Hypodermic Needles on the Shore

During 1987 and 1988, a large amount medical waste and garbage washed up onto a 50 mile stretch of the New Jersey shoreline. Officials tried to determine the source of the waste, and were forced to close all of the beaches, thus diminishing local tourism and economy. The local tourism industry suffered a loss of more than one billion dollars in revenue in that one summer. The origin of the waste was eventually determined to be the Fresh Kills Landfill of Staten Island, New York. The state of New York was forced to pay for the cleanup of the shores along with an additional one million dollars for pollution damages. The Syringe Tide had a lasting impact on the environmentalist movement. The New Jersey Harbor Estuary Program (HEP) founded the Short-Term Floatable Action Plan in response to the waste. The plan established an effective four step process to prevent future waste from collecting on the New Jersey shores, and resulted in the reopening of many beaches to the tourists. In later years, other programs such as the Ocean Dumping Act and the Medical Waste Tracking Act would cite the Syringe Tide as an event that necessitated these acts.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syringe_Tide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Dumping_Act