Why filling up of landfills is bad for our nature and environment

Have you ever wondered where all the waste collected from our homes and offices go? Where all the waste materials are thrown? Well, for those of you who aren’t aware here is the answer. All the waste that is collected is thrown in the landfills that are located outside the city in some remote areas. These huge areas of land are used specifically for this purpose only.

Companies or authorities who are assigned the task of collecting waste, collects these materials and throw them into a specifically assigned land. Now, if you wonder that this is a pretty effective exercise keeping in mind that these landfills are far located from residential areas, then you are wrong. Filling up of landfills have are dangerous not only to our environment but also to our health. Listed down are few disadvantages of filling up the landfills, let’s read and find why this process wouldn’t work in long run.

• Lack of spaces: Landfills take up large chunk of area on which they are thrown. The more they grow in size the more land they consume. Not only this, the waste collected on these land seeps into ground, which further causes waste and contamination. In some cases it has also been found that areas used for this purposes becomes contaminated for further plantation.

• Pollute Water: The waste that is thrown in these areas at times can flow into water and other nearby water resources. This not only contaminates water but also makes it unhealthy to use. The more waste is thrown the more water is contaminated.

• Release of toxic gases: It is generally observed that if the waste is lying in an area for a particularly long period of time it releases harmful toxics like methane gas that are poisonous for our health. The gases released from these landfills pollute the air and affects our health.

Landfills were created to temporary solve the garbage solution from our cities; they were never part of a permanent scheme. This is the reason why, governments and heath ministers have always looked for solutions that can reduce our dependency on these areas. In last few years, process of recycling has elegantly emerged as a solution that can be looked and worked with. This process not only reduced our dependency on landfills but also gives us an opportunity to reuse our waste more productively.