Things that pollute the environment

We start this list of things that pollute the environment with one of the best known environmental pollutants: Greenhouse GAS. These are gases that are present naturally in the atmosphere, being the most important methane, chlorofluorcarbons, ozone, carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide and sulfur hexafloride. Know more about them with this other post about what gases produce the greenhouse effect and where they come from.

These gases in their natural concentrations are not harmful, but these are increasing by Actions that pollute the atmospheresuch as fossil fuel burning, biomass burning, forest fires caused, increased car transport or industrial processes. The increase of these makes the energy from the soil is retained by the gases thus increasing the temperature of the planet.

This being one of the things that pollute the air in large quantity, we consider that it is very important to inform yourself about it, so we propose the reading of this other article on how to reduce greenhouse gases.

One of the objects that pollute the environment are batteries and batteries. These, if they are not deposited in places for their collection to be treated, they are highly pollutantssince they contain Heavy metals. A single mercury battery, which is a small button -shaped battery, if it ends at sea or in the river, can contaminate up to 600,000 liters of water.

Here we explain what to do with the batteries used so that they do not contaminate.

A Bad Waste Management It can cause serious problems to the environment: to Decompose the garbage It emits toxic gases to the atmosphere, its storage incorrectly contaminates the soil causing it to lose fertility and modify its physical-chemical properties and, also, garbage can end in seas and rivers polluting water. In addition, it also generates very bad smell and visual pollution, leaving images of the contaminated environment that can be bleak.

In this link you can learn more about garbage pollution: causes and consequences.

There are many illegally or accidental spilled that are poured into rivers and seas contaminating water and living beings that inhabit these ecosystems. The problem is that many companies that pour this waste illegally, are sometimes toxic, since due to policies called colloquially “who pollutes pays” they think it is more economically profitable for the company to see them so to manage their own waste by an authorized manager who manages them well avoiding pollution as much as possible. Sometimes they also occur Petroleum ship accidentsproducing oil leaks that contaminate water, coasts and living beings that inhabit that place.

If you want to learn more about these issues, here you can read about what industrial discharges and their treatment are and also the causes and consequences of water pollution.

It is very common to go to the mountain and, above all, to the beach and find Sand -lyes And the big problem of this is that, in the end, They end in the rivers and in the sea. A single button can contaminate up to 10 liters of seawater and 50 liters if it is fresh water⁽¹⁾. Due to its composition with cadmium, arsenic, toluene or tar end poisoning some animal species because they confuse the cigarette butts with food. Smoking harms the health of the human being, but also harms the environment.

Pesticides They are used to isolate and kill crops pests, but the problem is that they not only end the target species, in many cases they also do it with others that do not harm crops since they are sprayed through entire agricultural fields. They are also products that pollute the environmentbecause they end up contaminating the soil and the waters both superficial and underground.

Here you can learn more about soil pollution: causes, consequences and solutions.

The glitteralmost always present in leisure events and celebrations in which it is typical to disguise itself, it is a great impact for the environment because it enters the group of things that pollute water. Purpurine is nothing other than small PET fragmentsthat is to say, microplastics that end up contaminating the masses of water, in the stomach of aquatic animals and, ultimately, in that of humans, since we also feed on marine animals.

Microspheres are plastic And they are present in the cosmetics used for personal hygiene and cleaning (creams, exfoliants, lotions, detergents, shampoos, toothpaste …). These plastic microspheres replace natural materials and in the end they end up in rivers, seas and oceans, as with glitter and causing the same problems in the environment and our health.

Here you can learn more about what microplastics and their types are.

The coffee capsules machines were a real revolution, in just a few seconds with it you can prepare a good quality coffee, in addition to being able to choose between different types (coffee alone, coffee with milk, cut, with caramel, etc.). However, this type of coffee is caused a true impact on the environment, since capsules cannot be recycled as such and end up in the landfills.

There are countries that already banned them, such as Germany in 2016. Currently, some coffee capsules companies have launched shares of collection and recyclingso, depending on the company, we can return the used coffee capsules to some establishments. However, the most sensible thing is the use of the traditional coffee maker, but we already have a coffee maker of this type we also have the option to buy Reusable capsules And you just have to fill them with coffee every time we need it.

For some years now We are pouring up to 8 million tons of plastic annuallypolluting seas, oceans and ending with many animal species that confuse it with food. In addition, plastic, when consumed by animals, ends not only destroying the ecosystem in which they are, but also entering The trophic chain and arrives at our body by consuming these marine animals contaminated by microplastics. In addition, this single -use plastic, such as the rest of plastics that end up becoming microplastics in the water, not only arrives through the intake of marine animals, also because of the water we drink, proceed from bottle or tap, because it only changes the amount of this in the water. According to a study commissioned by WWF⁽²⁾which deals with an analysis of the human ingestion of plastics present in nature, people currently consume about 21 grams of microplastics per month.

Although plastic of all kinds arrive at the sea, those with a single use generate a greater problem, since many cannot even recycle well and many others do not lead to recycle. Among the single -use plastics We find the balloons (which also contaminate the air), the cutlery and dishes for parties, the plastic bottles of water and soft drinks, the reeds, straws or straws, etc.

We encourage you to discover more on this topic with this link to our article on plastic pollution: causes, consequences and solutions.

The Wet wipes They are usually used to clean babies when they are changed to diaper and for good hygiene of intimate areas, but there are also disinfectants for surfaces, offset and, otherwise, some are used as refreshing with deodorant or to replace the soap to wash their hands. Although they are comfortable to use and leave us good smell, the reality is that these They end up blocking the sewer network when thrown by the toilet assuming a problem in the purifying plants and Water pollution very serious.

There are too many bad actions for the environment, it is sometimes difficult to know what contaminates the environment more, but there are also many actions that we can perform for reduce pollution.

• Do not use plastic bags, we can always use a fabric.
• Opt for public transport or use the bicycle to move.
• Reduce the consumption of things that are truly not necessary.
• Recycle all possible waste to be recycled.
• Buy energy efficient products and low consumption bulbs.
• Choose reusable products.
• Buy local products.
• Buy products containing any plastics.
• Back to traditional actions such as bulk purchase.
• Do not buy fresh food, such as fruits and vegetables, which are wrapped in plastic.
• Take all those waste to receive a special treaty such as appliances, batteries, electronic devices, etc.

Discover more tips in this other post on how to avoid environmental pollution.

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