Toxic Waste



Toxic waste is chemical waste material capable of causing illness or death by way of environmental pollution. It is encountered in several forms throughout the wastelands following the Great War.

Background
Before the war, hazardous materials were created as byproducts of research and industry. Companies chose to dispose of such waste in a variety of ways, from storage in containment barrels, burying, concealing within caves, or dumping into waterways.

Due to the substantial impact such disposal methods could cause to the environment, regulatory measures were put in place and simultaneously circumvented by the companies under scrutiny, such as with the Red Rocket truck stop, who dumped toxic waste under their facility while winning an award for waste reduction. Another example being situated at the Mass Fusion containment shed, where a hazardous material inspector arrived unannounced to check the operation, where toxic waste was being secretly dumped into Lake Quannapowitt despite Mass Fusion motto being "...the leader in the safe handling and disposal of radioactive waste."

The need for secure waste storage was a significant one, with the Department of Energy's 10,000 Years Initiative mitigation program, with the aim of providing secure locations to dispose of waste products while also conveying to future inhabitants the dangers the waste posed to life.

Characteristics
Toxic materials are poisonous byproducts created by industries such as manufacturing, farming, and research which may contain heavy metals, radiation, dangerous pathogens, or other hazardous toxins. Some instances of waste exist in the environment, collecting in pools or bodies of water, while others are unearthed having been previously buried, or stored within barrels that have decayed to the point of spilling into the surrounding area. Some variations of toxic waste are green or yellow in color, with wisps of similarly-colored particulate floating in the air.

Effects on creatures
Toxic waste can be highly irradiated, dangerous to living creatures, and plant life. Such waste can cause harmful or even fatal genetic modifications. Protective equipment and clothing can be used to avoid damage caused by exposure, such as advanced radiation suits, rubber boots, and hazmat suits. Some animals, already mutated, further mutate due to exposure to toxic waste.

Locations

 * Scout Leader Pompy at Kiddie Corner cabins requests help in finding, cleaning up, and storing several toxic mutagenic waste spills around Appalachia. Possible spills are located in Grafton, at Hemlock Holes, in the toxic dried lakebed, and within the Willard Corporate Housing complex.
 * Toxic waste can be found freely flowing in the ruins of Los Angeles, acting as an impassable moat for the Gun Runners fortress.
 * Toxic caves, containing leaking barrels of waste, northwest of Klamath Falls, Oregon.
 * Toxic waste dump
 * Federal disposal field HZ-21
 * Old nuclear test site
 * Toxic dump site
 * Vault 34
 * Swan's Pond
 * Powder Ganger camp west
 * Toxic pond and wreckage
 * Rock Creek caverns
 * Yucca Mountain

Appearances
Toxic waste appears throughout the Fallout series.