How does Non-Biodegradable Pollutants Deteriorate our Environment
deterioration by non-biodegradable pollutants
The current topic will
be cover below-mentioned point and to explain all parts significantly
·
What is
non-biodegradable waste
·
How
does non-biodegradable waste affect the environment
·
Biodegradable
and non-biodegradable pollutants
·
Biodegradable
pollutants examples
·
Difference
between biodegradable and non-biodegradable pollutants
·
Non-biodegradable
pollutants examples
·
What is
the difference between degradable and biodegradable
·
What is
biodegradable
·
Biodegradable
waste examples
·
Non
biodegradable waste examples
·
Non
biodegradable waste management
·
Biodegradable
plastic
·
What
are the problems with biodegradable plastics
·
Types
of biodegradable plastics
·
How to
make biodegradable plastic
·
Biodegradable
plastic packaging
·
Biodegradable
plastic bottles
·
Biodegradable
plastic bags
·
Biodegradable
plastic sheeting
·
Bon
biodegradable plastic
Survival Conditions for Living Organisms
The life of all organisms in the environment
depends upon balanced conditions for growth, development, and reproduction.
·
All
the essential elements required by the organisms are present in the
environment.
·
When
the balance of the environment gets disturbed for one reason or the other
survival of living organisms becomes difficult.
·
By
the entrance of some harmful and unwanted components in the environment this
balance of the environment may be disturbed.
·
Thus,
any undesirable change which may be physical, chemical, or biological
characteristics of the environment, which is harmful to human being directly or
indirectly through animals, plants, industrial units or raw materials, is
called pollution.
·
That the substance which contaminates air, water, and the soil is called pollutants.
The pollutants can be
classified into two groups
·
Biodegradable
pollutants
·
Non-biodegradable
pollutants.
Non-biodegradable
pollutants
Non-biodegradable pollutants are those
pollutants which cannot be broken down into simpler, harmless substances in
nature itself, are called non-biodegradable pollutants. DDT, plastics,
polythene, bags, insecticides, pesticides, mercury, lead, and arsenic, metal
articles like aluminum cans, synthetic fibers, glass objects, iron products and
silver foils are some examples of non-biodegradable pollutants.
Effects of Waste
and non-biodegradable material on the Environment
Waste and non-biodegradable material
are generally producing in all countries all around the world. Every year
billions of tons of waste are producing. These wastes are due to the activities
in our homes, businesses and industries and disposal of this entire large
amount is an enormous environmental problem. Large scale pollution of land and
water caused by Municipal, industrial, and agricultural solid waste and biomass
deposits. The formation of waste causes a loss of materials and energy of our
society and also increases environmental costs on society for its collection,
treatment, and disposal. The impacts of landfill and incineration on human
society are significant because of their potential for greenhouse gas emissions (methane, carbon dioxide)
and trans-boundary migration of organic micro-pollutants (dioxins and furans)
and volatile heavy metals. Problems and difficulty with waste are as old as the human race.
Very soon humans realized that the waste
that they generate due to their activities are a potential source of diseases
and infections, so they dump their waste, which was totally non-biodegradable,
away from their settlements. Until the industrialization of society waste was mostly
non-biodegradable so they cannot decompose naturally. Mostly because of
industrialization, urbanization, and developing of consumer society amount of
waste increase very fast and deteriorating our society as well
Municipal
Solid Waste
Municipal solid waste performs the following
problems:
·
Discarded
food and other organic wastes captivate insects such as flies, which in turn
cause a danger to the nearby inhabitants. This also results in an outpouring of
bad odour.
·
Improper
disposal of plastics bags often leads to blockage of sewage pipes etc. leading
to unhygienic conditions for all living beings.
·
Unintentional
consumption of plastics among the solid waste by animals, thereby affecting
them.
·
Improper
disposal attracts dogs, cats, rats, pigs, which may lead to prevalence of
diseases like brain fever and many others.
·
Ground
water also contaminate by Leachate from the disposal site.
Industrial
Waste
·
Improper
disposal is the major problem with the industrial waste which may result in the
contamination of ground water.
·
It
is noted that improper handling of raw materials and indiscriminate disposal of
effluents in some of the Acid Slurry manufacturing units has resulted
Contamination of ground water (pH and Conductivity are affected) In a study carried out by PPCC on the impact
of Acid Slurry Units on ground water.
Biomedical Waste
·
There
is more harm caused in the form of emission of toxic gases including dioxins
(in case of chlorinated plastics) If incinerators are not operated properly to
maintain sufficient residence time, residence temperature and turbulence.
·
If
the biomedical waste is not disinfected there is possibility of spread of
infections among people.
·
Improper
disposal of disposable syringes etc. results in illegal recycling. Similarly
disposal of sharps without checking and testing often causes injuries to the
persons handling the same.
Effects on
Marine Life
·
Non-biodegradable
plastic containers and bottles in oceans and estuaries can harm fish, seabirds
and other marine life which is a basic part of aquatic ecosystem.
·
Animals that eat plastic
can strangle or experience digestion problems and some of them face serious
health issues and some may die.
·
Micro plastics, tiny
bits of polypropylene or polyethylene, hide beneath the water which are not
seen by sea animals and pose a risk as well.
·
As of September 2014,
Virginia Institute of Marine Science researchers were developing biodegradable micro
beads that break down when microbes in seawater consume them and their life may
be a little bit save.
Effects
on the Land
·
As we know that our planet
has already a limited amount of land, and people waste it when they dispose of
non-biodegradable materials.
·
Products that do not
decompose and degrade naturally may inhabit in landfills and take up space much
longer than biodegradable materials.
·
When people litter, some
non-biodegradable rubbish may not even make it into landfills.
·
Instead, it may make its
way into forests, parks, fields, and the sea and held there for several decades.
·
Styrofoam, also known as
foamed polystyrene, is a non-biodegradable substance that can cause
environmental problems when it becomes litter and become a big issue for human
health.
·
For instance, styrene, a
neurotoxin at high doses, can leach out of polystyrene materials when
temperatures climb and as we know that neurotoxins are such a big trauma for
human health.
Effects on air
·
Air
pollution is a major environmental problem around the world, due to rapid world
population growth.
·
Industrialization
and urbanization have recently made air pollution as a major environmental
problem around the world.
·
The
air pollution was reported to have been stimulated by dust and particulate
matters (PMs) particularly fine particles such as PM2.5 and PM10 which are released
mainly through natural and anthropogenic processes.
·
Dust
storms, soil erosion, volcanic eruptions and rock weathering are natural
processes which release particulate matters into air
·
Industrial
and transportation are anthropogenic activities which makes environment
unhealthy for life.
·
Skin
and eyes irritation, respiratory infections, premature mortality and
cardiovascular diseases are widely caused by particulate matters so that they
require special attention as they can lead to serious health problems.
·
Deterioration
of infrastructure, corrosion, the formation of acid rain, eutrophication and haze are
some other drawbacks of pollutants.
·
Among
all these problems heavy metals is also a serious or big issue in these days such as group 1 metals
(Cu, Cd, Pb), group 2 metals (Cr, Mn, Ni, V, and Zn) and group 3 metals (Na, K,
Ca, Ti, Al, Mg, Fe) originate from industrial areas, traffic, and natural
sources, respectively deteriorate the ecosystem .
Effect of poor disposal on human health
The
importance of human health can never be overemphasized.
Anything
that is capable of affecting the health of man adversely should be adequately
addressed.
One of such
hazardous problems are improper to refuse disposal.
Improper
disposal of refuse constitutes an alarming threat to human health.
Poor
disposal of waste is a public health problem and thus impacts negatively on
human health and its natural environment.
Heaps
of improperly disposed of refuse which are lying everywhere enhances the breeding
of rodents, vectors, and emission of bad odors which are transmitters of various
forms of contagious diseases.
Where
refuse are not properly stored and disposed, insects, rodents and bad odors
proliferate. An annoyance condition becomes the outcome of those circumstances.
Empty
tins, bottles, tyres, plastic containers and even drums Components of refuse.
All these
things are capable of holding water thus serve as a very good breeding site for
mosquitoes.
Where
drains are turned into dumping grounds for rubbish, it also becomes a very good
breeding ground for various kinds of mosquitoes. The result of this is human
infestation with malarial parasites.
Vectors
include flies which are involves in the transmission of feco-oral diseases,
culex mosquitoes transmit microfilaria and aedes mosquitoes transmit dengue and
yellow fever.
Diseases
like plague, salmonella and leptospirosis are commonly transmitted through
rodents. They are common source of these infectious diseases.
Rodents
also attract very dangerous species of snakes whose bite can even kill
especially where immediate intervention with anti-snake venom is not easy to
come by.
Tuberculosis
and other forms of respiratory tract infections are also common in the areas where
pollution reaches to peak.
Surface
or underground water which is the basic necessity of various life forms is
capable of being contaminated through the washing of the rubbish and garbage by
storms and floodwater into these sources of water.
Water
becomes contaminated and unfit for human consumption also. Unfortunately in
places where water supply is not proper, people will still consume this contaminated
water and thereby become susceptible to one form of water borne disease or the
other.
Those
that live in the water side empty their human use that contaminated water for
drinking and cooking.
The end
result of this ignorant act is water-borne diseases.
Water
borne diseases include cholera, dysentery, and typhoid fever and as well as
guinea worm infestations are the major problem in these areas.
The aesthetic aspect of poor refuse disposal cannot be missed out.
Heaps
of improperly disposed of garbage further narrows roads, increases traffic
congestion, blocks the views of drivers. This further makes human lives at risk.
Note
This
article title “Environmental
deterioration done by non-biodegradable pollutants” writing credit goes to MPhil
scholar Zainab Ahsan Department of chemistry, Government college women
university Faisalabad, Pakistan