CBSE Class 10 Science 2017 · Paper 531 · Question 6

(1) The domestic waste decomposing in the open gives off a foul smell and becomes a breeding ground for houseflies, cockroaches and rats. Flies carry germs from it to uncovered food, spreading diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea to the residents and their neighbours. (2) Plastic bottles and wrappers are non-biodegradable, so they stay in the lanes for a very long time. They choke the drains, so that dirty water overflows and stagnates, and they hold rainwater in which mosquitoes breed, spreading diseases such as malaria and dengue through the colony; burning them in the open gives off harmful gases. Since these carriers of disease and the blocked drains can affect any house in the colony, careless disposal of waste harms the residents’ own health as well as the health of the community.