Agro-chemicals and their effects
- The chemicals which are used in agriculture are called agro-chemicals. Example- herbicides, fungicides, pesticides.
- Increasing amounts of artificial fertilizers can cause eutrophication.
- Integrated organic farming is a cyclical zero-waste procedure where waste products from one process are cycled in as nutrients for other processes.
Examples-
- Cattle excreta (dung) are used as manure.
- Crop waste is used to create compost, which can be used as a natural fertilizer or can be used to generate natural gas.
Fig. cattle dung used as manure
Radioactive wastes
- Radioactive wastes are those which contain radioactive materials.
- Radiation given off by nuclear waste causes mutations to occur at a very high rate.
- At high doses nuclear radiation is lethal but at lower doses it creates various genetic disorders such as cancer.
- Storage of nuclear waste after pre-treatment done in shielded containers buried within the rocks, about 500 m deep below the earth’s surface.
Fig. shielded containers to store nuclear waste
