The problem existing in near-Earth orbit is space debris
129 million fragments are currently flying around our planet in orbit. Almost 34,000 or so, of which are 10 cm wide.
At the height of the ISS orbit, this debris moves around the Earth more than 7 km/sec — this is so fast that a collision with even a tiny fragment can put an end to the functioning of the ISS scientific station.
Note this hole in the outer skin of the ISS, obtained from a collision with an object the size of a grain of sand. It looks like just a collision with a grain of sand, but what if with 10 centimeter garbage?
The collision energy is due to the high velocity of the space object.