Our lifestyle is highly polluting. Economic prosperity has brought us to behave carelessly and irresponsibly towards the environment. This has led to a high level of waste production
To prevent an excess of pollution we should:
-Avoid disposable products -Buy products with little packaging -Drink filtered water from the tap -Reuse and recycle
Waste can be burned in incinerators, sent in landfill sites, or recycled.
Landfill sites A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials by burial and is the oldest form of waste treatment. Historically, landfills have been the most common methods of organized waste disposal and remain so in many places around the world. Some landfills are also used for waste management purposes, such as the temporary storage, consolidation and transfer, or processing of waste material (sorting, treatment, or recycling).
Incinerators Incinerators are used for the waste disposal through a process of high-temperature combustion that can recover a little heat and power but also involves toxic emissions.
Separate waste collection
Separate collection of urban waste can be defined as a specific collection system that allows recoverable materials in waste to be separated. The human factor is very important in this new collection model, as the citizen now plays an active rather than a passive role as a processor of materials at source. Next step is the waste recycling.
Recycling Recycling involves processing used materials into new products in order to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for “conventional� waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to virgin production.
Consumption
Waste
Recycling
Energy saving Reduction of emissions
Landfills
Recovery of materials
Production of emissions
Spoiled environment
Gennaio 2013 Scuola Media L. Pietrobono