Pollution

Pollution is a character in Amazon series Good Omens and is one of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They took over from Pestilence, after he retired in 1936.

"Saturday Morning Funtime"
Pollution quietly marvels at a river full of boxes and garbage. The International Express delivery person walks up to them with a package, asks them to sign, and takes off. Pollution opens the box and pulls out the crown after dropping the box into the river. The crown goes from white/transparent to black in their hands and they put it on their head.

"The Doomsday Option"
Pollution meets up with the other three Horse-people: War, Famine, and Death. They ride from the restaurant to the Tadfield Airbase where they sneak in under the guise of a "Surprise Inspection".

Instead of inspecting, they incapacitate everyone in the communications lab, and infect the world-wide electrical grid, spreading the seeds of a nuclear extinction. When they have completed their task, the Horse-people leave the lab, and walk out to meet Adam and the Them on the tarmac.

"The Very Last Day of the Rest of Their Lives"
After Aziraphale (in Madame Tracy), Crowley, and Sgt. Shadwell show up, the Them then proceed to stand up to the Horse-people.

Pollution is the second to be defeated when Brian picks up the flaming sword, announces "I believe in a clean world!" and stabs them. Pollution dissolves into black goo.

Personality
Pollution is shown to be materialistic and tends to enjoy things they think look nice. They also enjoy their work, seeing defilement as lovely. This is seen in the scene that introduces them in Saturday Morning Funtime, as they sit and view a river covered in pollution, noting that it is "... just so damn beautiful". When the post man delivers the crown to them, they eagerly pick it up and smile. When Pollution holds up the crown, it goes from white to black before they put it on.

Quotes

 * "It's just so... damn beautiful." - "Saturday Morning Funtime"
 * "We're in business." - "The Doomsday Option"

Notes and trivia

 * Pollution's item of power is the crown, which is darkened by their power with a coating of grime.
 * Pollution has had "Lots of interesting jobs in lots of interesting places"; they are credited with helping to design the Petrol engine, plastics, and high-tech weed killers.
 * Everywhere they go, they leave a trail of litter.
 * When Pollution signs their name to the postman's board, the pen springs a leak, causing ink to gush over the paper.
 * Author Neil Gaiman has long been aware of non-binary gender, and included a similar character in the pantheon he created for his Sandman comics series.
 * The 1930s, in which Pollution replaced Pestilence, were an era of innovation in both antibiotics and plastics. The discovery of penicillin would drastically reduce epidemics, and the invention of many new types of plastics, like polystyrene, polyethylene and nylon, would herald the start of widespread plastic pollution.