That assumption made, they were stunned to realize the response from authorities was completely the opposite. The fact that no law enforcement or regulatory agency has stepped in and assisted these youths in their crusade is dumbfounding, yet ironically, it is somewhat explainable. For the most part, they do not. Despite this lack of support, the students' investigation continued. Facing threats of fines and arrest due to landfill trespassing, they remained a strong unit as they discovered more and more about the solid waste industry.
Garbage disposal is a slimy business.
With larg amounts of money involved, there is bound to be corruption and shady behavior. But what the Middletown High students discovered was that this shadiness was at the expense of the environment. Their film discusses the many environmental problems caused by the illegal dumping, one crucial issue being the contamination of local wells drawing water from beneath the contaminated landfills. Highly toxic materials were dumped into landfills whose intended purposes were strictly for the dumping of local waste. Violation tickets issued to trucks full of illegal waste that tried to dump in Orange and Rockland County landfills were often discarded or rejected by the higher-ups in the garbage hierarchy or swept under the rug by local officials.