Toxic waste

Toxic waste is a hazardous material that is the byproduct of industry, agriculture, manufacturing, or consumer goods use. It can harm living things, including humans, plants, and animals, or pollute the environment. It can come in the form of liquids, solids, or gases. Substances found in toxic waste are harmful for several reasons, such as containing heavy metals, radiation, pathogens, or poisonous chemicals. Since this waste is unwanted and not useful for any purpose, disposal and management are public health concerns. As consumer demand increases for electronics and other goods that can produce toxic waste during the manufacturing process or after disposal, the issue of management and reduction is critical.

Background

While human civilization has, to some degree, always generated unwanted waste through the consumption of resources, excessive waste only became an issue once people began to live in villages, towns, and cities in larger concentrations. The first known landfills were made about 3000 BCE by digging holes in the ground to bury refuse in Knossos, Crete. About 500 BCE, the Greek city of Athens instituted the first known waste regulations.

Toxic waste became much more abundant following the industrial revolution of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Many European cities had for centuries been plagued by residential overcrowding and refuse cluttering the streets. Nineteenth-century manufacturing and larger-scale agricultural practices only further contributed to the problem with more noxious types of waste. After 1842, when a report in England linked household waste and raw sewage to disease, sanitation measures and governmental regulations became more important in urban planning.

In the United States, most waste management involved removing any unwanted materials from cities or factories by dumping or burying them in an out-of-the-way place or directing them to nearby oceans, lakes, or waterways. However, as the understanding of the toxicity of chemicals and other materials increased during the twentieth century, the management practices of toxic waste disposal began to evolve.

By the 1960s, regulated and maintained landfills became a solution that allowed waste to be disposed of with the least harm to people or the environment. In the 1970s, hazardous waste practices gained the attention of the public as health concerns when environmental consequences became apparent at disposal sites. International organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations (UN), and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), attempted to address the situation by establishing definitions, classifications, and guidelines regarding collection, transportation, and disposal. International organizations further helped to influence governments, especially those in the most industrialized nations, to create and enforce regulations, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States, which has regulated toxic waste since 1976.

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), signed in 1976, gave the EPA a framework for regulating hazardous waste from generation through disposal. Media coverage of toxic waste prevalence and related disasters also encouraged public awareness of the presence of toxic waste and support for regulation. For example, .  in 1980, an explosion and release of toxic gases at an abandoned waste disposal facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, led to public protests, leading to the passing of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) the same year. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, further attention was given to the growing problem of manufacturing and disposing of consumable goods, along with agricultural pesticide use. Pressure on lawmakers, industry, and manufacturing increased to reduce the use of harmful materials and investigate better disposal methods.

Overview

Many of the things used by people every day result in by-products that can be considered toxic waste. Among them are batteries, cell phones, computer equipment, and paint. Food is commonly grown with the use of pesticides that remain in trace amounts, and mercury and lead in the environment are absorbed by fish and other wildlife and eaten as food by humans. Healthcare facilities and laboratories generate tons of potentially contaminated waste. Manufacturing, construction, and automotive industries also contribute significant amounts of potentially harmful waste. The healthcare sector also contributes significantly: the WHO estimated in 2024 that about 85 percent of the healthcare waste is general, nonhazardous waste, while the remaining 15 percent is hazardous and may be infectious, chemical, or radioactive. To aid in appropriate disposal, international and governmental organizations have created guidelines and regulations to identify and classify these substances to determine which waste is nonhazardous and which is toxic.

The UN has an environmental component, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), which has identified eleven major substances that pose a serious risk: arsenic, asbestos, cadmium, clinical waste, cyanide, lead, mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and strong acids and alkalis. The RCRA regulates these wastes according to their potential for harm. Reactive wastes are unstable and can cause explosions if heated, compressed, or exposed to air or water. Ignitables are combustible and have low flash points, which easily cause fires, and corrosives are acids or alkali liquids that can easily corrode metal containers.

As technology has advanced and the cost of production has decreased, e-waste or waste from electrical and electronic equipment has greatly increased on a global scale. This is a problem, especially in developing countries that may not have effective and safe options in place for disposal. To tackle this challenge, the new Basel Convention rules, from 2025, required countries to obtain official permission before shipping any kind of e-waste—whether hazardous or not—across international borders for recycling or disposal. In addition, toxic waste from developed countries is often shipped to less developed nations that do not have stringent regulations for inexpensive disposal. The UN has been working to strengthen mandates and raise awareness about the hazards of toxic waste dumping in less affluent nations. The UN and other international organizations seek to implement environmentally sound practices that reduce the overall generation and improve the handling and management of toxic waste, all while holding accountable nations that allow illicit industrial toxic waste dumping.

Governmental agencies, such as the EPA, regulate the handling and disposal of toxic waste. While some toxic waste can be safely placed in a landfill, incinerated, or recycled, special facilities are used to permanently contain toxic waste and prevent it from escaping into the environment. These facilities often specialize in a certain classification of toxic waste, such as heavy metals or radioactive materials, and may treat the waste or place it in a stable medium using sealed, impenetrable, or noncorrosive containers before placing it in the ground or a secure storage area. Initiatives and special projects by governmental agencies or environmental groups also address public education, compliance issues, and the redevelopment of toxic waste disposal sites into green spaces.

The EPA has continued modernizing hazardous waste tracking through its e-Manifest system, including 2024 regulatory amendments and a 2026 proposal to phase out paper manifests in favor of a fully electronic system. In 2025, governments established a new intergovernmental Science-Policy panel on Chemicals, Waste, and Pollution, hosted by UNEP, to provide authoritative scientific advice for global chemicals and waste management.

Bibliography

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