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Waste Disposal: Common Problems and Possible Solutions

Photo by Paweł Czerwiński on Unsplash

Every business on the planet, no matter how small, has a responsibility to dispose of waste properly, as well as to participate with the global community in a search for answers. In this post, we discuss some common waste disposal problems and suggest some useful remedies.

The Environmental Effects of Improper Waste Disposal

Irresponsible handling and disposal of wastes have huge environmental effects that lead to ever more serious problems.

For example, some wastes that are buried underground do not rot. Moreover, not all wastes burn. Often, decomposing wastes often generate smells that people find distressing.

Additionally, some wastes give off dangerous gases such as methane. Some of these gases can be explosive or toxic, not to mention their contribution to the planet’s greenhouse effect.

Waste disposal involves various processes, including collection, transportation, dumping, recycling, and treatment of different kinds of wastes. In this post we consider some common waste disposal challenges.

1. Too Much Waste

Production of too much waste is the beginning of the whole waste disposal and waste management puzzle.

For example, America alone is responsible for generating 220 million tons of waste per year.

According to a report from the World Bank, the average global municipal solid waste (MSW) generation per person daily is about 1.2 kilograms. Moreover, experts expect this figure to rise to about 1.5 kilograms by 2025.

We live in a culture of throw-away consumerism. Additionally, producers try to maximize their profits by producing one-use products. There seems to be too little commitment or incentive overall to producing environmentally friendly products or encouraging reuse and recycling.

2. Toxic Wastes

Many products from major manufacturers, as well as the packages we purchase them in, contain hazardous and health-threatening compounds. To make matter worse, many of us simply throw these products and their packaging away when we’re through using them.

Federal, state, and local authorities, generally speaking, often appear reluctant to rein in waste disposal miscreants. For example, despite the fact that many plastic toys still contain the harmful chemical Biphenyl-A (BPA), these toys are poorly regulated. Moreover, officials only loosely enforce the regulations that are on the books.

One category of solid waste that is rapidly expanding is that of plastic packaging. In fact, this category accounts for more than 30% of our planet’s waste disposal volume. Moreover, almost 40% of non-biodegradable plastic waste comes from packaging. Overall, this one category exacerbates waste disposal challenges at a staggering rate.

If your business needs to dispose of trash on a regular basis, whether or not it is toxic waste, then consider using skip bags for your waste disposal problems. Just place your trash in a skip bag so that a skip bag service can haul it away to the nearest landfill or another waste disposal site.

3. The Problem with Landfills

Due to the lack of proper on-site waste disposal management, some landfills continue to contribute to environmental threats. For example, long-term effects such as leaching, underground water pollution, and the release of potentially unsafe gases continue to plague modern-day landfills.

For the most part, this is due to inadequate regulations regarding landfills’ inherent toxicity and the hazardous nature of much of the waste they handle. Many of these waste disposal issues, moreover, have a significant long-term effects.

4. Undue Influence on Waste Disposal Regulations

Waste disposal and management have gradually grown into a profit-making industry. Waste management companies have therefore become strong challengers of regulations affecting waste-disposal regulation and management. Consequently, advocates for safe and proper waste disposal are frequently outmaneuvered by waste disposal businesses.

In fact, some large companies in the waste disposal business dictate nearly every aspect of the market, from landfills to sewer systems and incinerators to recycling facilities. This is because they have collaborated with regulators who then readily embraced their biased interests.

Some regulatory officials even work together with industry officials to expand landfills, enhance waste tonnage, and solicit for the development of new trash handling facilities that augment the waste industry’s profits. Some of these collaborations have contributed to worsening conditions in waste reduction as well as ongoing recycling problems.

On the other hand, services such as those provided by Skipbag provide skip hire services that alleviate some of the common waste handling challenges experienced by ordinary citizens.

Conclusion

In the end, responsible waste management lies with each one of us. We must do what we can to shop for products that come with minimal packaging. We must also reuse, recycle, and reduce our household and business waste as much as possible.

Moreover, we must work alongside environmental advocates to change and enforce regulations that provide for responsible waste management.