traditional actions like buying in bulk.
• Do not buy fresh foods, such as fruits and vegetables, that are wrapped in plastic.
• Take to the clean point all those waste that must receive a special treatment such as electrical appliances, batteries, electronic devices, etc.

Discover more tips in this other post on How to avoid environmental pollution .

If you want to read more articles similar to Things that pollute the environment , we recommend that you enter our Pollution category .