What Are the Dangers of Toxic Waste?

Everything that is discarded, dumped or emitted from an industrial installation contributes to the waste stream. When waste contains toxic substances or has hazardous properties, it presents a clear danger not only to the environment but also to human health.

What Makes Waste Hazardous?

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency refers to toxic waste as “hazardous waste.” Whether the EPA considers something to be hazardous waste is dependent on whether the components of the waste would be classified as corrosive, ignitable, reactive or toxic, according to the "EPA Fact Flash" on Hazardous Substances and Hazardous Wastes.

Common Products that Contribute to Hazardous Waste

• While many would associate hazardous waste with the disposal of industrial or chemical products, a large number of consumer products contain toxic substances. For example, because of the hazardous substances typically used to make components in electrical and electronic products and batteries, many countries and regions have instituted regulations on the content of these products and measures for their disposal, including the European Union and California.

Chronic Effects on Human Health

• Hazardous waste can pose chronic health hazards, such as cancer, with effects that may appear after prolonged or repeated exposure. The movie "Erin Brockovich," for example, recounted the allegation that drinking water with hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium(VI), was leaching into the drinking water in a southern California town and causing various illnesses.

Acute Effects on Human Health

• Hazardous waste also may pose acute effects with symptoms manifesting immediately upon exposure, according to the "EPA Fact Flash" on Hazardous Substances and Hazardous Waste. Examples of acute effects include poisoning, skin burns and respiratory or eye irritation.

Effects on the Environment

• The "EPA Fact Flash" also advises that many substances in hazardous waste are not only mobile, but also persistent with the potential to leach and amass in soil and local water supplies. Bioaccumulative substances in waste may also climb up the food chain, affecting plants, animals and fish at the site of disposal or contaminated soil and then affecting other organisms that consume these food sources.