Tonnes of hazardous waste thrown out

400-fold increase in hazardous waste generation

Almost 60 kg of hazardous waste is generated a year for every single person in the world - and the amount is increasing. In just one generation the production of man-made chemicals has increased by 40,000% from 1 million to 400 million tons.

What is hazardous waste?

Hazardous waste is defined as waste that poses substantial or potential threats to public health and/or the environment because it is toxic, infectious, radioactive or flammable.

Where does hazardous waste come from?

Hazardous waste is mainly generated by the following sectors:

• Chemical manufacturing
• Manufacturing of petroleum and coal products
• Waste treatment and disposal
• Manufacturing of agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, fertilizer
• Manufacturing of iron and steel

But hazardous waste also comes from products that we use every day, for example, batteries, cosmetics, cleaning products, paints, pharmaceuticals, electronics…

We don’t know enough about how they affect us

Currently only 14% of the chemicals used in the largest volumes have the minimum amount of data publicly available to make an initial basic safety assessment.

But what we do know if not pleasant

The worst types of chemicals from hazardous waste interfere with our hormone systems and can cause cancer, reproductive problems, birth defects or damage the DNA of humans or animals.

In a study of human chemical contamination, DDT and PCBs, two dangerous chemicals banned decades ago, were found in 99 % of the people tested. 

“Women who had breast-fed their babies had lower levels of certain PCBs than men, indicating that they had 'off-loaded' these chemicals on to their babies”.

- WWF: Toxic chemicals are invading our bodies.