Drowning in a Sea of Garbage

Erin Lankford
September 17 2010
3:50 PM

Landfills in India are rapidly growing in size along with the rate of the population. Baking in the hot summer sun is discarded food, batteries, plastic items, and other rotten items that fill the air with a sickening aroma. Toxic chemicals and methane are dispersed into the atmosphere every day with no signs of slowing down. In one town where the local landfill is 12 acres large the collect up 350 tons of waste daily. The local residents choke on the smell of toxic smoke now that garbage is being burnt to make room for yet more waste. Roughly 100 million tons of waste is generated from the cities in India yearly. The local farms, rivers, canals, forests and any vacant land are subject to damage from the spreading pollution, chemicals, and liter. The problem is expected to grow alongside India’s consumption rate due to urbanization. The government directed cities to implement recycling programs but unfortunately nothing has been implemented. Some suggestions have been made such as using incinerators to eradicate some of the waste and convert the heat to energy but some many are skeptical saying that it will only create more pollution in the long run if they are not used correctly. One activist believes that biomining, a compost system, will work best in India due to the nature of the climate and also because it is a cheap solution. Ultimately though biomining will still leave behind non-degradable items so it is not the final solution. India must do more to educate the people about the damage in throwing garbage out and the dangers of over consumption.

The cities that are being affected by the massive amount of waste tend to be the poorer areas that are not able to make changes on their own. While it is wrong for them to improperly dispose of waste they are only doing what they have the resources to do. The government has tried to implement programs for recycling but they are not enforced so people continue to throw out trash everywhere and clog up waterways and damage farmland. Without aid financially it will be nearly impossible for India to start making a move to help the environment. Maybe instead of telling them they need to recycle it would be more beneficial to educate them about the benefits of conservation and how it will help in the long run. They have taken a cue from the West when it comes to consuming items. Now the landfills are overflowing with items that are not biodegradable such as plastics and electronics. We have more access to recycling and yet we are still not doing the best job that we can so it is understandable that a population that is significantly worse off financially would have issues with pollution. India is going to continue to grow and so is the garbage unless some sort of program is implemented soon.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/world/asia/23iht-letter.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1&ref=air_pollution