The purpose of the review is to present a forward oriented state-of-the-art view of pollution implications which must be faced with the ever increasing trend toward confinement feeding large numbers of livestock. The manure wastes from all varieties of livestock under feed in the United States are characterized and related both to human population equivalents and beef cattle equivalents. The potential environmental hazards which may result from improper handling, storage, and disposal of these wastes were discussed. The effectiveness and economics of various conventional wastes treatment and disposal methods as related to confinement feeding wastes were evaluated.