school energy&environment

What is waste and how is it created

We can say that waste is a substance or an object that the person who has produced it, wants to get rid of. Often we only see the waste in our trash can, and it does not make us worry, but actually waste is a serious problem for the Planet. Why?
In nature, the concept of waste does not exist. In fact, in biological cycles whatever is discarded by one organism becomes a resource for other living beings so that nothing is wasted and everything is transformed. Dead organisms, animal faeces, or plant remains are defined organic waste and are used as food for particular organisms known as decomposers, that transform the waste products of other living beings into precious resources and are therefore very important.
Up to the last century, man behaved very much like nature. Specially in the farming society, due to the lack of resources everything was utilized and nothing was thrown as long as it was useful. Almost all that was thrown was organic and was disposed of by the decomposers in nature.
The advent of the industrial revolution and the increase in goods brought into society, also determined an increase in the consumption, and therefore an increase in the amount of waste. In fact, in the current social and productive models, after withdrawing material and energy from the environment in order to produce consumer goods, the production of waste follows. Waste is not only organic as in the pre-industrial society, but is also inorganic (as in the case of plastic) and often waste remains in the environment for a long period of time as it is not a source of food for any organism. This implies two things: first of all waste is generated by us during our daily activities, and by the industries that produce the products that we make use of to live, but also there are no cleaners that re-use a large part of our waste, and therefore it accumulates in large quantities. Human beings are trying to find some solutions. Which?