Land Pollution

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Have you noticed the small piles of uncollected garbage in street corners?  This is a common sight especially if garbage trucks do not come regularly.

            Land pollution damages the thin layer of fertile soil essential for the growth of trees and other plants.  Excessive use and poor land management brought about land degradation, deterioration and eventually desert formation.  The transformation from grasslands and forests to desertland took thousand of years.  This is indeed a classic example of the misuse of land.

            In nature, cycles similar to those which keep water clean also work to keep the soil fertile, such as plant and animal wastes and dead organisms accumulate in the soil and decayed by bacteria and fungi and transform them into nitrates, phosphates and other nutrients and minerals.  But the rate of wastes thrown in the soil is so great that the natural decay processes could not cope with the speed of its accumulation.

Visible Forms of Land Pollution

1.      solid wastes

2.      open dumpsites and landfills

Sources of Land Pollution

1. urban refuse (commercial and domestic) such as food waste, plastics, cans, papers, etc.
2. construction debris
3. street sweepings
4. abandoned junks

Effects of Land Pollution

1. erosion, siltation, and flooding
2. perils on people’s health

2.1  from infectious wastes

2.2  proliferation of disease-bearing animals

2.3  rural and urban blight (landscape)

Control of Land Pollution

1. reduce
2. reuse
3. recycle
4. composting
5. waste-to-energy

Historically, garbage has been disposed of in areas commonly referred to as dumps.  It is an inexpensive process and a lot of areas can be used.

Because of increase of rate of throwing, dumpsites are not favored. It must be regulated.  The land is not just used as is but must first undergo land analysis and preparation.  It is no longer called just a dumpsite, but a “sanitary landfill.”