Greenpeace found and contained 69 corroding barrels of toxic dioxin waste on the banks of Homebush Bay, adjacent to the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games site. The barrels contained alarming levels of dioxin, some 60 times higher than contamination produced by the major accident at Seveso, Italy in 1976. The area across from the Olympic Park is one of the five worst dioxin waste spots in the world. The waste is the toxic legacy of chemical factories Union Carbide and ICI (now Orica), which operated in the area between 1957-1978.
Sydney gained the 2000 Olympics with a strong campaign on environmental issues, earning it the title "Green Games."