The effects of waste on human health can be devastating. Uncontrolled landfills and some sites of waste accumulation represent a danger to the health of the local population in Kansas City. Among the health risks that can occur and the nuisances related to them, we note the following:
- Proliferation of rodents and insects: the waste, before fermentation, is the main food of the rats direct or indirect agents of propagation of serious diseases: (plague, fever, etc.). They are also poles of attraction for flies and other insects, passive vectors of germs and viruses.
- Emanations of toxic gases (methane, sulphurous hydrogen, etc.), foul odors and germs that proliferate in the dust of garbage.
- Pollution of water resources: waste may contaminate groundwater or surface water when it is deposited on undeveloped land. Pathogenic germs and heavy metals can then reach the water table by infiltration of leachate, or the surface waters by the flow of dirty rainwater.
- Contamination of the marine environment and surface water by direct dumping of waste.
- Landscape degradation (visual pollution): urban landscapes lose their aesthetics because of the flight of paper and plastic packaging contained in piles of waste stored in uncontrolled landfills.
- Risk of fire: the waste is often easily flammable, they can ignite by spontaneous combustion, when they are put in pile without precaution, with production of smelly fumes.
- In the long term, the accumulation of waste in these landfills causes methane CH4 (biogas) gas emissions which, because of their odor and flammability rate, are dangerous.
Effects of poor waste disposal techniques on health
The different waste disposal processes can generate specific polluting emissions as described below:
Incineration
The combustion of waste materials and the gases they generate emits oxides of carbon, nitrogen and sulfur, acids, dusts, volatile organic compounds and organohalogens.
These substances, emitted in varying concentrations according to the incineration and smoke treatment processes used, are released into the environment, where they mix with those emitted by other sources. The specific substances for the incineration of waste, likely to have a health impact on the neighboring populations are:
- trichloroethane (various systemic effects),
- benzene (carcinogenic),
- cadmium (renal effect),
- nickel (carcinogenic).
As for the liquid discharges of the incineration units, they are likely to contain residues of heavy metals, among which mercury and nickel are specifically very toxic.
Burial
Poorly controlled landfill can contaminate soils and groundwater, leachates seeping into the subsoil cause a serious degradation of the groundwater.
Discharge into the watercourse
Solid and liquid waste discharged into watercourses may contain oxidized or reduced metal substances, halogenated organic compounds and traces of solvents and pesticides, the known toxic effects of which may only affect aquatic organisms directly.
It is clear that the best way to avoid all this pollution and the associated risks to ur health is by starting to reduce the quantity of waste materials in the State of Missouri. Proper waste management and recycling efforts acn definitively help in this direction, as well as efficient junk removal at the city level, such as at Kansas City and the neighbhouring counties. Get Kansas City rolloff rentals in order to discard all your old junk and accumulated garbage so that you can discard it properly now, instead of polluting the environment later. Contact Kansas City Dumpster Rental Whiz to get efficient waste management services at an affordable price with friendly staff.