Biodegradable and
Non-biodegradable Waste
Solid waste we generate can be classified into
two major types:
1. Biodegradable
waste
2. Non-biodegradable
waste
Activity 3: Take two mud pots or glass jars
and fill them up with garden soil. In the first pot, mix wastes such as banana
peel, some vegetable peels and a few tree leaves into the soil. In the second
pot, mix a piece of plastic carry bag, sweet wrapper and metal foil into the
soil.
What happen to the waste
materials placed in both pots? Do you notice a difference between first and
second pot? Observe the changes over two weeks and discuss with your
classmates.
Biodegradable
waste
The term ‘Biodegradable’ is used for
those things that can be easily decomposed by natural agents like water,
oxygen, ultraviolet rays of the sun, micro-organisms, etc.
One can notice that when a dead leaf or a
banana peel is thrown outside,
it is acted upon by several micro-organisms
like bacteria, fungi or small insects in a time period. Biodegradable waste
includes vegetable and fruit peels, leftover food and garden wastes (grass,
leaves, weeds and twigs).
Natural elements like oxygen, water, moisture,
and heat facilitate the decomposition thereby breaking complex organic forms to
simpler units. Decomposed matter eventually mixes or returns back to the soil
and thus the soil is once again nourished with various nutrients and minerals.
Non-biodegradable
waste
Those materials which cannot be broken down or
decomposed into the soil by micro-organisms and natural agents are labeled as non-biodegradable.
These substances consist of plastic materials, metal scraps, aluminum cans and
bottles, etc.
These things are practically immune to the
natural processes and thus cannot be fed upon or broken down even after
thousands of years.
Give some examples for Biodegradable and
Non-biodegradable waste.
Discuss with your teacher and friends.
1. Are animal bones biodegradable ?_____________
2. Are all types of
clothes biodegradable ?_____________
Rani and her garbage
Rani gets home from school. She is hungry. She
eats a banana and a packet of chips. She puts the banana peel and plastic chips
packet into the waste bin. In the waste bin, the waste mixes together and the
banana peel makes the plastic chips packet dirty. The waste bin starts to smell
and Rani’s mother puts the waste outside on the street. The municipality
collects the waste from outside Rani’s house and many other houses in a
tractor. The tractor drives to a big open dump and leaves all mixed wastes there.
Sometimes, there are fires in the open dump.
When waste like Rani’s chips packet burns, unhealthy chemicals pollute the
ecosystem. These chemicals are present in the air we breathe. The leftover ash
from burning waste pollutes the soil.
When it rains, some of the dangerous chemicals
goes into the ground. Some of the rain never reaches the ground as it collects
in the plastic garbage at the dump. Little pools of water let mosquitoes to
breed and they can spread unwanted diseases like dengue and malaria. Cows and
dogs go into the open dump looking for food. As the waste is mixed, many things
that are not good to eat such as plastics, smell like food. The animals get
confused and eat some plastics by accident. This makes them sick.
Rani is a student like you. She does not want
to make animals sick. She does not want to pollute beautiful Town. She does not
like mosquitoes and wishes that no one ever gets sick from them. So Rani takes
this decision "I plant trees and reduce all type of pollution".
Do you want the same as Rani does? Become a
detective. Learn about the 3R's and how you can start to solve these problems.
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