Pollution

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For other uses, see Pollution (disambiguation).

For the academic journal, see Environmental Pollution (journal).

Thermal oxidizers purify industrial air flows.

The litter problem on the coast of Guyana, 2010

Pollution is the introduction of contaminantsinto the natural environment that cause adverse change.^[1] Pollution can take the form of chemical substances or energy, such as noise, heat or light. Pollutants, the components of pollution, can be either foreign substances/energies or naturally occurring contaminants. Pollution is often classed as point source or nonpoint source pollution. In 2015, pollution killed 9 million people in the world.^[2][3]

Major forms of pollution include: Air pollution, light pollution, littering, noise pollution, plastic pollution, soil contamination, radioactive contamination, thermal pollution, visual pollution, water pollution.