Toxic Waste

Home > History by Field > Environmental justice history > Toxic Waste

Waste materials that are hazardous to human health and the environment, often disposed of in communities of color and low-income areas.

Industrialization: The growth of industries and factories, and the resulting increase in waste and pollution.
Pollution: The release of harmful substances into the environment, including air, water, and soil pollution.
Hazardous waste: Waste that is toxic, flammable, explosive, or otherwise dangerous to human health and the environment.
Toxic substances: Chemicals and other substances that are harmful to human health and the environment.
Environmental justice: The movement to ensure that all communities have equal access to a safe and healthy environment.
Environmental racism: The disproportionate impact of environmental pollution and hazards on communities of color.
Superfund sites: Sites contaminated with hazardous waste that require long-term cleanup and management.
Love Canal: A community in New York that became a national symbol of environmental injustice and toxic waste.
Environmental legislation: Laws and regulations designed to protect the environment and public health.
Environmental activism: The movement to promote environmental conservation and protect the environment from harmful practices.
Industrial Waste: This includes waste produced by industries such as chemicals, petrochemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, and pharmaceuticals.
Household Hazardous Waste: This includes waste generated by households such as electronics, batteries, cleaning products, and beauty products.
Medical Waste: This includes waste generated by healthcare facilities such as needles, syringes, medical gloves, and laboratory waste.
Radioactive Waste: This includes waste generated by nuclear power plants, research facilities, and hospitals.
Mining Waste: This includes waste generated by mining activities such as tailings, slag, and dust.
Agricultural Waste: This includes waste generated by farms such as pesticides, fertilizers, and animal waste.
Chemical Waste: This includes toxic chemicals that are hazardous to human health and the environment, such as PCBs, dioxins, and mercury.
"Environmental racism, ecological racism or ecological apartheid is a form of institutional racism leading to landfills, incinerators, and hazardous waste disposal being disproportionately placed in communities of color."
"It is also associated with extractivism, which places the environmental burdens of mining, oil extraction, and industrial agriculture upon indigenous peoples and poorer nations largely inhabited by people of color."
"Response to environmental racism has contributed to the environmental justice movement, which developed in the United States and abroad throughout the 1970s and 1980s."
"Environmental racism may disadvantage minority groups or numerical majorities, as in South Africa where apartheid had debilitating environmental impacts on Black people."
"Internationally, trade in global waste disadvantages global majorities in poorer countries largely inhabited by people of color."
"It also applies to the particular vulnerability of indigenous groups to environmental pollution."
"Environmental racism is a form of institutional racism, which has led to the disproportionate disposal of hazardous waste in communities of colour in Russia."
"Environmental racism is a type of inequality where people in Communities of Color and other low-income communities face a disproportionate risk of exposure to pollution and related health conditions."
"landfills, incinerators, and hazardous waste disposal being disproportionately placed in communities of color."
"Extractivism places the environmental burdens of mining, oil extraction, and industrial agriculture upon indigenous peoples and poorer nations largely inhabited by people of color."
"The environmental justice movement developed in the United States and abroad throughout the 1970s and 1980s."
"Trade in global waste disadvantages global majorities in poorer countries largely inhabited by people of color."
"Environmental racism is a form of institutional racism, which has led to the disproportionate disposal of hazardous waste in communities of colour in Russia."
"Environmental racism may disadvantage minority groups or numerical majorities."
"Environmental racism may disadvantage minority groups or numerical majorities, as in South Africa where apartheid had debilitating environmental impacts on Black people."
"Extractivism, institutional racism, and global waste trade are among the factors contributing to environmental racism."
"The environmental justice movement aims to combat and address the inequalities and injustices caused by environmental racism."
"The environmental burdens of mining, oil extraction, and industrial agriculture are placed upon indigenous peoples."
"People in communities of color and low-income communities face a disproportionate risk of exposure to pollution and related health conditions due to environmental racism."
"Communities of color, indigenous peoples, and low-income communities are often the most affected by environmental racism."