How Improper Waste Disposal Affects Your Health
If you live in a major city, you may have noticed that waste disposal is usually not a problem. For one, there are always garbage cans near your house or office, and there’s a regular schedule of trash and garbage pickups. But if you live in an area where there are no such facilities available, you’ll need to find ways to dispose of solid waste like domestic garbage and waste materials effectively.
To start, waste management is a critical process that can affect the community in many ways. If waste disposal is done correctly with the help of professionals and providers offering same-day rubbish removal services, humans, animals, and the environment could all benefit from it. However, if done incorrectly, aside from pollution, it can cause several problems, especially to one’s health and well-being.
Furthermore, here are a few ways improper waste disposal can affect your health:
Table of Contents
You Can Be Exposed To Bacteria And Toxic Chemicals
Without proper waste management and disposal protocols, solid waste can easily pollute the environment. For instance, they could contaminate the soil by releasing harmful chemicals, which in turn, could be absorbed by plants. This can lead to food poisoning or other health effects when consumed by humans directly or indirectly through contaminated fruits and vegetables.
There could also be instances where hazardous waste from the industries like manufacturing, agriculture, and construction, to name a few, end up polluting and contaminating land areas. For example, industrial factories may spill toxic chemicals on land or when agricultural farms dispose of animal waste and other wastes improperly. This can result in widespread environmental pollution, affecting plants and animals negatively.
Aside from that, chemicals such as mercury and lead are toxic to humans and can pose serious health risks if they enter your body through skin contact or inhalation. Mercury is particularly dangerous for pregnant women because it can cause congenital disabilities in their unborn babies if consumed during pregnancy. These chemicals can easily contaminate water supplies due to improper disposal of industrial wastes into rivers and lakes.
It Contaminates Groundwater
Aside from soil contamination, improper waste disposal could also pollute groundwater, causing severe health risks for humans and animals who drink from these sources or use them. For one, contaminated groundwater can lead to poor drinking water quality and loss of water supply. Consuming water with high levels of contaminants can put you at risk of getting diseases like gastrointestinal illnesses.
The contamination can easily happen when people throw away their food leftovers in open areas or dump them into rivers without protection from rainwater runoff. This can lead to the growth of harmful bacteria in the soil, which can contaminate groundwater when rainfall occurs.
You Might Contract Diseases
In addition to the previous point, pathogenic microorganisms can cause serious diseases such as typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, and hepatitis A. These pathogens can enter your body through contaminated food or water and make you sick and unhealthy by attacking your immune system. They also spread through direct contact with infected people or animals or indirect contact by touching surfaces contaminated with these germs (such as door handles).
Sometimes, people do not have enough money to pay for medical treatment when they get sick. This makes them more likely to suffer from diseases caused by improper waste disposal. This can also lead to deaths that could have been avoided if proper waste disposal had been used instead of dumping garbage indiscriminately into open dumps.
In addition, the germs found on waste materials can also make you sick when you come into contact with them in any way — mainly if they’re not disposed of correctly. For example, rats are known carriers of diseases such as salmonella and leptospirosis, which can lead to liver and kidney complications. These rodents are familiar sights in areas where there’s no proper waste management in place. This is why high-risk areas like a home’s kitchen must be properly cleaned and maintained to avoid rodent infestation.
Wrapping It Up
Proper waste disposal is a critical process that every community should be aware of and monitor. This is especially since, over time, the buildup of garbage will inevitably result in unhealthy living conditions. This goes for residential homes and public areas, including parks, cities, and highways. With poor waste management, you could be at risk of developing health conditions, as discussed in this post.
And to avoid adverse effects and health complications, proper disposal of your waste instead of piling it up in a specific spot should be observed at all times.