Impacts of Hazardous Waste

The story of Love Canal, New York highlights the impacts of hazardous waste on the community. In the 1950s, a local chemical company placed hazardous waste in 55-gallon steel drums and buried them. Love Canal was an abandoned waterway near Niagara Falls and was thought to be a safe sight to dispose of the waste.  After burial, the company covered the containers with soil and sold the land and a school, playground and new homes were built on the land.


The ground was breached as sewer systems were dug to support the new community, and over time, the steel drums rusted and chemicals were released into the ground.  Throughout the 1960s, people smelled bad odors, children were often sick, and some kids developed burns after playing in the soil. In 1977 a swamp created on the land by heavy rains contained 82 toxic chemicals, 111 of which are suspected of causing cancer. 


Watch the following video:


This incident was instrumental to the passing of the Superfund Act in 1980. This law requires companies be responsible for hazardous chemicals they put into the environment and to pay to clean up polluted sites. Love Canal became a Superfund site in 1983.  


Toxic metals, such as mercury and lead, are especially harmful to humans. Lead was once a common ingredient in paint and gasoline, and has been shown to damage human brains and nervous systems. Mercury is a pollutant that is easily spread around the world. Sources of mercury include volcanic eruptions, coal burning and wastes such as batteries and electronic appliances. 


Source: Impacts of Hazardous Waste. Retrieved from http://www.ck12.org/book/CK-12-Earth-Science-Concepts-For-High-School/r16/section/13.8/ on December 27, 2013. 

Last modified: Wednesday, 29 March 2017, 8:41 AM