Tag: waste management - impact of waste accumulation

Medical wastes are classified as infectious wastes and non-infectious waste. Most of the biomedical waste is toxic in nature.

• Non-infectious waste: It is also called as offensive waste. It is not harmful and do not result in spread of any infection. Examples include: catheters, colostomy bags etc.
  
• Infectious wastes: This is the waste that contain pathogens which spread diseases from one person to the other. This includes used dressings, swabs and other materials or equipment that have been in contact with infected patients or excreta. It also includes liquid waste such as faeces, urine, blood and other body secretions.
  

• The per capita waste generation is the waste generated by a person. It is between 200 - 870 grams/day. The average per capita waste generation per day is 370 grams.
  
• The per capita waste generation is increasing by about 1.3% per year in India.
  

Domestic waste is the waste generated by human dwellings. Human excreta which consists of waste generated as by-products of digestion and excretion like faeces and urine is included in this category. It is included under organic waste as it is composed mostly of organic compounds.

• High Carbon dioxide concentration causes global warming.
  
• Trapping of sun’s heat in the lower atmosphere due to increase in the pollution causing gases like carbon dioxide is called greenhouse effect.
  
• Greenhouse gases are water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone, nitrous oxide etc.
  
• Sun’s radiation is partly absorbed by earth and rest of the radiations are reflected back to the atmosphere which are escaped. But the greenhouse gases form blanket in the atmosphere and traps the radiation from escaping. This causes an increase in earth’s temperature resulting in global warming.
  

Cholera is a bacterial diseases caused due to drinking of contaminated water. Cholera is caused by Vibrio cholera. Cholera is an infectious disease that leads to extreme dehydration.

AIDS is caused by the HIV virus, which has a high mutation rate and integrates into the host genome, making it extremely difficult to eradicate or control via traditional vaccination or simple treatment compared to the other listed diseases.

Guinea worm disease which is also called as Dracunculiasis is a disease caused by guinea worm. A person gets affected when he or she consumes water contaminated with the larva.

It causes painful burning sensation and blisters in the lower limb. It is diagnosed by the worm coming out of the blister. Other symptoms include fever, nausea and vomiting.

Animals like cows, buffaloes and goats die of eating plastic which is the result of waste accumulation by people. Animals which do not have any idea about the nutritional effects eat plastic out of curiosity and this eaten plastic most of the times is not passed through excretory system. This plastic affects metabolism and kills the animal.

Sometimes carcinogenic compounds present in plastic enter humans through drinking milk and eating meat.

Radioactive waste is usually the by-product of nuclear power generation. These radioactive elements are highly hazardous chemicals. Radioactive elements have half-life which means the time required for half of its atoms to disintegrate and become non-radioactive.

Radioactive elements have longer half-life and hence takes very long time to disintegrate. This is the unique problem posed by radioactive elements apart from adverse impacts on ecosystems, contamination of groundwater and toxicity to humans

Chemical waste materials should be stored  in separate containers for disposal, each labeled with the contents and identifier as waste.