The Renewable Energy Association website provides more information including a map of biomass and energy from waste projects. Throwing away things wastes resources. It wastes the raw materials and energy used in making the items and it wastes money. Reducing waste means less environmental impact, less resources and energy used and saves money.
Plastic microfibers, meanwhile, have been found in municipal drinking water systems and drifting through the air. Millions of animals are killed by plastics every year, from birds to fish to other marine organisms. Nearly species, including endangered ones, are known to have been affected by plastics. Nearly every species of seabird eats plastics. Most of the deaths to animals are caused by entanglement or starvation. Seals, whales , turtles, and other animals are strangled by abandoned fishing gear or discarded six-pack rings.
Microplastics have been found in more than aquatic species, including fish, shrimp, and mussels destined for our dinner plates. In many cases, these tiny bits pass through the digestive system and are expelled without consequence.
But plastics have also been found to have blocked digestive tracts or pierced organs, causing death. Stomachs so packed with plastics reduce the urge to eat, causing starvation. Plastics have been consumed by land-based animals, including elephants, hyenas, zebras, tigers, camels, cattle, and other large mammals, in some cases causing death.
Tests have also confirmed liver and cell damage and disruptions to reproductive systems, prompting some species, such as oysters, to produce fewer eggs. New research shows that larval fish are eating nanofibers in the first days of life, raising new questions about the effects of plastics on fish populations. Once in the ocean, it is difficult—if not impossible—to retrieve plastic waste. Mechanical systems, such as Mr. But once plastics break down into microplastics and drift throughout the water column in the open ocean, they are virtually impossible to recover.
The solution is to prevent plastic waste from entering rivers and seas in the first place, many scientists and conservationists—including the National Geographic Society —say. Among industrialized nations, the United States generates the largest amount of municipal solid waste per person on a daily basis. Waste generation, in most cases, represents inefficient use of materials.
Tracking trends in the quantity, composition, and effects of these materials provides insight into the efficiency with which the nation uses and reuses materials and resources and provides a means to better understand the effects of wastes on human health and ecological condition.
Most municipal solid wastes and hazardous wastes are managed in land disposal units. For hazardous wastes, land disposal includes landfills, surface impoundments, land treatment, land farming, and underground injection. Modern landfill facilities are engineered with containment systems and monitoring programs. Current approaches to waste management evolved primarily due to health concerns and the need to control odors.
In the past, waste often was deposited on land just outside developed areas. More recently, excavation of land specifically for deposition of wastes became common, often accompanied by burning of wastes to reduce volume, a practice eventually determined to be a contributor to degraded air quality in urban areas.
Burning of wastes occurred at multiple levels, from backyard burning to large, open-burning dumps of municipal solid wastes to onsite burning of commercial and industrial wastes. However, plastics are also used in making appliances, electronic devices, machine components and construction materials.
While these items have a longer lifespan, many of them end up in the well. At this time, less than 10 percent of all plastic waste in the U. A small percentage of plastic waste is addressed with thermal destruction burning it , most of the plastics discarded end up in landfills or elsewhere in the environment.
Thermal destruction releases toxic fumes and chemicals into the environment, reducing air quality and creating a public health risk. Once plastic is in the environment, it does not decay like natural materials eventually do.
Plastics have brought benefits to modern society, including safe, convenient ways to store and transport food and other items.
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