390 Solid Waste: Turning a Health Risk Into a Resource
Poorly Managed and Mixed Waste
When waste piles up or is scattered around
our communities, it is ugly, smelly, unpleasant
and bad for health. When wastes are not
separated, the amount of waste and the
problems it causes are bigger than they
need to be. When harmful wastes,
such as old batteries and health care
wastes, are mixed with wastes like
paper and food scraps, the mixture
becomes even more difficult and
dangerous to deal with.
When it is not properly disposed of,
waste causes health problems.
Some waste can be reused or recycled.
Some kinds of waste take a long time
to decay. Other kinds never go away!
• Open piles of trash breed rats, flies, mosquitoes, cockroaches, and other
insects that carry diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, hepatitis,
typhus, and others.
• Dump sites and trash heaps breed germs. These can infect children who
play there and people who pick through the waste for things to use or
sell. Germs in trash can cause health problems such as diarrhea and
cholera, scabies, tetanus, fungus, and other skin and eye infections.
• Trash clogs waterways and drainage channels causing water to back
up. This can create stagnant pools that allow insects to breed and cause
floods when it rains. Flooded drainage channels that carry human or
animal feces also contaminate drinking water supplies and soil.
• When large piles of waste collapse they harm people who work with the
waste or live nearby.
• Toxic chemicals in waste seep into water sources and soil, poisoning
people for many years. Sometimes waste piles containing toxic materials
explode or catch fire.
• When plastics and other toxic wastes are burned in the open or in
incinerators, harmful chemicals are released into the air, and toxic ash
pollutes soil and water. In the short term, these toxic chemicals cause
chest infections, cough, nausea, vomiting, and eye infections. Over time,
they cause chronic illnesses such as cancer and birth defects. (For more
about incineration, see page 423.)
To treat the health problems caused by waste, see Where There Is No Doctor
or another general health care book. Wearing gloves, face masks, and boots
or closed shoes can prevent many of the health problems caused by working
with solid waste. (For protection while working with waste, see page 406 and
Appendix A.)
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012