Different Types of Environmental Waste

Evironmental waste is any waste product left behind by society to muck up the environment. The affects of such waste are in dirtying the ground, the water and the air, and making the world generally a less healthy, less pretty, less thriving world then it was before. It is up to us, as members of a global society, to clean up our act.

Solid waste

Solid waste is also known as trash, garbage, junk and more. This category of environmental waste covers the things we throw away, discard and even flush. These are the items that end up in sludge tanks at water treatment plants, land fills and garbage heaps. In the United States alone 21 tons of garbage per person is generated; annually that is a stunning 115 pounds of garbage per person per day. Granted, this includes personal waste, industrial waste and waste from agriculture and mining, but the number is staggering.

Liquid waste

Liquid waste encompasses grey water from water treatment plants, oil and natural gas refinery byproducts, agricultural wastes, chemical byproducts and more. This type of waste is particularly worrisome as it can enter watersheds, contaminate the ground water and invade our supply of drinking water causing contamination, illness and injury.

Electronic waste

Electronic waste, also known as e-waste and e-scrap, is electronic junk. With technology changing and improving almost daily it is no wonder that e-junk piles up. As machines head toward obsolescence we replace them and the discarded machines are taken to the landfill where they sit, not rotting -- just taking up space. When upgrading your electronics look into recycling programs for responsible disposal.

These are by no means all of the types of environmental waste, but they are three of the worst. Beyond these things society needs to consider hazardous waste, toxic, nuclear and medical waste. Only by working together can the environment get a makeover.