Journal of Pollution Effects & Control
Open Access

Negative Effects of Improper Waste Management

Alfie Verano^{* *}Correspondence: Dr. Alfie Verano, Department of Genetics and Microbiology, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Email:

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About the Study

For a long time, the waste that humans generate has been harmful to our environment. Humans produce far too much garbage and are incapable of dealing with it in a sustainable manner. Non-biodegradable waste that cannot be properly recycled is filling our oceans and landfills. As an example, consider plastic waste. According to a recent study, only 9 percent of the 6.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic waste produced has been recycled. (Learn more about plastic pollution and how to reduce your own waste.) In 2017, for example, the Environmental Protection Agency estimated that the total amount of municipal solid waste generated in the United States that year was 267.8 million tonnes.

It was a 5.7 million increase over 2015 levels. Overall, the amount of waste produced has a negative impact on the environment in several ways, including its contribution to the worsening climate crisis, its negative impact on wildlife and the natural environment, and its harm to our own public health.

We have a problem with how we dispose of waste. Worse, it appears that waste disposal has become more careless in the last decade. What we haven't done is put the ideas we believe will help us mitigate or adapt to climate change into action. For example, trash disposed of in landfills emits methane gas. Taken a step further, open landfills were discovered to account for 91 percent of all landfill methane emissions. Large, open piles of trash burned in various parts of the world emit dangerous levels of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that is warming our planet.

According to researchers, approximately 40% of the world's trash is burned in this manner, posing large-scale risks to both our atmosphere and the people who live near these burning sites.

Ecosystems vary greatly from one location to the next. However, one of the most dramatic consequences of our global waste problem is manifested in our marine life and waterways. Simply put, it has an impact on the people who rely on the ocean for a living. They are unable to distinguish between what is and is not food. They consume trash, which causes death because the aquatic animal is unable to process it. This has an impact on fish, seals, turtles, whales, and many other aquatic animals, as scientists have discovered numerous plastic fragments in over a thousand different species.

Because some species do not have high acidic levels in their stomachs to break down the object that they ingested, starvation is usually the next step. Some animals do, but plastic fragments have been known to last up to 100 years. When it comes to biodiversity, our waste problem is wreaking havoc on the health of the planet's species.

Human health is jeopardized as a result of our inaction. We continue to generate large amounts of trash and fail to properly dispose of it, which will ultimately be our undoing as well as that of the environment and wildlife in the ecosystems we all share. We can't prevent or promote longevity if we don't take care of our planet. The more emissions we produce as a result of how much trash we generate, the longer we live. Asthma, birth defects, cancer, cardiovascular disease, childhood cancer, COPD, infectious diseases, low birth weight, and preterm delivery are all possible. Bacteria, vermin, and insects can all contribute to the trash problem.

Most of us can say we've done some research on waste management procedures. It should come as no surprise, then, that despite our best efforts, the damage has continued, albeit at a slower pace. We've come a long way in terms of efficiently dealing with waste, but several major issues continue to converge and harm the planet as a whole.

The negative effects of improper waste management not only result in a disgusting view but also have an impact on a country's overall economy. The state must spend a significant amount of money to mitigate the effects of poor waste management. Furthermore, animals that rely on the environment face a significant threat as a result of oil spills and chemical leaching, which directly cause soil and water contamination. The combustion of any disposed waste and plastic materials pollutes the air and the environment.

Even though we are all familiar with common waste management methods such as landfills, incineration, recycling, biological processing, and energy conservation, we live in a waste-filled world. Renewable energy and recycling propelled us to new heights, but the negative consequences of poor waste management continue to plague us.

Furthermore, coming into contact with waste causes skin irritation and blood infections. We are also infected by flies, which are disease carriers after breeding on solid waste. We know that mosquitoes, in addition to feeding on dead fish, find sewage, rainwater, tyres, cans, and other objects to be ideal breeding grounds. Malaria and dengue fever are among the diseases they carry and spread.

With so many disease-carrying pests around, it's difficult to keep an eye on waste management facilities. Despite all efforts, rats, for example, continue to infest such facilities and sewage systems in large numbers. They wreak havoc on crops and spread diseases like Hantavirus Pulmonary Syndrome, Leptospirosis, Rat-bite Fever, and Salmonellosis.

The team at Metropolitan Transfer Station, a waste transfer station near you in Melbourne, today for more information on waste disposal and waste management.