The ecological environment protection of the Yellow River Basin is a huge project, involving many aspects. One of the problems that need to be paid attention to is the serious garbage dumping problem in the mainstream and tributaries of the Yellow River. Even in some places, the garbage has turned rivers into garbage channels. In response to this problem, Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, Secretary-General of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF), also emphasized that garbage dumping problem is also an important part of the Yellow River protection work, and the problem of garbage dumping in the Yellow River Basin should be taken seriously.

Different from the potentially lethal heavy metals, many people think that the garbage along the Yellow River should be able to decompose itself after a period of time. However, it is not so simple. First of all, there are organic or inorganic harmful substances such as heavy metals in the garbage, such as computers, batteries, mobile phones, electrical appliances, etc. We use heavy metals, precious metals, and harmful metals in many places. It doesn't matter when they are still in use. However, when they become garbage in nature, they will become a very serious pollutant with weathering, crushing and continuous infiltration. In addition, there are also organic pollutants in the garbage, which come from plastics, chemicals, washing cosmetics and so on. It is a common phenomenon that heavy metals in these substances exceed the standard, such as lead in lipstick. There are also some common Chinese herbal medicines, which may contain excessive pesticide residues. These substances will be mixed together in the domestic garbage, as well as antibiotics, drugs and so on. Therefore, we should not ignore the importance of garbage. As Zhou Jinfeng said in an interview with CCTV: "when those items become garbage if they go inside of our water source and soil, there will be a very serious potential risk. Therefore, the garbage problem must be taken seriously, must be dealt with seriously, and must not be simply discarded!"

Zhou Jinfeng also noted that large garbage islands formed in the ocean also pose a major threat to marine life. “The garbage islands in the ocean are not thrown into the ocean by people on ships but are mainly carried into the ocean by big rivers. Therefore, whether it pollutes our hometown and the environment around us, or finally ‘flows’ into the ocean, it is still garbage. Even if it is not directly toxic, it will eventually cause serious harm to the environment in the ocean, because it is too much! Therefore, the issue of garbage is one that must be taken seriously in the protection of the Yellow River.”

Zhou Jinfeng believes that the importance of garbage includes several aspects, the most important one or from the source reduction. “We encourage young people to pack as little or no plastic book covers as possible. There is no need to use plastic packaging and produce plastic waste. For instance, if we eat mooncakes, we think the over-packaging of mooncakes is a big problem. Now we buy mooncakes, the mooncake itself only a small piece, but its packaging remains a large pile, these are the plastic garbage. The second is to make full use of resources, to do a better job of classification, and finally to do a harmless treatment, which is very important for the protection of the Yellow River.”

(Photo credit: CBCGDF)

Original Chinese article:

http://www.cbcgdf.org/NewsShow/4854/10718.html

By / Xue Tongtong