When we think of the word “waste”, we tend to think of trash that is unwanted. However, do we know what it does to the environment? While we already know that the obvious answer would be that it affects the environment negatively, some may not know the exact details. Poor waste management contributes to many things in the environment. Mainly, it affects climate change, air pollution, and directly affects living species and organisms. 

For example, waste is heavily related to landfills and they contribute to many of these things in the environment. Landfills, especially poorly maintained ones, release methane. Methane is a powerful gas that heavily affects climate change. Additionally, depending on how the landfills were made, it can also affect the surrounding area, such as soil and water, which can ultimately affect living species and organisms. 

Knowing that waste affects the environment negatively, there are obviously solutions to these problems. One obvious solution is managing the waste by recycling. However, this can be difficult as it can take lots of preparations and planning. So, what if we use waste as a resource? Turning waste into a resource has actually been worked on for quite some time and it is possible to make this happen. For example, some types of waste can be used as an energy source or fertilizer. This is just one way of getting closer to solving the effects of waste on the planet. However, there are way more than what we can think of and it all contributes to helping out the environment. 

• https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/signals-2014/articles/waste-a-problem-or-a-resource