The garbage problem is man-made. It is related to the disposal of rubbish, except in a container. It may be careless or deliberate, but it is always harmful. From the industrial revolution to the present day, man has always performed actions that have a direct impact on nature. The abandonment of garbage in any ecosystem is an irresponsible act. The person who does it suffers from a lack of patterns of social behavior.
Impact of rubbish on the environment
The pollution caused by garbage always affects the ecosystems:
- The water levels suffer from direct consequences. Streams, lakes, rivers and seas. This has consequences for the region’s fauna, which confuses garbage with food. It also hurts when we feed on these animals.
- It also damages the flora. For example, if you throw away millions of cigarette butts, it will take several years for the filter to deteriorate. The first thing to go away is the wrapping paper. At this point, the tobacco dissolves in the substrate of the ecosystem and changes its pH.
- Visual effect on the landscape. This leads to the fact that the tourist loses interest in visiting this area.
- Can cause forest fires.
- It blocks the water outlets, which leads to flooding of the place.
- It changes ecosystems and therefore leads to migrations that can cause high levels of mortality and even extinction.
- The migratory species invades another area and destabilizes its equilibrium.
Education, awareness-raising and waste prevention projects
The education and awareness of our children are essential. In most of the places there is a project to clean up the place. Europe has different entities organized to decontaminate forests, rural areas and beaches.
In Spain is the Libera! has the goal of “cleaning nature” The company, founded in Barcelona in 2004, fulfills the difficult task of working for every ecosystem, its flora and fauna. To this end, actions will be funded on the basis of three main axes:
- Knowledge of the origin of the garbage.
- Prevention.
- Citizen participation to develop these measures.
The slogan is “1 square meter for nature”. In 2018 they collected 30 tons of rubbish from 48 Spanish provinces. They cleaned up 48,000 square feet. They analyzed the collected garbage to determine its properties and thus develop a plan of action.
Number of concerns
2020 was a difficult year for field statistics. However, you can mention the numbers before this year.
- 80% of the litter in the oceans comes from the continents.
- More than 1,400 species living in freshwater or in the ocean are affected by the problem.
- 17% of these affected species are on the red list of threatened species.
- A bad omen is that by 2050 90% of birds will have consumed plastic.
Trash isn’t a problem of landscape attractiveness, it’s not someone else’s problem, it affects you, it affects me. Let’s work together, a solution can be reached.
