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What is pollution?

Pollution is the contamination of an ecosystem by factors that are harmful for the equilibrium of its biotic or abiotic constituents.

Is pollution always caused by humans?

In most cases pollution is caused by the human activity. Other species and some abiotic factors however can also pollute an ecosystem. For example, the red tide is created by proliferation of some algae and the volcano dust is a consequence of the internal activity of the planet.

Why is waste considered one of the major environmental problems?

The environmental problem concerning waste worsens with the industrial development and the global growth of consumption societies in the XX and XXI centuries, factors that cause the immense volume of residuals produced by mankind in the last decades. The increased waste generation raises the issue about what to do with waste since nature is not able to degrade and resorb with adequate speed and efficiency most part of the residuals. Therefore the several kinds of waste accumulate, polluting the environment and creating danger to humans and nature. (The present destination of waste has been public waste depositories where the waste volume is compressed and buried underground, an environmentally risky method. Other destination has been incineration, with the grave inconvenient of causing air pollution.)