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Developed countries produce much more solid wastes than in developing countries, and they
waste more of synthetic materials, which take longer to decompose than biodegradable waste
materials of developing countries.
Do you know what the words “developed countries” and “developing countries” mean?
Give examples of developed countries:
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Give examples of developing countries:
_____________________________________________________
What are the major Muslim countries in general? Mark your answer:
Developing countries
Developed countries
Why synthetic materials are not as wildly used in developing countries? What are these synthetic
materials?
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Solid waste are usually buried in landfills, but landfills quickly become overfilled and
usually contaminate air, soil, and water because of leakage.
Incineration, or burning, of waste reduces the volume of solid waste, but produces dense
ashen wastes full of dangerous, hazardous materials such as heavy metals and toxic compounds.
Another way of getting rid of waste is composting. Composting is the act of using
natural processes such as making a pile of organic materials in your garden and airing it now and
then. When decomposed, the product can be used as natural fertilizer.
Recycling, reducing and reusing materials that take longer to decompose has become
an important task of community life in many developed countries where people are sensitive to
landfill and incineration problems and become more conscious of pollution around them.
Over one-fifth of the municipal solid waste produced in the United States would be now
recycled. But developing countries are becoming more and more sensitive to the problems
because of epidemics and sanity concerns. Moreover, people in these countries are very poor and
try to make a living by recycling materials. For instance, many Asian countries have organized
waste-pickers that comb streets and dumps for items such as plastics they can use or resell.
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Nowadays the challenge is not to stop the waste since it has become almost impossible to educate
people and industries in that sense, but to make products easier to reuse in order to reduce the
high costs of environmental pollution.
Hazardous Waste are products non-degradable; they are toxic chemicals and flammable
or radioactive substances, including industrial wastes from chemical plants or nuclear reactors,
agricultural wastes such as pesticides and fertilizers, medical wastes, and household hazardous
wastes such as toxic paints and solvents. The United States generates 240 million metric tons of
hazardous wastes each year.
During many years, most hazardous wastes were legally dumped in solid waste landfills, buried,
or dumped into lakes, rivers, and oceans. Legal regulations now restrict them.
Cleaning the 10,000 abandoned hazardous waste dumps in the US could take 50 years and cost
$100 billion.
As the towns grow more numerous and bigger, and more people use more machines,
noise pollution has become a major problem in urban areas.
Noise, such as that produced by airplanes, traffic, or industrial machinery, is considered a form of
pollution. Noise pollution is at its worst in densely populated areas. It can cause hearing loss,
stress, high blood pressure, sleep loss, distraction, and lost productivity.
Most humans can hear sounds between 20 and 20,000 hertz, while dogs can hear high-pitched
sounds up to 50,000 hertz.
High-frequency sounds are really annoying to humans, even dangerous.
Measured in decibels, noise intensity can range from zero, the quietest sound the human ear can
detect, to over 160 decibels. A conversation reaches 40 decibels; a rock concert, 100 decibels; a
jet, 110 decibels. The threshold for pain, tissue damage, and potential hearing loss in humans is
120 decibels. A person who is affected by hearing problems can loose his/her balance and spoil
his/ her life greatly. Modern music, especially heavy metal music, and modern appliances such as
car audio or walkman make the problem very hard to solve. As Muslims, we should restrain from
music as music is not recommended in Islam and walk away from the setting where music takes
place since these settings are often linked with sinful acts. Not only the ear is in danger, but the
promiscuity in concerts between men and women is not desirable; half-naked bodies dancing
immodestly on videos, seducing are even more dangerous for the imagination of young
adolescents, and so on and so forth.
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