Question

Some waste, scrap or by-product materials have little value. In fact, such materials represent liabilities for companies in that the materials require companies to incur significant disposal costs. Alternatively, some companies have historically found “cheap” ways to dispose of such materials. For example, on Friday April 2nd 1993, residents of Brazos County, Texas, U.S.A., stumbled across 19 cans of industrial waste that were scattered along the banks of the Navasota River. The cans were labelled “lacquer thinner” but the actual contents which were leaking into the ground and the river were not immediately known. The cans appeared to have been thrown from a vehicle travelling over on a nearby road. Some cans were heavily dented, some were capped with rags and all of them appeared to be scattered in a random pattern. State and county officials worked most of Saturday April 3rd 1993 cleaning up the site.
Source: Chuck Squatriglia, “Solvent Cans Dumped near Navasota River” Bryan-College Station Eagle (April 4, 1993), p.A9. Courtesy: Bryan-College Station Eagle.

(i)Comment on whether this method of disposing of industrial waste is a “cheap” alternative.
(ii) Briefly discuss the ethical and legal implications of disposing of industrial waste in this manner.
(iii) What actions can people take to reduce these kinds of incidents?
(iv) Ethically, what obligation does the vendor/manufacturer of these industrial materials have to the consumers and society as a whole.

Answer 1

As the information provided in the case study of "Solvent Cans Dumped near Navasota River", the waste that the waste cans are dumped near the river.

i)This method of disposing waste is may be cheap but not the solution to dispose off waste properly. Instead, these cans can be reused that would decrease the waste.

ii) To ensure proper diposing off the waste that adversely affects the land resources and water, different statutes and laws can be implemented by the authorities as a part of leagl implication.

Ethical isues states that the person travelling from there should not throw the garbage and industry should organize other cheap alternatives.

iii) People can reuse the cans.

Alternative cheap solutions to be followed by the industry to dispose off the waste

iv) As these products have a bad implication on society and people as a whole. It is the obligation of manufacturers to switch to decomposable substances so that it does not accumulate and harm the water resources as well as land resources.