Talk:Toxic waste

I completely disagree. Toxicity of waste relates to its potential to be toxic to living organisms. Hazardous waste refers to wastes that may be hazardous in some way - eg physicluor risk of fire or injury. --Alex 12:48, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

The distinction between industrial, chemical, and toxic waste is splitting hairs and confusing for users. Users are very surprised to find almost no info in Wikipedia on this crucial topic; all three should redirect to hazardous waste. --Espoo 13:49, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

article too 'americanized'

Needs more information about definitions, management, etc. internationally, only covers USA specifically, and certain parts need to be rewritten due to this (eg. ' ..cannot create new PCBs here in America.. ' ) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.211.120.109 (talk) 13:41, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

toxic waste

Toxic wastes are poisonous materials that are being dumped into the ocean. It affects marine life and plants but humans, too. How? By, food chain. The fish could eat some kind of toxic waste and we could end up eating that fish. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 201.240.196.224 (talk • contribs)

reverted text

Since recent reversions have removed wikification, even introducing an unreferenced footnote, I have reverted to last wikilinked/categorized version. I am placing the text here so that it can be properly formatted and referenced before restoration:

Toxic waste From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Toxic waste is waste material, often in chemical form, that can cause death or injury to living creatures. It usually is the product of industry or commerce, but comes also from residential use, agriculture, the military, medical facilities, radioactive sources, and light industry, such as dry cleaning establishments. As with many pollution problems, toxic waste began to be a significant issue during the industrial revolution. The term is often used interchangeably with “hazardous waste,” or discarded material that can pose a long-term risk to health or environment. Toxins can be released into air, water, or land.

Toxic waste can pollute the natural environment and contaminate groundwater. Love Canal is a famous incident in which homes and schools were built near an area where toxic waste had been dumped, causing epidemic health problems. A number of toxic substances that humans encounter regularly may pose serious health risks. Pesticide residues on vegetable crops, mercury in fish, and many industrially produced chemicals may cause cancer, birth defects, genetic mutations, or death. Many chemicals have been found to mimic estrogen, the hormone that controls the development of the female reproductive system in a large number of animal species. Preliminary results indicate that these chemicals, in trace amounts, may disrupt development and lead to a host of serious problems in both males and females. These range from infertility, increased mortality of offspring and disruptions of bodily functions (such as slowing heart rates, or breathing rates) to cold/flu like symptoms (such as vomiting, diarrhea and swelling) and behavioral changes (such as depression, tiredness and behavior confusion).

Toxic waste can refer to: Toxic waste, the environmental concern Toxic Waste, the sour confectionery Toxic Waste, the rock group

Put simply, a Hazardous waste is waste that poses substantial or potential threats to public health or the environment and generally exhibits one or more of these characteristics:

ignitable (i.e. flammable) oxidizing corrosivity toxic eco-toxic

U.S. Environmental Laws (see RCRA) additionally describe a "hazardous waste" as a waste (usually a solid waste) that has the potential to: cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality (death) or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible illness; or pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environemnt when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of , or other wise managed.

Radioactive waste are waste types containing radioactive chemical elements that do not have a practical purpose. It is sometimes the product of a nuclear process, such as nuclear fission. However, other industries not directly connected to the nuclear industry can produce large quantities of radioactive waste. For instance, over the past 20 years it is estimated that just the oil-producing endeavors of the US have accumulated 8 million tons of radioactive wastes.[1] The majority of radioactive waste is "low-level waste", meaning it has low levels of radioactivity per mass or volume. This type of waste often consists of used protective clothing, which is only slightly contaminated but still dangerous in case of radioactive contamination of a human body through ingestion, inhalation, absorption, or injection.

--Moonriddengirl 00:10, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

Emasculated article

I don't see any discussion of why the above text was removed, nor do the edit descriptions explain why. For now I have just added an Expert tag and the text:

Toxic waste has been implicated in causing cancer, as when a cluster of the rare blood cancer Polycythemia vera was found around a toxic site in northeast Pennsylvania in 2008. < ref name="NEPennsylvania">MICHAEL RUBINKAM (2008). "Cancer cluster confirmed in northeast Pennsylvania". Associated Press.< /ref>

Simesa (talk) 09:54, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

What color is toxic waste?

Nowhere in the article does it mention some of the key physical characteristics of toxic waste. Or are there too many kinds to make broad statements like those would be? Raxicoricofallapatorius (talk) 04:55, 12 June 2011 (UTC)