Hi readers! For today’s blog post, I am focusing on the process of disposing waste and its accompanied effects on air pollution.
The process of disposing of waste has huge impacts on the environment and air pollution. Incinerate waste causes multiple problems. The presence of plastics that tend to produce toxic substances when burnt, further adds toxic air pollutants into the atmosphere. On top of that, the various volumes of solid waste ranging from various materials and properties, are simply burned and reduced into ash.
The rise in waste disposal could be greatly attributed due to the rapid development of the city (Zero Waste Europe, 2015). This in turn brings about the rising population and unavoidable service to dispose of waste. The emissions of harmful air pollutants from the techniques used in waste management. For example, incineration activities release air particles and pollutants into ambient air (Zero Waste Europe, 2015). These pollutants with its concentration could result in an environmental effect on the atmosphere and health risk for humans (Zero Waste Europe, 2015). The release of harmful pollutants into air, water and soil is an unavoidable consequence of waste incineration.
The rapid urbanisation and industrialisation have in turn result in a rise in the quantity of waste that is produced (Sonibare et al., 2019). Due to the rise of the quantity of waste, there is more need to have sufficient waste management facilities to better manage the waste efficiently. In most parts of the world, landfilling is one of the most popular methods of disposing city wastes (Sonibare et al., 2019). Air pollutants released from waste management facilities include carbon monoxide, CO; oxides of nitrogen, NOX; sulphur dioxide, SO2; particulate matter, PM; and hydrocarbons, HC; which are majorly volatile organic compounds (VOCs) (Sonibare et al., 2019).
Smoke rises from a burning garbage dump in Zgierz, Poland on May 26, 2018. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-29/poland-to-curb-waste-imports-as-landfills-burn-amid-chinese-ban
The possible health effects attributable to waste management facilities include respiratory symptoms and other non-respiratory symptoms such as fatigue, sleepiness and headaches (Sonibare et al., 2019). These risks will worsen when there is a presence of residential places found in close proximity to the waste facility, affecting the health of people in the neighbouring environment. For example, the emissions of acid gases such as nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide can cause inflammation and bronchoconstriction (Sonibare et al., 2019). These gases irritate airways, prolonged exposure, in turn, increase the potential to respiratory infections. Besides that, a wide range of non-respiratory health symptoms includes nausea, headaches, drowsiness and fatigue (Sonibare et al., 2019).
To conclude, the most immediate approach to waste issues is to reduce our individual waste and thus household level. As disposing things away will end up into landfills, we have the power to reduce our waste, by only consume and owning things within our means. This in turn reduces any wasted energy needed to dispose of waste and reduce environmental impact.
Thank you for reading once again!
For the next blog post this week, I will be sharing on a type of waste specifically E-waste, particularly, the problem of E-waste in India and its relation to air pollution.
See you soon!
References:
Sonibare, O. O., Adeniran, J. A., & Bello, I. S. (2019). Landfill air and odour emissions from an integrated waste management facility. Journal of Environmental Health Science and Engineering, 17(1), 13–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40201-018-00322-1
http://www.eipie.eu/storage/files/REF00024%20ZWE%20case%20studies%20inc%20co_inc%202015.pdf