Hello! 
So today i want to tell all of you about the dramatically rising number of wastes being thrown into our Mother nature. 
No one knows exactly how much garbage we produce. However, the population is constantly growing, and more waste is entering the environment than ever before. At the same time, few people have any idea what happens to garbage in a landfill, how it affects the air, water, soil and people. 
A growing threat
A hundred years ago, it was possible to bury garbage, but now it is impossible, and people just dump it in giant piles. For example, garbage from the outskirts of Lebanon's Beirut in the amount of more than 80 tons is taken daily to where there was once a sandy beach. The height of the rubble here reaches more than 40 meters. The waste decomposes, releasing methane and other chemicals that poison the soil and air that 200 thousand residents breathe. Local fishermen suffer from decomposition products entering the sea. This is not a local problem, since the giant landfill affects the environmental situation off the coasts of Cyprus, Syria and Turkey, located next to Lebanon. All these countries complain that their beaches are constantly flooded with garbage.
The giant mountain is visited by local garbage collectors who try to find waste suitable for sale for recycling. But their efforts are ineffective against the background of the total volume of rubble. More serious attempts were made to clear the mountain. For example, an Arabian prince donated five million dollars to the fight against garbage, but nothing came of it. But even 35 years ago, there was a vacant lot here, until one day people came who dug a hole and put barrels of toxic substances in it. This became the seed for the future mountain of waste, which grew very quickly.
Garbage is everywhere, and its quantity is constantly increasing. Landfills are growing rapidly around the world. In Beijing, where there are more than 400 waste disposal areas, there is no longer a place for garbage. Over the past decade, 14 landfills in the New York City area have filled to capacity. Every year, people throw away more than 200 billion plastic bottles, 58 billion disposable plastic cups and a billion plastic bags.
150 years ago, waste consisted mainly of natural products-paper, wood, food, wool and cotton. They decomposed without much harm to the environment, but over time, the garbage became more and more toxic. The content of heavy metals, radioactive substances and plastics based on synthetic resins increased. Modern garbage heaps are very toxic and continue to cause harm even after elimination.
Mountains of Death
One of the ways to protect the environment is to build a clay layer to prevent the penetration of harmful substances into the ground water. However, this method is ineffective, since such barriers are short-lived. The harmful effects of toxic debris can last for hundreds of years. In addition, emergency situations occur at landfills from time to time. In 2008, a landslide uncovered a landfill in Dorsetshire (UK) on the Jurassic Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, it is impossible to predict where and how coastal erosion and high tides will affect coastal landfills. Collapses of garbage heaps located near settlements often lead to human casualties, the number of which can be counted in the tens or hundreds.
Even well-organized landfills create problems. The landfill in Gloucestershire (UK) is allowed to accept 150 thousand tons of hazardous waste per year (paints, lacquers, solvents), which makes it one of the most toxic in Europe. At the same time, 15 thousand people live in three kilometers, and the wind most often blows in the direction from the dump to the village. The method of waste disposal here is extremely primitive: it is mixed with liquid in a silo, and then distributed over the entire area of the landfill, so that the toxic dust does not spread to the surrounding land and houses. It turns out a substance containing chromium, cadmium and many other heavy metals. The owners of landfills deny the existence of clouds of toxic dust, which are constantly complained about by local residents. The official conclusion of the authorities stated that the landfill most likely does not pose a real threat to human health.
In reality, the neighborhood of landfills is a serious threat to humans and animals. Scientific studies of 21 hazardous waste dumps in five countries have shown that living within three kilometers of garbage piles, people are at risk of congenital malformations. At the same time, in the UK, which ranks first in Europe in terms of the number of landfills, 80 percent of the population lives just two kilometers from waste storage sites. According to environmentalists, the waste disposal industry in this country has enough funds to hire specialists who are ready to claim that landfills are safe.
The problem with garbage is becoming more acute every year. Efforts involving separate waste collection and subsequent recycling have long been a necessity, not an overkill that developed countries can afford. At the same time, even one person can help preserve the environment in which he lives by reducing the number of disposable goods, plastic bags and dishes used by him. Although polyethylene seems convenient and cheap, it should be remembered that by throwing it in the trash, people increase the likelihood that it will end up in their stomach along with toxic substances. However, mankind is in any case requires the existence of a developed and a global infrastructure of waste management. I am very glad that we went through this topic in such detail at school and I am now so erudite in the field of garbage and its types!