Sort Your Waste Wisely
Did you know that every year, 3.5 million people die from drinking polluted water, and
2.2 million of these people are children? In fact, someone dies every 10 seconds from drinking
dirty water. Unclean water has claimed more lives in the past 100 years than any other cause,
more than any war. At this moment, half of the world’s hospital beds are occupied by patients
suffering from a water-related disease. Why? Well, I think, there is no specific person to blame,
it is all our fault, we all involuntary contribute to pollution. Of course you will think that one
person it will make no difference, but in if all of us will act in this direction it will certainly make
a difference. For example, every time we pass by a waste sorting sign and we do not even glance
at it, or we continue sorting our waste incorrectly, we actually contribute to the water and our
environment pollution.
I am sure that the solution would be simple: learn how to sort our waste wisely! This is a
reasonable choice because firstly, it would save the vegetation and wildlife, secondly it would
reduce the amount of diseases humans are exposed to, thirdly it would have positive effects on
the economy and finaly we will have a clean environment to live in.
The garbage produced on a daily basis in our homes, including paper, aluminum, rubber, glass,
plastic and even food, if not sorted wisely, and processed in appropriate sorting
facilities, can end up being deposited in the seas and oceans, or leaking into the table water, that
connects with rivers and lakes that are the primary sources of drinking water. Furthermore this
represents a real problem, because they can take from two weeks to hundreds of years to
decompose, giving them more than enough time to harm the plants and animals in the water.
In addition to this, throwing out products with dangerous chemicals in them, such as
batteries, and other dangerous substances, is a major health concern when they are
not recycled properly and can cause soil contamination and water pollution. An example of
possible chemical pollution is improper recycling of batteries. Batteries contain mercury, and
when the mercury leaks into the table water, or rivers and lakes, it could poison fish, indirectly
could poison animals that eat them, as well as humans. Humans, animals and even pets that drink
water contaminated with mercury can suffer the effects of mercury poisoning, including damage
to the central nervous system. Moreover the plants exposed to mercury over long periods of time
may suffer and die from an inability to properly process their nutrients.
Another issue is that incorrect sorting and storage of the garbage, can cause that pieces of debris,
specifically garbage can end up in the water. The ocean creatures can swallow pieces of garbage
and die from internal damage. Animals suffer the most from this type of pollution. Besides this
they can also be injured or killed by being trapped into the garbage, or eating trash dumped in the
water. Large pieces of debris can also cause damage to plant life.
It is important to pay attention to what is in our waste and how we properly recycle it. For
instance, when we do not sort our waste properly, it ends up polluting our waters, and, depending
on the contents of the garbage, it can have negative effects and huge negative impact on the
environment.
When polluted water reaches humans, it can cause serious health problems, ranging from a mild
stomachache to cancer. If animal waste is not disposed of properly, it is washed away into the
rivers when it rains. It gets mixed up with other harmful chemicals, and if people
drink that water, it can cause deadly diseases. As evidence, statistically it was proven that
mercury poisoning and chemical pollution is to be very dangerous to children, the elderly, and
women who are pregnant. It can lead to nervous system damage and even failure, as well
as malformations of unborn children.
When water is polluted, it quickly becomes a breeding ground for bacteria and parasites which
not only can affect humans, but also can affect animals in the same manner. If fish that swallow
pieces of garbage do not die from it, they may carry the garbage in their bodies for a long time,
and if they happen to be fish caught for human consumption, this could affect humans as well.
Polluted water is very unsafe to drink or to come into contact with, and unfortunately, for some
people, it is almost impossible to avoid drinking it, therefore, to save those people, we need to
stop polluting it, and we can have our part in this by starting to sort our waste properly.
Knowing how to sort your waste wisely can also improve the economy. By reducing, reusing and
recycling the garbage we help the economy lowering the production costs and save
the environment by using less natural resources in the production process. Without a doubt
it costs a lot more to purify polluted water than to filter the spring water or water from the rivers
and lakes. The fishing stock is affected negatively when the fish live in polluted waters. In this
case, the consumers are also weary of these sources and tend to stay away from them,
causing fisheries to lose revenue.
For these reasons, if we learn how to sort our waste wisely, the government will not have to
spend so much money on controlling water pollution, money that will be used to benefit us.
The advantages of sorting our waste wisely could be a reduction of the volume of the generated
waste, taking advantage of the resources in the recycled material, avoiding the over-exploitation
of natural resources, lowering the cost of final disposal of the waste, creating new job sources
and finally promoting the civic participation
In conclusion, without a doubt, learning how to sort our waste wisely can not only benefit our
own health and our economy, it can also save the environment. We can practice sorting our
waste every day. Even if this only makes a small difference, everyone has an opportunity to
contribute. After all, a little adds up to a lot. Let's start taking little steps towards a big cause.
Thank you.