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This phase of the industrial wastage process is a major point of incidence where pollution occurs.
Bi-products in the form of gases, liquids and solids are pollutants produced by industry. Water
pollution due to industrial waste is an example of the effects of such waste products. One substance
which is found in waterways due to industry, such as nuclear power generation and tanning, is
Chromium (Sarin & Pant, 2006, p. 15). Chromium is a hazard for a wide range of biota, including
humans, microorganisms, flora, and other fauna (Sarin & Pant, 2006, p. 15). The dangerous practice
of discharging this compound into waterways is permitted. However, some alternatives are being
proposed to deal with this issue. The extraction of the poisonous element of the chromium from
industrial waste before its discharge by using eucalyptus bark has been proposed and held to be
99% effective in doing so (Sarin & Pant, 2006, p. 19). Another example of alternatives to waterway
disposal can be seen in the efforts that have been made in investigating how industrial waste could
be used to remove toxic dyes from other forms industrial waste (Jain, Gupta & Bhatnagar, 2003, pp.
31-2). However, this does not solve the issue of waste because the industrial waste containing the
dyes must be disposed of afterwards and the toxicity will only be transferred as industry waste to
the earth as the ultimatum of this process and that same goes for the aforementioned eucalyptus
bark theory.
In addition to industry, another generator of waste is the commercial division. Commercial waste
pollutes the biosphere when it is burnt or dumped. Products used in commerce often originate from
industry. This generation of waste may perhaps occur in the form of goods which are unsellable or
waste from cleaning products or construction, for example. Commercial waste, like all waste, needs
to be disposed of in the most environmentally manner. To do this successfully the amount and
composition of waste generated must be sufficiently monitored by governments (Beigel et al,
2008, p. 200). It is now common throughout the developed world that private organisations manage
waste disposal. This is no exception when it comes to commercial waste. All of this is good and
well if waste disposal is done in an environmentally sound manner. However, waste management
companies cannot always be trusted to do this as there are some which dispose of waste in a manner
which is illegal due to the negative effects it has on the environment (Ferrara, 2008, p. 211).
Combining the understanding of the importance of governmental data collection in respect to the
generation of rubbish with the fact that private companies hired by governments are dealing with
waste in environmentally dangerous manners, makes the current situation appear grave. Wholly, this
is true because waste continues being generated regardless of governmental monitoring and
pollutes the planet, globally destroying biodiversity and thus ecosystems on which humans and
3
Some of these have less negative effects on the environment than others. There is, for example, the
juxtaposition of reuse and recycing versus illegal dumping. To encourage recycling local
governments or councils might charge a waste disposal fee which encourages recycling and reuse.
However, ironically, such taxes might force people that do not want to, or cannot, pay them to
dispose of their household waste illegally (Choe & Fraser, 1999, p. 235). Although, on the other
hand, such policy could also cause others to reduce the amount of waste they dispose of through
official means by recycling and also by reusing as much as they can. Recycling is a suitable idea as
it reduces waste dumping or burning but some people are not accustomed to recycling. From
research conducted in the United Kingdom it has been discovered that the majority of people who
fail to recycle do so because they are recycling is into habitual for them (Knussen & Yule, 2008, p.
683). Considering this it seems that perhaps more effective social education about recycling might
help the situation, this environmentally negative disposal of waste which crushes the world's wellbeing.
A paper has been written by Palmer et al (1997) which suggests three economic incentive policies
(p. 133) that could help to promote solid waste reduction. The suggested policies are based on the
concept that waste producers would like to have some kind of economic gain from any extra effort
that thay may make to reduce solid waste duming or burning. The potential policy imlementations
that Palmer et al (1997, pp. 133-4) offer provide the opportunity to benifit from monetary gain and
also to reduce the rate at which damage is done to the environment due to waste disposal.
Due to space constraints only one of the policies which Palmer et al (1997) propose is discussed in
this text: the Recycling subsidies (p. 134). One might think that monetary incentives to reduce
waste would encourage it. However, this is not the case. The research conducted by Palmer et al
(1997) demonstrates that the recycling subsidy actually incites higher levels of consumption (p.
140). It does this because, in reality, what the subsidy does is lower the final price of the consumer
goods which gives people more spending power and thus they buy more and, consequently, produce
more waste. The idea of subsidies which encourage better treatment of the environment are a fine
attempt at improving the state of the planet for all humankind. However, due consumer desires
encouraged by the (consumerist) contemporary development model, which is based on Rostow's
(1960) understanding of the epitomy of development as absolute consumerism itself, the extra
subsidy is not used for anything else than generating waste; in other words, to waste the earth.
Considering the way in which waste is dealt with, it should be clear to anyone who investigates the
matter, even if only slightly, that the manner in which it is undertaken is poor as it is destructive to
the well-being of the earth. As repeated throughout this text, waste is problematic because it needs
to be disposed of in a way which will inevitably pollute the environment no matter how it is carried
out. There are various divisions which generate waste, including the industrial division, the
commercial division and the residential division. Instead of dumping or burning, the waste that each
of these divisions can be disposed of can be reused or recycled or disposed of in some other
alternative form. However, attempts to do so sometimes only move the waste from one area to
another where pollutes. The use of industrial waste or eucalyptus bark to deal with hazardous
industrial waste demonstrates this, as ti is ultimately deposited in somewhere it will inevitable
pollute with time. Residential waste also faces problems in the search for more environmentally
friendly alternatives to waste disposal. Many people are not used to recycle household waste and do
not do so for this reason. Recycling in general is an improvement on the waste management.
However, monetary incentives which are offered to promote recycling have been proven to create
more waste by giving those who receive them more spending power. Indeed, the waste management
crisis humanity is facing is based on consumerism which encourages the production of high levels
of waste due to the flaws of contemporary development models.
References
Beigl, P., Lebersorger, S., & Salhofer, S. (2008). Modelling municipal solid waste generation: A
review. Waste management, 28(1), 200-214.
Choe, C., & Fraser, I. (1999). An economic analysis of household waste management. Journal of
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Duan, H., Huang, Q., Wang, Q., Zhou, B., & Li, J. (2008). Hazardous waste generation and
management in China: A review. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 158(2), 221-227.
Ferrara, I. (2008). Illegal Disposal of Commercial Solid Waste: A Dynamic Analysis. Atlantic
Economic Journal, 36(2), 211-232.
Jain, A. K., Gupta, V. K., & Bhatnagar, A. (2003). Utilization of industrial waste products as
adsorbents for the removal of dyes. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 101(1), 31-42.
Knussen, C., & Yule, F. (2008). I'm Not in the Habit of Recycling The Role of Habitual Behavior
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and disposal. Journal of environmental economics and management, 26(3), 215-234.
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