Toxic Waste Effects1 essays

Toxic Waste Effects1 essays Canada and all of the developed countries in the world produce some kind of toxic waste(s). It doesn't matter whether it's a chocolate bar wrapper or a canister of highly radioactive plutonium, they're potentially dangerous to us and/or our natural environment unless properly disposed of. Toxic waste is defined as any waste that is hazardous to human health or to our natural environment. According to the Institute of Chemical Waste Management, about 15% of our garbage is classified as toxic, and only 85% (approximately) of that is disposed of properly. The rest is either illegally dumped or accidentally mixed up with non-toxic garbage. That 15% may not seem like a lot, but when you consider the millions of tons of toxic waste that we produce every year, that 15% is enormous. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that we produce one ton of toxic wastes for every single person living in Canada every year. That means that the 15% represents about 4.2 million tons of toxic waste. Toxic wastes which are dumped in improper sites can seep into underground water supplies and contaminate huge areas. If the land that is intoxicated supports plant life, most of the plants and trees will die off. If the area is lived on by humans, it could cause serious illness or death. For example, an area by Niagara Falls (US side) was used during the 1930s by a chemical company to dump it's wastes. Most of them were hazardous, and the containers that held the chemicals later (after the company had gone out of business) began to leak. The chemicals spread for miles killing off plants and causing cancers and deadly diseases in humans. Included in these wastes was a chemical called dioxin... one ounce of it used under the right circumstances was enough to kill off everyone in One of the most popular places to dump toxic wastes is in the oceans. ...