Waste management, the Environment is at stake!!!

avatar

Waste management, the Environment is at stake

istockphoto-1253713039-612x612.jpg
Image source

2 Questions:

Have you thought about where we would be in decades from now following various treats to our lives and to our Ecosystem?

Have you thought about the prevalence of so many numerous diseases and health conditions awaiting the planet earth asides from the endless list of incurable diseases? Well, I have.

One major factor that will affect us irrespective of our growth rate and advancement in technology is our environment. Therefore, we need to imbibe healthy habits amongst ourselves, daily routines and guidelines must be specifically followed to enhance healthy living habits.

The easiest error committed is living in a clean environment and assuming other neighbors around us are not affecting us negatively by their poor hygienic lifestyle, simple hygiene must be maintained by all. Of course, many classifications of poor hygienic habits can affect our globe now or in the nearest future, and to avoid this we must be able to manage waste materials in our society.
Waste management is the best tool to curb environmental hazards aimed at balancing the hygienic cycle within our environment. Wastes can be broadly classified into four:

Industrial
Domestic
commercial
agricultural wastes.

Anything and everything, liquid, solid, gaseous substances that speak against cleanliness and negatively affect the biological populace are simply referred to as a pollutant (any material that affects the environment such as land, air and water, therefore, making the environment Inhabitable for us to live in)

We can mean waste to be garbage, dirt, wood fragments, litter from nylons or polythene bags, boxes, metals, plastics, rubber materials, smoke (all grouped majorly as liquid waste, solid rubbish, organic wastes, recyclable rubbish and hazardous wastes).

It is worthy of note that Paper and paper products are the most common form of waste in the world (think about that for a second) to date as it accounts for hundreds of millions of tons of garbage and solid wastes. Literally, almost all continents in the world, if not all have their environment already polluted, yet a number of developed nations have been trying all possible best to manage waste. These efforts of theirs have yielded results, for example, Asia and South America had increased recorded pollution rates, yet they have recorded better results and are notably associated with being free of pollution.

The basic waste management tools used in our present-day world involve landfills, incinerating, waste compaction and composting.

How do we manage waste ?

To manage waste in our environment and live healthily we must endeavour to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle as much as possible every waste material in our environment. Reducing involves strictly enforcing various means through which waste should be reduced.

According to research, a few materials cannot be easily disposed of (light bulbs, disposable diapers and cell phones). The Reuse principle aims at making use of already used materials rather than just wasting them, for example;

the same box used in the delivery of various packages can be reused in storing so many items such as shoes, books and so on.

Furthermore, Recycling involves the processing or conversion of various materials into other useful items. Based on the intense advancement in technology big organizations now recycle all their waste materials and produce a few items such as iron sheets, iron bars and so many industrial materials.

To manage these waste materials effectively, we have to ensure that some requirements are met, for example;

  • Everyone must endeavour to choose what materials they need not necessarily what they want.
  • We must always get quality products that last longer, this will minimize how we frequently dispose of waste materials.
  • Excessive production of materials that can't be easily disposed of must be grossly discouraged.

Recycling has greater positive impacts on our society, such as the development of various industries, thereby boosting employment opportunities, most especially in Nations of the world with increased prevalence of unemployment, it enhances proper hygiene, healthy living and a less polluted environment, this fight against environmental pollution will surely end when waste materials and harmful pollutants are drastically reduced.

Really what should the government be doing?

  • First thing first, Government should enact laws against every form of pollution and put safety measures in place to reduce waste materials drastically.
  • Government should also raise awareness of pollution and how efficient recycling could be, in fact, necessary recycling bins, collection sites and recycling industries must be imposed to maintain the hygiene of the populace.

This goes hand in hand with the popular saying "health is wealth" only when citizens are healthy will they strive to become wealthy.

Technology has made it possible to combat pollution and revive our depreciating environment. It is obvious that communication and transportation have played valuable roles in boosting our economy yet indirectly making the world inhabitable for us, hence, the government must minimize the effects of both agents in our environment, as much as possible.
Noise, air, water and most importantly land pollution must be reduced to their barest minimum. Such that transportation is free of smoke from their exhausts.

Also, to the above-mentioned points, there are three major recycling methods; Either by:

Curbside collection
This requires homeowners to separate recyclables from their garbage. The clean recyclables may need to be placed in special containers, while the garbage goes in standard containers. Both are placed at the curb for collection by separate trucks, or the "drop-off centres and deposit sites"

The above is one of the simplest forms of collecting recyclable materials; people can drop off their used glass, metal, plastic, and paper at designated recycling sites. These centres are usually placed in an easily accessible location near a high-traffic, or the "buy-back centres" where you purchase aluminium and other metals, glass, plastic, newsprint, and sometimes batteries.

Barriers to recycling waste materials

There are of course possible barriers to recycling waste materials even though a lot of the things that people trash can be recycled. The most common examples include paper, newspaper, corrugated cardboard, high-grade paper, aluminium sheet, steel, cans, glass, plastic, polythene, motor oil, organic waste, and scrap metals while some waste materials are difficult to recycle, for example in some situations whereby papers with residues cannot be recycled (This is why used pizza boxes may not be recyclable).

Some recycling centres will not accept light bulbs, ceramic glass, or plate glass because these items consist of different materials than bottles and jars. It is important to note that recyclable items not accepted by most recycling companies may be accepted by local companies. For instance, glass might not be accepted by a recycling company but might be accepted by a supermarket for various purposes, hence, we must not stop managing waste materials till they are completely removed from the environment.

In conclusion, it is evident that our population is polluted but with corrective waste management schemes, we would be able to reduce this, as well as live healthy and create an environment free of pollution. Health is wealth, protect your environment and it will protect you.

Thanks for taking a bold step to protecting our environment by reading this post to the end, Sayonara ✌️

Resources/References
Reference 1
Reference 2
Reference 3
Reference 4



0
0
0.000
6 comments
avatar

Congratulations @sam9999! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s):

You received more than 5000 upvotes.
Your next target is to reach 6000 upvotes.

You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

Check out the last post from @hivebuzz:

Hive Power Up Month - Feedback from April day 6
NFT for Peace - Feedback and new city
Support the HiveBuzz project. Vote for our proposal!
0
0
0.000
avatar

Those are very nice words, but unfortunately they are not followed enough (especially by the most important sources of pollution), in my opinion. It is however important that everyone tries to do as much as they could, even if the weight is minimal. Every little gesture counts.

Cheers!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Indeed! a little here, a little there all make the difference in the grand scheme of things. Nothing should be regarded as too little to be overlooked.

0
0
0.000
avatar

We definitely agree!

Cheers!

0
0
0.000
avatar

Thanks for your contribution to the STEMsocial community. Feel free to join us on discord to get to know the rest of us!

Please consider delegating to the @stemsocial account (85% of the curation rewards are returned).

You may also include @stemsocial as a beneficiary of the rewards of this post to get a stronger support. 
 

0
0
0.000