Garbage is the result of pretty much everything that humans have done. You open up a birthday present, and the wrapping paper is the garbage, not to mention the plastic wrap or casing that is also associated with packages and objects in general. In today’s society garbage is everywhere. From tires that line parts of highways to the paper, plastics and cans that cover the streets in cities around the world. All of these more modern types of garbage, have been the result of the transformation of societies into a more competing one, or it could be thought of as the globalization of societies and countries. With globalization, the garbage came in large waves to the cities and as a result, some were able to create a place for all of this left over matter to go. However, the cities, states, and countries that were in fact able to create this kind of land fill or even dump, had the economic resources to do so and could sustain this way of disposing of garbage. But what about the other countries that are still taking their first steps, and as a result cannot focus all of their attention to the garbage issue that will soon take hold of their country? The answer: improper dumping and management of garbage in the land. This may not seem like a huge deal, I mean, what are a few tires in a forest going to do? Or what is dumping computer equipment in a few locations going to do to the land? After all, as long as it is dumped where no one is at, it is ok…right?
Wrong. The improper dumping of electronics, hazardous waste and garbage in general can and will have a lasting effect on the communities around these locations. Looking at information regarding what garbage can do to the health of people and the environment will change the way you throw away that piece of plastic and make you think twice about littering. Similarly, finding new ways to deal with how much garbage there is and how to better manage the situation will create a more realistic way of fully understanding garbage and its implications to the world.
Health and Environment.
The effects of garbage on health and on environment go hand in hand with each other. This is because they act like a cycle. This cycle, or for future reference garbage cycle, starts when someone takes their trash and dumps it somewhere. The trash, by itself, doesn’t really have any adverse effects on the health (unless exposed types of electronics or hazardous materials), but when all different types of garbage are piled together, it creates a problem. From here there are different routes that the garbage can leak into and have negative effects on the health and well-being of humans and on the environment simultaneously. When all the garbage becomes piled up, creating garbage mountains, the liquids from the heaping pile, seep into the ground. You may think, well the ground is soaking it up, what’s the big deal? The big deal is that when it does get into the ground system, it now can continue seeping into the ground until it hits a reservoir of water, where it then gets into the water system and now becomes a polluted aquifer. From here, the environment has been contaminated, and as a result, the water so too the water that is the water supply for many people. In addition to ground leakage of liquid waste, if the people are in a living situation where they must search through the garbage to find food and other things in order to survive, a firsthand exposure results. In these types of areas, the families are very poor and live very close to the landfills to get these items, and then climb the garbage mountains being in constant skin contact with any possible hazardous material.
Image of garbage the streets of Thirunagar in Salem that hasn't been removed in weeks.
Similarly, when it comes to air pollutants, there is also a contamination to the environment and to the people. One way that this happens is by burning garbage and wood. Although it is not commonly done in the United States, you can still see it with some of the ‘third world’ countries. By burning the piles of garbage, it releases toxic fumes and compounds into the air. Once in the air, it will circulate not only throughout the region where the garbage was burned, but also in the world. If people are in close proximity to the burning garbage, then they will inhale the fumes and could potentially have breathing complications, or eye irritations. This is clearly seen from smog. Most people with asthma are told to stay inside if the smog is very dense, because after all, it is pollutants from burning and creates the breathing complications. In addition, depending on the type of pollutants in the air from garbage burning, or leakage, acid rain could occur. Acid rain is essentially when the atmosphere contains more acid contents (nitric and sulfuric) and when it mixes in areas where there is rain, it will change the pH of the rain to become more acidic. The type of garbage that fills most landfills are plastics. Plastic products are made from ethylene (natural gas from oil refining) and other additives. When the plastics are burned they release many toxins, most of these are the additives that were mixed in the ethylene and are causative cancer agents, harmful to people. These toxins include benzene, styrene, sulfur & nitric oxides, and other volatile organic compounds. The effects from these toxins range from respiratory problems to compromising the reproductive system and of course causing cancer as mentioned. More specifically, burning plastic releases dioxins (carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, etc) in to the atmosphere. Once released, the dioxins have been documented to travel thousands of miles and settle into the water and land. The animals then eat and drink and end up storing dioxin in their meat because their body is unable to break it down. Humans then eat the meat of the animals and as a result, eat the dioxins that have been concentrated in the animals’ meat. In Haiti, plastics are taking control over the country, and the International Plastic Task Force is trying to devise a way to deal with the implications of having that much garbage in a developing country
A cartoon depicting the evil behind plastics from the IPTF.
How to change it.
Video advertising the Basal Convention and its effort against transboundary waste.
In the US, we are very fortunate to have governmental set ups pertaining to how trash and garbage is dealt with. However, people in other countries that are less financially able do not. This results in many landfills because the people do not have these resources to transport their garbage to a landfill. Additionally, many times if there is a way to dispose of the garbage via a company or government type set up, it is only in the city, so then, the people who live out of city limits are still out of luck in getting rid of their garbage and create their own neighborhood land fill so to say. It is a common sight to see people rummaging though out the landfill piles searching for food and items that they could use in their daily life. Similarly seen is the illegal dumping of garbage from one country to another. This is called tranboundary garbage and it is also seen in areas of need and in areas where a way to deal with garbage doesn’t exist.
As a result from the many negatives of garbage both in areas where services are not set up and in regards to illegal dumping, positive changes have occurred and if put into act, can help change how garbage is dealt with around the world. I am not trying to make the United States sound like gold, however, there are little things that the US does that I do think, if put into play by other countries, can help. For example, the whole idea of the green revolution has been able to spread throughout the whole country. The beginning of the green revolution started with the campaign of Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. In fact, I remember learning about it in elementary and having it begin being ingrained into our young daily lives. It is a fairly easy concept to understand, but in order for it to succeed, it takes participation and resources (to an extent). Participation is by far the largest contributor to why certain ideas and ways of living take hold in society, as in some cases they become a way of life. Like the idea of going green, other ways of living that have been spread through society are the free trade products and even the whole organic scene. If enough people use the ideas enough, word of mouth will spread and a change will follow suit. In the green revolution to get people to recycle, some states offer incentives such as paying for a certain amount of recycled glass or tin. In addition, many places are now starting to offer the different separation bins depending on what you are recycling is made out of. Despite this generally accepted and good concept, one may question how it will take hold in a developing country? My answer to that would be to still have the separation practices, but then have the government step in by offering service periodically to pick up the items. This way, they people will be more aware of what is ending up in the landfills that they possibly live near, as well as helping to keep natural resources more sustainable with the recycling aspect. This may not solve all the problems, but even if their government stops once a month to remove garbage, this one thing will have an impact and hopefully it will spread and be extended to more stops and then hopefully a better run garbage maintenance facility.
I also think that not only by creating specific programs (such as Reduce. Reuse. Recycle) but also creating more global and national organizations that would assist countries that need garbage facilities or other ways of dealing with the garbage should be created or looked more into. One global organization that was created to deal with transboundary garbage was the Basal Convention. The purpose of the Basal Convention is to reduce the amount of the harmful hazardous waste being dumped on other countries by countries. Essentially, if one country didn’t want hazardous waste to be on their soil, they could ship it, illegally, to another country and get rid of it there. This can be seen in places such as Brazil and Africa. In a four month span, Brazil had 1,400 tons of garbage, including hazardous waste and electronic waste, dumped on its soil from Britain. “Brazil is not the world's dump” says that Brazil, and other countries, are sick and tired of having every other country in the world dump their garbage on their soil. As previously mentioned, hazardous waste is very dangerous as it not only can leak into the ground if not properly contained contaminating the soil and water supply, but also it lasts longer due to its half life. So in a way, a little amount of hazardous waste sticks around a lot longer than garbage in general. Along with cracking down on illegal dumping, the Basal Convention also hopes to research and improve hazardous waste technology and how it affects the environment as a whole. The main thing that I really like about the Convention, is that it is non-mandatory, yet there is a large number of nations that are a part of it. This relates to how one little spark for change can ignite a fire in the right direction.
Mainly, it is important that if we want to see the world continue to prosper for future generations and not deteriorate, we need to do something now to stop it. Currently the main way to make a difference is to get involved and become more educated. Start informing people of what you are learning, and if you have questions, ask them and find the answer. Change will not happen if we just stand by and don’t do anything about it. You can make a change by just recycling one piece of paper, or donating one dollar to a global organization that puts efforts to change how garbage is being handled in the world.
