When people think of industrial pollution, they generally think of chemical pollution. Chemicals can pollute air, water and soil. In some cases, entire communities are affected, such as in Love Canal, New York. The community of Love Canal was built on land that was once a chemical waste dump. The company that built the dump, the Hooker Chemical Company, capped the waste with what it thought was an impenetrable clay barrier. An explosion breached the barrier, allowing the waste to leach into ground water. The chemicals, called dioxins, were causing a large number of birth defects and miscarriages. The entire community had to be abandoned. In other cases, such as Leadville, Colorado, lead mining and tailings created very high concentrations of lead in the soil. The top layer of residential areas is currently being removed and replaced with uncontaminated soil. Lead can cause learning difficulties and cognition problems in children.

Carbon dioxide, while vital for photosynthesis, is sometimes referred to as pollution, because raised levels of the gas in the atmosphere are affecting the Earth's climate. Disruption of the environment can also highlight the connection between areas of pollution that would normally be classified separately, such as those of water and air. Recent studies have investigated the potential for long-term rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide to cause slight but critical increases in the acidity of ocean waters, and the possible effects of this on marine ecosystems.

About 4 percent of deaths in the United States can be attributed to air pollution, according to the Environmental Science Engineering Program at the Harvard School of Public Health.

"The United Kingdom is less deforested than most countries in Europe. According to history, woodland would have predominated much of the country, but trees such as oak, ash and lime have dominated most forests. On the other hand, 90% of this cover has been lost from past 5,000 years due to the need of firewood, clearance for agriculture, and due to terrible management by humans. Total woodland makes up 2.5% of the land area of Great Britain, since 45% of the ancient and semi natural woodland that existed in 1945, has been lost since that time."

On average, each person in the UK throws away seven times their body weight in rubbish every year.

"The UK is one of the least forested countries of Europe . The average European country has 24% of its land area covered by forests. Deforestation in these areas is leading to destruction all over the country, and if the government, and the society doesn’t do anything about it, chances are that all trees would be damaged and people will die and the world will come to an end."

"Often a misnomer of sorts, not all medical waste is in fact infectious. The U.S. EPA estimates that only 15 percent of the medical waste stream is potentially infectious. The rest of the items are typically office or household wastes such as paper, cardboard and plastic.
Items that are considered infectious waste and have the ability to cause human and environmental harm can include the following:
• Bodily fluid-soaked bandages
• Microbial culture dishes and other glassware
• Discarded surgical gloves and other personal protective equipment
• Discarded surgical instruments
• Discarded needles used to give shots or draw blood
Microbial cultures, stocks and swabs used to inoculate cultures"

"Medical wastes plaguing area beaches are believed to be associated with local laboratories, not hospitals or carters, city officials said.
Two to eight medical labs are involved, city Sanitation Commissioner Brendan Sexton said, adding, "We're very hot on our investigation into suspects mishandling infectious waste found on our beaches."
About 400 pieces of medical debris have been found on city beaches since July 10."

Producing steel from recycled materials saves 75% of the energy needed to make steel from virgin materials. (source: Eco Schools)

Unrelated fact, I know!

The U.S. is the #1 trash-producing country in the world at 1,609 pounds per person per year. This means that 5% of the world's people generate 40% of the world's waste.

About one-third of an average dump is made up of packaging material

"Out of every $10 spent buying things, $1 (10%) goes for packaging that is thrown away. Packaging represents about 65% of household trash. On average, it costs $30 per ton to recycle trash, $50 to send it to the landfill, and $65 to $75 to incinerate it."

"Deforestation figures for UK
Forest Cover Statistics for 2000
 
Total Forest Area (‘000 ha)
2,794
Forest Cover (% of land)
11.6

Road building in the UK has brought a major threat to its woodland. There are many causes behind this, which include lack of protection and essential value given to nature, road building policy, priority of economic interests, and political structures and relations."

"The amount of waste paper buried each year would fill 103,448 double decker buses, which if parked nose to tail would go all the way from London to Milan."

"Each year U.S. factories spew 3 million tons of toxic chemicals into the air, land, and water. That compounds the over one-half billion tons of solid hazardous wastes"

"900 million items of clothing are sent to landfill each year"

"Nitrogen is essential to crops but too much will leak into groundwater and rivers causing nutrient pollution in rivers and oceans and severe human health problems from nitrate pollution"

"The amount of wood and paper we throw away each year is enough to heat 50,000,000 homes for 20 years"

A typical family consumes 182 gallons of soda, 29 gallons of juice, 104 gallons of milk, and 26 gallons of bottled water a year.

"The UK uses over six billion glass bottles and jars each year. It would take you over three and a half thousand years to sing "Six Billion Green Bottles"! (source: Waste Watch)"

"Each ton (2000 pounds) of recycled paper can save 17 trees, 380 gallons of oil, three cubic yards of landfill space, 4000 kilowatts of energy, and 7000 gallons of water. This represents a 64% energy savings, a 58% water savings, and 60 pounds less of air pollution!"

"The highest point in Hamilton County, Ohio (near Cincinnati) is "Mount Rumpke." It is actually a mountain of trash at the Rumpke sanitary landfill towering 1045 ft. above sea level. "

"On average, each one of us produces 4.4 pounds of solid waste each day. This adds up to almost a ton of trash per person, per year."

"A single quart of motor oil, if disposed of improperly, can contaminate up to 2,000,000 gallons of fresh water."

Waste from factories are pumped underground. This waste eventually permeates layers of rock and soil infecting water supplies and contaminating land water. This water may be pumped out of multiple sources, or seeped into many areas.

By the end it's a risk to drink a glass of orange juice in case you get lead poisoning!