Cadmium waste streams from the industries mainly end up in soils. The causes of these waste streams are for instance zinc production, phosphate ore implication and bio industrial manure. Cadmium waste streams may also enter the air through (household) waste combustion and burning of fossil fuels. Because of regulations only little cadmium now enters the water through disposal of wastewater from households or industries.
Another important source of cadmium emission is the production of artificial phosphate fertilizers. Part of the cadmium ends up in the soil after the fertilizer is applied on farmland and the rest of the cadmium ends up in surface waters when waste from fertilizer productions is dumped by production companies.