PRS3702: The Management Of An Environmental Pollutant

The Management of an Environmental Pollutant
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The Management of an Environmental Pollutant
Fertilizers and pesticides are some of the most common pollutants that affect human beings, animals, and the environment. Although these chemicals have been responsible for the expansion of food production, studies have shown that intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides has resulted in mass pollution (Carvalho, 2017, p.48). Pollution can be defined as the emission of contaminants that damages or causes harm to living things and the environment (Juntti, 2018, p.4). Environmental pollution occurs when the environment is unable to process effectively the contaminants and neutralize them without resulting in functional and structural damage (Bright, 2012). Agricultural pollution originates from agrochemicals that are used in farming, while their pathway includes waterways that end up harming their receptors, who include humans being, the environment, and other living organisms. This paper critically analyzes the management of pesticides and fertilizers and the legislative and environmental policies to manage these pollutants in the context of environmental management systems.
Management of an Environmental Pollutant
Agricultural pollution entails the emission of wastes resulting from the fertilizers and pesticides that farmers use in their farming processes, which eventually harm the natural environment. Studies have shown that agrochemical residuals that remain in the soil act as the main contaminants, which affect the foods, which human beings consume and affect other livings. Contaminants from agricultural industries, also worsen other environmental issues which are related to agricultural activities, and they include landfill disposals, emission of used water that is untreated, air pollution as a result of pesticides, and the toxic wastes that are buried underground (Lake, 2017). The pathways of these pollutants can either be water sources, wastes deposited in landfills, and the toxic materials that are deposited underground. Extensive use of fertilizers and pesticides usually result to degeneration of the environment since the living organisms that are utilized in the growth of crops are unable to function effectively. Receptors of theagrochemical wastes are human beings, the environment, and other living organisms and the reasons why they are affected is that the environment does not properly recycle these wastes. Studies have also shown that some of the fertilizers and pesticides such as DDT cannot be recycled since they contain toxic contaminants.
Studies have shown that human beings have a huge impact on the nitrogen cycle since the extensive use of fertilizers tends to raise the amount of nitrogen that is biologically available in the atmosphere (Lundy, 2017, p.28). In the ecosystem, the main natural cycles include water, carbon, phosphorus, and nitrogen (see Appendix B). Therefore, any agricultural activity that tends to affect the stability of the earth in terms of diversity, efficiency, and adaptability of ecosystems. Therefore, increased use of fertilizers has more than doubled the nitrogen fixation across the world and this has negative impact on algal blooms, eutrophication, runoff, anoxia, and the general biodiversity. Section 34 of the Environmental Protection Act (EPA) 1990 says that every person has a duty of care. This duty applies to individuals who produces, keeps, imports, transport, issues, or treats waste, implying that reasonable steps should be taken to ensure that there is proper management of waste (O’Loughlin, n.d, p.57).
Agricultural chemicals and other wastes usually contribute to adverse health impacts to human beings, death of animals, damage to the environment, and imbalance to the ecosystem, and general degradation of people’s living standards. Major industries like sewage treatment firms and other types of manufacturing and processing organizations have also been responsible for worsening the impact of agricultural pollution (Ngidlo, 2013, p.782). This is because when these manures or organic wastes are not effectively absorbed in the soil, they end up harming the environment (Aktar, Sengupta & Chowdhury, 2009). In addition, evidence indicates agrochemicals also contribute to material wastes, contaminated residuals, effluents, toxic byproducts, chemical consumer agents, and all pollution, which consequently tend up polluting the environment. Studies have shown that environmentally conscious industries significantly reduce their contribution to the amount of waste they emit in the environment (Mayntz, 2016). Agricultural wastes result to water pollution and contamination of the environment. Agrochemicals also have negative health impacts to human beings, including waterborne diseases, allergies and skin rashes, cancers, and harming the central nervous system. Studies show that environmental pollution not only harms the living species, but also leads to the endangerment and extinction of some species.
Fertilizers and pesticides have also been responsible for the disruption of the natural cycle since they not only destroy the fertility of the soil, but they also harm the water sources. Harmful agrochemicals that are deposited in the soil tend to contaminate the soil and consequently harm the well-being of people and other living things (Morakinyo,Adeboye, Awogbuy, 2013, p.774). Studies have shown that the life cycle continues when the living organisms are unable to process the nutrients that are in the soil because of the huge amount of agrochemicals that are deposited in the soil.
Agricultural Pollution Prevention Policy and Legislation
Most industries that produce pesticides generate materials that are hazardous to the environment. The role of the environmental protection (EPA) of 1990 is to regulate the production of hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The legislation ensures that wastes are managed responsibly to protect the environment and human health. EPA regulates the generators of hazardous waste and the scale at which they can be produced by a facility or a business in a calendar month. Use of pesticides and fertilizers can affect the environment and human beings in significant ways. If the purpose of pesticides is not necessary, it can result in pests becoming more resistant to pesticide and lead to wastage of money. It is necessary to note that the presence of a disease, weed, or pest does not necessarily qualify for the use of pesticides and fertilizers (Smith, 2017, p.212). That is why the government is concerned with the use of pesticides and have established laws that regulate its use.
In the United Kingdom, the environmental protection agency is tasked with the licensing of complex or large ind...