By Bianca Brainwood

MARINE POLLUTION AD TOXIC WASTE: We should be making the public aware of the issues and crucial information that isn't openly being shared about toxic waste as everyone must act responsibly to prevent further pollution of the environment. In fact, statistics show that India, Canada and Europe are among some of the largest generators of hazardous waste. Yearly, India generates the varying amount of 6-7 Million tonnes of hazardous waste. Most of this is generated from pharmaceuticals, pesticides, paints, dyes, fertilizers, alkalis, and other different industries. The lack of a preventative approach to waste management has led to generation of more and more hazardous wastes and sadly, controlling hazardous waste has become a serious problem in India and no particular care is taken in their management.

The average Canadian produce an average of 190 kilograms of hazardous waste annually. Only the United States, Hungary and Luxembourg generate more hazardous waste per capita than Canadians and in 1991, the most recent year of Canadian data available to the OECD(Government organization that compares data), Canada generated 5,896,000 tonnes of hazardous waste, placing 23rd out of 27 in total hazardous waste. The only OECD countries producing more hazardous waste than Canada are the United States, Mexico, France and Germany.

In 2010, the total generation of waste from economic activities and households in Europe amounted to 2, 570 million tonnes. Among the waste generated in the Europe in 2010, some 94.5 million tonnes (3.7 % of the total) were classified as toxic waste. As such, inhabitants in the generated on average about 5.1 tonnes of waste each, of which 188 kg were hazardous waste. This affects marine life because when people litter instead of disposing of their rubbish responsibly, it ends up in drains and blocks them, as well as the drains emptying out and the rubbish being located to the ocean.

Improper handling, storage and disposal of hazardous waste are the main factors contributing to the environmental and human health impact. The pressing need is to rethink the present approach of pollution control and end-of-the-pipe approaches and focus on pollution prevention, waste minimization and cleaner production. If we do not take action, our oceans and marine life will likely become ruined and the chemicals in it will not allow for life to be sustained in it.

By Bianca Brainwood

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/ioc-oceans/priority-areas/rio-20ocean/blueprint-for-the-future-we-want/marine-pollution/facts-and-figures-on-marinepollution/

http://www.laep.org/target/units/recycle/toxic.html http://www.environmentalindicators.com/htdocs/indicators/12haza.htm http://www.toxicslink.org/art-view.php?id=2