Positive and Negative Aspects of Incineration
Introduction
Has it ever crossed your mind on what happens to waste once it has been towed away by garbage trucks? Odds are that this waste that you once ignored was on the verge of beginning a treatment process that would see it coming right back into once garbage bin. One of the preferred treatment methods today is incineration. This procedure sees waste being exposed to extremely high temperatures thus resulting in things such as gas or ash. The gas being produced through incineration is equitable to the gas being produced by exhaust pipes in vehicles meaning that it leaves the atmosphere. Unlike the gases produced from motor vehicles or landfills the gas coming out of the incineration process is usually treated from contaminants before being discharged into the atmosphere.
Background of study
As previously stated the thermal procedure also leads to the production of ash which is suspended in gas as it leaves the atmosphere. For year’s people in urban areas relied on landfills as the place of dumping their daily rubbish. The vice came to a dead end soon after landfills were flattened out from many years until the pressure became too much resulting in mountains of solid waste. Due to its indecomposable nature plastic materials gave municipal authorities sleepless nights thus the call to save the earth’s surface and come up with incineration. While this process has been adopted by most developed countries, poor nations are still grappling with the effects of landfills.
A landfill is basically a site where solid materials are pressed layer after the other. A landfill may appear like a simple, safe procedure for disposing of junk and solid materials however it has numerous disadvantages and issues. The moment when solid waste is pressed it is dumped off in the landfill where it is buried into massive pits in the ground. While in this holes they start to break down with the end result being millions of toxins. The toxins can spill into adjacent conduits and contaminate the water along with all the things that depends on the water for existence. With months passing by the solid waste begin to settle down into the landfill resulting in a decomposing process. When unchecked this processes leads to the production of methane gas which is an astounding greenhouse gas that can cause harm to all living things that come into close contact with it. The soil around landfills is neither left out of the damage as it gets contaminated therefore leading to barren land.
Landfills still create other major forms of damage. Take for instance the due to the availability of many waste products animals get attracted by the allure of food. Flies and mice are the most seen animals in this environment. These can get pick up all sought of illnesses and spread it to unsuspecting people. Other groups of people treat landfills as goldmines where they can scavenge for metals and plastic materials which the sell for a profit. While …