Greek yogurt, apparently, is seriously dangerous - toxic runoff from the whey poses a danger to waterways. And on the opposite side of the classiness-spectrum, Wal-Mart admitted to dumping hazardous waste. Nothing's ever safe, is it?

Wal-Mart has just pled guilty to dumping toxic waste in locations all across the United States. They are to pay $81 million in damages.

Yes, that shi-shi Greek yogurt you eat is just as bad as, well, Wal-Mart - where you could buy Greek yogurt, I suppose. But, you're also likely to find a lot of regrettable fashion.

A new report states that "acid whey", the runoff from manufacturing Greek yogurt, is so toxic for the environment that if it goes into streams and rivers, the water is robbed of so much oxygen that fish and plants die.

Awesome. Apparently, Chobani is so desperate to get rid of acid whey that they pay farmers to haul it away, where it ends up as livestock feed.

For every three or four ounces of milk used, one ounce becomes Greek yogurt and the rest becomes acid whey...so we're not talking about a small amount of stuff left. There's actually more acid whey then yogurt in the end.

And in other ways people are ruining agricultural land across the Midwest, Wal-Mart just pleaded guilty to criminal charges for improperly disposing of hazardous material, including violations of the Clean Water Act. So yeah, Wal-Mart and greek yogurt are both killing the planet-- or at least the Midwest.

A bevy of suits accusing Wal-Mart of illegally disposing of toxic waste were filed across the country-in LA, San Fran, and St. Louis, Mo, but they charge that dumping occurred at "every single Wal-Mart in the country."

 Investigators have found that employees never got proper training, so they threw away hazardous materials in trash bins, poured bleach and other toxic chemicals in drains, and did not document their actions or contain the materials. 

"By improperly handling hazardous waste, pesticides and other materials in violation of federal laws, Wal-Mart put the public and the environment at risk and gained an unfair economic advantage over other companies," said assistant attorney general Ignacia Moreno, who worked on the case with the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.

The dumping occurred up through 2006 at retail stores. The company also had a longstanding policy of transporting waste elsewhere, and Wal-Mart has admitted that they improperly transported hazardous waste to a Missouri recycling center between 2006 and 2008.

A Wal-Mart spokesman said the company has made steps to correct the problem. They've hired a team dedicated to environmental compliance of about 50 employees. There are also new storewide policies to insure that new employees are trained properly.

Wal-Mart was first investigated a decade ago, when an employee was observed pouring bleach down a drain. Since then, extensive litigation and investigation have occurred against the company.