1. Involve local communities in land and soil management

As with virtually all kinds of conservation, soil management is most effective when it involves governments, companies, and the local community. Protecting our precious land resources demands dedicated efforts and buy-in from all levels of society.

Therefore, it is essential to educate individuals and groups about the importance of soil conservation and what they should do to prevent land pollution. Equally, governments must listen to the voices of the local community and take the time to hear their concerns and ideas about land management.

Educating the community about the importance of soil management is an essential step in preventing pollution

People often have unique on-the-ground insights that can be invaluable for legislators and help them to create better laws and guidelines. Additionally, communities will be more likely to comply with the rules if they are created with their needs in mind.

2. Improve legislation on soil pollution control and prevention

Unfortunately, there need to be stronger laws in the US and elsewhere to prevent soil pollution. While companies, organizations, and communities are responsible for protecting the natural environment, the best way to ensure that they do this is through strict legislation.

Given the diverse causes of soil pollution, preventing it requires a range of laws and guidelines across various areas and at the state, federal, and international level.

These areas could include:

• Tighter controls on the transport, storage, and use of hazardous substances
• Permanent solutions for safe, long-term storage of nuclear waste
• Restrictions on the use of chemical pesticides and agriculture
• Incentives for organic farmers
• Bans on mining practices that release toxic dust or liquids into the environment
• Encouraging vertical cities to limit urban sprawl
• Laws to avoid food wastage, such as incentivizing companies to donate unneeded food through tax breaks
• A price on carbon to encourage industry to move away from fossil fuels and towards renewables

3. Adopt waste-to-energy practices

Waste-to-energy (WtE) is, in essence, turning trash into power. More specifically, it involves using waste treatment processes to generate energy, whether in the form of electricity, steam, heat, or fuels like diesel.

Industry can adopt WtE to power their facilities and municipalities can use it to run power stations that feed the grid 24 hours a day, just like a normal power plant, but completely clean, with no greenhouse gas emissions.

Waste-to-energy plants can use different types of trash and convert it into fuel

Many different types of waste can be used as fuel, including municipal solid waste (MSW), semi-solid effluents from industry, liquids such as domestic sewage, and gasses like refinery exhaust fumes.

The most common type of waste used in WtE is MSW, which represents an abundant and continual supply of fuel. Furthermore, it helps to prevent soil pollution by diverting solid waste from landfills, where it could disperse contaminants into the environment.

4. Conduct research on the soil environment quality baseline

In order to protect the health of the soil environment, it’s important to know where we stand. Therefore, one of the key steps in preventing soil pollution is to conduct research to get a clear picture of the current condition and quality of the soil.

Ground quality surveys give us a baseline that we can use to identify changes as early as possible and take the necessary action. This also means conducting regular surveys to monitor the situation and address any issues.

This work could be commissioned by local authorities, non-government organizations, or by establishing community-based monitoring networks of the quality of the soil environment. Strong networks with a suitable data-sharing process will make it easier to develop quick and effective solutions when problems emerge.