Landfills and Soil Degradation: A Closer Look

In our everyday life, the things we consume have some waste?

Right?

Which we through in our dustbins and picked up by garbage trucks.

Here the journey of the waste we created is just not completed.

Our trash in these trucks typically goes into a landfill.

Yes, Landfill!?

Landfills are mountains of waste, which have a mix and variety of waste produced at different sources by us as human beings.

These landfills are harmful in many ways as it is a source of creation of not only water pollution, air pollution, and the natural environment but also soil pollution or creates soil degradation and their implications.

Landfills which are created to store our generated waste also leads to play a role in climate change as it releases greenhouse gases as well.

landfill and soil degradation are also interlinked as it is a cause of soil degradation near the location it is situated.

Do you know?

1. Healthy soil contains high biodiversity, which helps fight off pests and allows fresh, nutritious plants to grow.

2. Soil plays a vital role in cleaning water. Minerals and microbes filter and buffer potential pollutants, some of which are absorbed by soil particles.

3. It offers us the food and resources we need, and it sustains numerous ecosystems.

Soil is said to be degraded when the natural properties of soil are affected i.e. the time when physical, chemical and biological decline in soil quality.

Some of the most important Impacts of soil degradation are as follows:

• The decline in soil fertility
• Structural condition
• This leads to soil erosion
• Adverse changes in salinity, acidity or alkalinity
• The effects of toxic chemicals, pollutants or excessive flooding
• Loss of organic matter

Thousands of animals, plants, and other significant creatures call soil their home, making it a priceless non-renewable resource. Although it frequently goes unseen, the dirt under our feet is essential to supporting all life on Earth.

But one of the reasons for soil degradation is landfills…….

How? Let's break this story ……

The environment is interlinked as it has a complex relationship with one another. Pollution from one source can also impact the other source. Here water pollution and soil degradation work together as the water is the medium of soil degradation.

Groundwater and surface water resources may become contaminated by landfills. Solid waste landfills produce leachate that contains various components. The amount of leach depends upon the type of waste disposed of in landfills, and the amount of the waste of that type.

Landfills leachate usually contains toxic elements and heavy metals, dissolved methane, sulfate, calcium, potassium, etc. This Leachate can pass through soil and enter the surface water or groundwater. In addition, when leachate enters groundwater, it may leak into adjacent rivers and pollute rivers. It should be noted that rainfall and soil moisture plays an important role in the production of leachate. Precipitation passes through the wastes and chemical and physical reactions occur and carry dissolved constituents that can enter the soil.

Acid rain may be caused by gases released from landfills, which can affect the acidification of soils and ecosystems. Acidic rain can cause a loss of stomatal control, a reduction in photosynthesis, enzyme inhibition, and changes in synthetic pathways on plants Soil contamination around landfills can occur as a result of the penetration of leachate to the soil.?

In addition, landfills have some effects on the biological, erosional, hydrological, and geochemical properties of the soil and water resources.

Thus,?

It shows that landfills can have an extensive range of impacts on their surrounding environment and damage various resources on the earth. However, the impacts of landfills on their surroundings have not ended after the landfill was closed. Because the natural decomposition of waste continues for several years and groundwater, surface water, and soil resources can become contaminated decades after the waste is disposed of and landfills closed.

This is how the waste we produce reaches landfills and impacts soil quality.

Landfills are everywhere, wherever you are staying?

Remember - ‘’Soil is everywhere so as landfills ''

We all can pledge towards reducing our waste generation at source by implementing the ‘’Reduce- Repair - Reuse - Refurbish - Recycle’’ strategy wherever possible.

As landfills not only impact soil quality but also impacts water, land, air and other natural resource.

We all can also limit our waste creation by consciously taking decisions.

‘’Our Waste, Our Responsibility’’

‘’By Humanity, For Humanity’’

#humanity #Nature #sustainability #socialimpact #environment #people #everylifematters #responsibleleadership #humans #everyone #sustainability?#sustainabledevelopment?#sustainabilitynow?#sustainbilitymatters #landfills #monsoon #climatechange #soil degradation #climatechange #reduce #reuse #refurbish #recycle #waste #wastegeneration

#greeneconomy?#greenerfuture?#environment?#environmentalimpact?#socialimpact?#economicgrowth?#circulareconomy?#climateaction?#sdgs?#climateactionnow?