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70 Examples of Pollution

John Spacey, July 10, 2021

Pollution is the introduction of harmful materials into the environment. This is a concern where it is produced at great scale due to processes that involve billions of people such as energy production, transportation, manufacturing, mining, agriculture, construction and consumer products. These processes are constantly innovated such that new types of pollution can quickly emerge. There is often a large lag between the release of novel pollution at scale and development of knowledge related to its impact. The following are common types of pollution.

Agricultural Air Pollution	Agricultural Fires
Agricultural Runoff	Animal Waste
Aviation Emissions	Bilge Water From Ships
Building Wastewater	Chemical Plant Emissions
Chemical Plant Wastewater	Chemical Spills
Construction Emissions	Construction Waste
Customer Product Waste	Electromagnetic Fields
Environmental Impact of War	Fertilizer Runoff
Fires	Firewater
Fishing Debris	Fuel Combustion
Fungicides	Gas Venting and Flaring
Herbicides	Household Wastewater
Indoor Air Pollution	Industrial Accidents
Insecticides	Landfill Fires
Light Pollution	Litter
Manufacturing Emissions	Manufacturing Wastewater
Marine Paint	Microplastics
Military Pollution	Mining Waste
Nanoparticles	Noise Pollution
Nuclear Waste	Oil Extraction Wastewater
Oil Refinery Emissions	Oil Refinery Wastewater
Oil Spills	Pesticides
Pharmaceutical Pollution	Plastic Degradation
Plastic Waste	Power Plant Emissions
Radioactive Contamination	Road Debris
Rocket Emissions	Sandstorms
Sewage	Ship Blackwater
Ship Exhaust	Ship Greywater
Shipping Accidents	Slash & Burn Farming
Smoking	Soil Conditioners
Soil Contamination	Space Junk
Thermal Pollution	Toxic Chemicals in Consumer Products
Vehicle Emissions	Volatile Organic Compounds
Volcanic Eruptions	Waste Incineration
Waste Oil	Wood Burning

The list above isn't exhaustive.

Nanoparticles such as silver nanoparticles are included in a broad range of consumer products such as cleaning products and cosmetics and end up in water and air.

Pollution is not the only type of environmental issue.

Pollution is a complex problem that can be addressed with elegant solutions such as waste is food and a circular economy.

Overview: Pollution
Type	Environmental Issues
Definition (1)	The introduction of harmful materials into the environment.
Definition (2)	The introduction of harmful materials or effects into the environment.
Related Concepts	Environmental Issues » Elegant » Waste Is Food » Circular Economy »