Economic Definition of pollution. Defined.
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Term pollution Definition: Any waste that imposes an opportunity cost when it's returned to the natural environment. Pollution is one of the more prevalent examples of an externality cost and market failure. Examples include, but by no means are limited to, car exhaust, municipal sewage, industrial waste, and agricultural chemical runoff from farms. Pollution waste can be classified as degradable, persistent, or nondegradable, depending on how easily it can be broken down into nonharmful form by the natural environment. Pollution problems can never be eliminated, but they can be handled with efficiency if the amount of pollution is such that the cost of damages is the same as the cost of cleanup.
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