Lecture 2 ML regulations, national and international policies

  • Lecture 2 ML regulations, national and international policies

    • ML regulations, national and international policies Page

      Ever since there was life on Earth, waste has always been there.

      It was produced by all living species: leaf-dropping plants, faecal animals, and people producing the most nuisance waste. With the bio-waste left by nature, Nature has managed well, dealing with them with the help of microbes, bacteria and fungi. It was only the 20th century that brought about an industrial revolution and accompanying  multiplying of waste. It was a response to social demand - creating jobs, raising technical culture, improving living conditions and speeding up urbanization. The increasing number of human clusters has been accompanied by an increase in the number of trash heaps, dumps that have been transformed over time into better organized landfills. However, these quickly became a cumbersome solution as the amount of waste increased.

      Technological advances have made materials more and more difficult to decompose, which was the effect of development of the chemical industry, especially the technology of polymerization of hydrocarbons and silicones. This caused a plastic flood in the world. It turned out that Natura does not have microbes that can deal with non-natural materials. Waste management is currently one of the most serious problems of modern civilization. Hence the legislation imposing on everyone the obligation to reduce the amount of waste produced, segregate and treat waste as secondary raw materials. Hence, the growing number of legal regulations and ever more elaborate laws arising at EU and national level.