Reduce, reuse, and recycle are often all rolled into one when people discuss recycling. All of them contribute to reducing your waste production, and hence, your carbon footprint.
Carbon footprint refers to the total quantity of carbon dioxide gaseous emissions caused by human activity. Reducing your wastefulness can be as simple as switching to plastic-free grocery bags. Reusing items rather than throwing them away, such as reusable plastic food wrap and glass containers. Repurposing used resources to create something new, such as shoes constructed from recycled tyres.
Garbage decay results in the emission of carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane. All of these add to the pollution in the air, which in turn contributes to a number of respiratory illnesses.
Birth deformities and low birth weight babies are more common in areas close to landfills. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, pancreatic cancer, laryngeal cancer, liver cancer, kidney cancer, and kidney cancer are all more prevalent in the immediate vicinity of these areas. Residents living in close proximity to landfills have also frequently reported an increase in symptoms including tiredness, drowsiness, and headaches.
Poorly maintained areas are more likely to draw in pests that carry disease. Diseases including hantavirus, which causes severe respiratory problems, salmonella, which causes intestinal infections, and rat-bite fever, which is caused by bacteria, are all carried and transmitted by rats.
The communities surrounding landfills aren't the only ones who feel the effects. Houseflies will congregate around any junk, whether it's in the trash or a landfill. Typhoid, dysentery, cholera, poliomyelitis, and TB are only some of the at least 65 illnesses historically associated with flies.
A study conducted by the Penn State Department of Entomology discovered that H. pylori, a form of bacterium that may live in your digestive tract, can be spread by biting flies. H. pylori is a known human ulcer-causing microorganism.
Burning is the traditional method for disposing of garbage that doesn't make it to a landfill. Many studies have found a correlation between incinerator pollution and non-lymphoma Hodgkin's and other types of soft tissue cancers. Incinerator pollution has also been linked to miscarriages, premature births, and congenital malformations, such as those affecting the urinary system.
Rubbish clearly has serious consequences for both human health and the environment. If we generate less waste, we expose ourselves to fewer of the health hazards that come from rubbish.
Even when factoring in additional costs like transportation, the utilisation of recycled materials is still more energy efficient than the creation of brand new items from raw resources.
Thus, it lessens the need for the extraction, refining, and processing of these raw materials, which contribute significantly to environmental degradation. This energy efficiency helps maintain the planet's health and our own by decreasing emissions of greenhouse gases, slowing the rate at which climate changes, and preserving natural resources.
