other potential damage costs include losses resulting from decreases in tourism due to polluted beaches and losses incurred through damage to fisheries former dumpsites particularly those that have received hazardous waste are a major category of contaminated site however the evidence suggests that in a middle or lowincome city the costs to society and the economy are perhaps times what sound solid waste management swm would cost per capita it is dramatically cheaper to manage waste now in an environmentally sound manner than to clean up in future years the sins of the past