By 1890 fears in the US were arising from the theory of disease about carelessly disposed human waste being contaminated and infectious.

Along with the 2,700 barrels of wastes contaminated with dioxin, tens of thousands more barrels remain to be dug up and disposed.

If you need to store waste solvents, or wastes contaminated with solvents (eg cleaning cloths), keep them in sealed containers.

If waste contaminated with plutonium exceeds 1,600 cubic yards, Rocky Flats must halt production under an agreement between the State of Colorado and the Energy Department.

Most businesses produce some hazardous waste, such as fluorescent tubes, computer monitors, cleaning and degreasing solvents, wastes contaminated with metals or chemicals.

The immediate crisis involves wastes contaminated with plutonium from the Rocky Flats plant on the outskirts of Denver.

A laboratory will allow technicians to monitor the waste contaminated by the cesium, which is packed in 6,000 metal barrels, encased in concrete and buried underground.

At the plant where the dioxin originated, 1000 litres of waste contaminated with up to 300 000 parts per billion of dioxin sat in a tank.

Under these conditions, technical fat waste contaminated with dioxins was able to find its way into the feed and foodstuffs chain.

The waste ultimately spread and contaminated 75 acres of land.