History Main / DangerousDeviceDisposalDebacle

* This trope sets off the plot of the fourth ''Literature/CircleOfMagic'' book. [[spoiler: An IneptMage who was experimenting with a weight-loss potion that wasn't working out decided that rather than pay the fees to have her failed potions safely destroyed (as the law required), she would simply dump them in the sewer. The magic in her potions reacted with the existing filth in the sewers to create an incredibly dangerous disease that killed thousands before a cure was discovered.

* Uncle Chuck of ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAm'' created the robotocizer for the purpose of healing serious war injuries by converting their flesh into cybernetics, but discarded the invention after it turned out it also robbed people of their free will in the process. Leaving the blueprints unattended was the pivot in Julian Robotnik's conquest of the entire planet of Mobius.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Though the dangerous object being disposed of is the body of a convicted criminal, the crisis in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear The Hand of Fear]]" happens because the Kastrians assigned to take Eldrad's remains a prescribed distance from their home planet decide to just go ahead and dump him when they figure they've gone far enough. Unfortunately Eldrad, like all his race, is [[SiliconBasedLife very hard to kill]], and his [[HelpingHands creeping hand]] survives, from which he is [[SealedEvilInACan able to regenerate]].

* Not all of the instances are "devices", but this is more or less the entire point of the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''. Special mention goes to SCP-682, the "hard-to-destroy reptile", which the Foundation has attempted to dispose of again and again, always without success.

* In ''Disney/WreckItRalph'', the terrible world-destroying devices are the Cy-Bugs, giant mechanical insects who consume and attack uncontrollably. These are regenerated and always recalled to be vaporized between Hero's Duty games so they don't cause any more trouble than they have to. When Ralph accidentally activates one and sends it flying into Sugar Rush, it sinks into liquid taffy and Ralph thinks that's the end of that; it's dead and not worth worrying about. However, he doesn't actually ''confirm'' that the bug is dead, and it spends the rest of the movie eating candy and laying eggs to produce more bugs leading to a massive SugarApocalypse.

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', rather than destroy the journals he had written containing the secrets he had learned, [[spoiler:including the schematics for his [[NoManShouldHaveThisPower Universal Portal]]]], the Author buried each one in a different location. [[spoiler:[[{{Pride}} The Author simply couldn't stand the idea of his research being destroyed]] and ''flipped'' when Stan [[CuttingTheKnot tried to burn one of the journals]].]]

* From the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', the "gonne" is a six-shot repeating rifle invented by [[MadScientist eccentric genius]] Leonard of Quirm. Lord Vetinari recognized the danger of the device and handed it over to the Assassins' Guild to be destroyed, on the basis that they'd be the ones who'd be most strongly opposed to what it represented (cheap, efficient killing from a safe distance, as opposed to up-close, personal and ''highly-paid'' assassination). However, instead of ''destroying'' it as ordered, they decided to lock it away in a secret museum as a warning... where a renegade assassin was able to steal it, kicking off the plot of ''Discworld/MenAtArms''.

* Dumbledore is not immune either: he tries to depower the Elder Wand, sought by Voldemort, [[spoiler: with the help of Snape: being killed by consent doesn't mean being defeated, so the Wand should die with him. Unfortunately, it doesn't work, and other than that there's no obstacles for Voldemort to retrieve it from his grave. When Voldemort is killed for good, Harry returns it to Dumbledore's grave, hoping that too few people know about its importance, effectively leading to almost the same problem. Latter part is averted in the film: Harry simply snaps it in two and throws pieces into ravine.]]

** In ''[[Literature/JediAcademyTrilogy Dark Apprentice]]'', the New Republic attempts to dispose of the Sun Crusher, a shuttle-sized supernova-causing weapon, by dropping it into a gas giant. [[spoiler: Shortly afterward, possessed Jedi hopeful Kyp Durron yanks it back out and uses it to blow up Admiral Daala's fleet and an Imperial solar system.]] And that's "dispose of", not "destroy", because it's literally MadeOfIndestructium; dropping it into a gas giant in the hope of keeping it from falling into the wrong hands--not that there are ''right'' hands for that kind of weapon--was something of a desperation tactic. [[spoiler: Once it's recaptured, Luke ends up launching it past the event horizon of a handy black hole. That seems to have done the trick.]]

** In AgentsOfSHIELD, the "Slingshot program" is designed to get rid of technology or objects deemed too dangerous for ''anyone'' to possess, by loading them into a rocket and shooting them into the sun. [[spoiler: Except that the entire project is a fake, meant to make it LOOK like the devices were destroyed, while they're actually stored in a SHIELD facility for later study or possible use. This turns out poorly when Hydra raids the place and takes their pick.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', rather than destroy the journals he had written containing the secrets he had learned, [[spoiler:including the schematics for his [[NoManShouldHaveThisPower Universal Portal]]]], the Author buried each one in a different location. [[spoiler:[[{{Pride}} The Author simply couldn't stand the idea of his research being destroyed]] and ''flipped'' when Stan [[StatingTheSimpleSolution tried to burn one of the journals]].]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'', rather than destroy the journals he had written containing the secrets he had learned, [[spoiler:including the schematics for his [[NoManShouldHaveThisPower Universal Portal]]]], the Author buried each one in a different location. [[spoiler:[[JustifiedTrope The Author simply couldn't stand the idea of his research being destroyed]] and ''flipped'' when Stan [[StatingTheSimpleSolution tried to burn one of the journals]].]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': Though the dangerous object being disposed of is the body of a convicted criminal, the crisis in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS14E2TheHandOfFear The Hand of Fear]]" happens because the Kastrians assigned to take Eldrad's remains a prescribed distance from their home planet decide to just go ahead and dump him when they figure they've gone far enough. Unfortunately Eldrad, like all his race, is [[SiliconBasedLife very hard to kill]], and his [[HelpingHand creeping hand]] survives, from which he is [[SealedEvilInACan able to regenerate]].

* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' is occasionally savvy about this. The first time he dealt with [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain Sidney Poindexter]], he ensures to smash his mirror portal so he can't return (he inexplicably does in "Reign Storm", but he's barely a villain by then). And when Danny has the Reality Gauntlet in his possession, he makes certain to blast it to pieces so it can't be used again. Played straighter in "Secret Weapons", where Vlad reveals he recovered the Fenton Battlesuit, upgraded it and forced Jasmine to wear it.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', the line of master shipwrights of Waters Seven have held onto the blueprints for [[WeaponOfMassDestruction Pluton]], despite hoping that it will never be used. Their reasoning is they need it [[GodzillaThreshold as a contingency]] in case someone got the designs from reading the Poneglyphs scattered around the world. [[spoiler:Franky only destroyed the blueprints once he was convinced Robin (the only person known to be able to read Poneglyphs) wouldn't resurrect Pluton and that the Straw Hats could rescue her before the World Government could make her.]]

* In ''Film/SpyKids'', the inventor of the Third Brain was told to destroy it. Thinking it was too valuable to destroy, he exchanged it with a walnut and broke that instead. This allowed Floop and Minion to create an army of artificially intelligent Spy Kids robots.

-->-- '''The memory of Tom Marvolo "[[TomTheDarkLord Lord Voldemort]]" Riddle''', [[TheFilmOfTheBook the film adaptation of]] ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets''

!!Examples

* Not all of the instances are "devices", but this is more or less the entire point of the WebSite/SCPFoundation. Special mention goes to SCP-682, the "hard-to-destroy reptile", which the Foundation has attempted to dispose of again and again, always without success.

* ''ComicBook/theSmurfs'': In the album ''[[Recap/TheSmurfsBook5Story1TheSmurfsAndTheHowlibird The Smurfs and the Howlibird]]'', Papa Smurf tests out a magic fertilizer on a daisy, but gets a [[ManEatingPlant Smurf-Eating Plant]] as a result. He tasks a couple of Smurfs to get rid of the dangerous compound in the desert. They, however, get tired and fed up by the long trek, and opt instead to throw the vial down a cliff. Unfortunately, after it breaks a droplet falls down the gullet of a hungry bird chick, which turns into the monstrous Howlibird as a result.

[[folder:Anime]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

* From the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', the 'gonne' is a six-shot repeating rifle invented by [[MadScientist eccentric genius]] Leonard of Quirm. Lord Vetinari recognized the danger of the device and handed it over to the Assassins' Guild to be destroyed, on the basis that they'd be the ones who'd be most strongly opposed to what it represented (cheap, efficient killing from a safe distance, as opposed to up-close, personal and ''highly-paid'' assassination). However, instead of ''destroying'' it as ordered, they decided to lock it away in a secret museum as a warning... where a renegade assassin was able to steal it, kicking off the plot of ''Discworld/MenAtArms''.

[[folder: Television]]

* ''Series/{{Warehouse 13}}'' is a giant case of these waiting to happen, as the titular warehouse contains countless thousands of supernatural artifacts with powers ranging from amusing to apocalyptic, with more being created in the world all the time. And yet the people who work there are all a bit wacky and can hardy go three episodes without an outsider finding out the secret.

*** There's an episode where an outsider learns about the warehouse, and The Regents decide that the best course to prevent her from going public is to have Pete give her a tour. She still wants to go public until Pete gives her a big speech about how even the beneficial/benign ones still need to be protected, because "how can you tell the world about some of this without letting the rest out too?".

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

** If the sensitive information is on electronic media, ordinary file erasure is unsafe; there are ways to recover and read the data. The files need to be subjected to special multiple-erasure processes, or (to be really sure) the media should be physically destroyed.
*** For a while at least, the official NATO method for destroying low-level classified data on [=CD=]s was to microwave them. If you have a few [=CD=]s or [=DVD=]s you don't need, throw one in the microwave for 4 seconds. Quite entertaining.
* Back in the 1970s there was a global campaign to wipe out smallpox, which thankfully succeeded. However, small scientific samples of smallpox still exist in various bio-hazard containment caches.
** In 2014, forgotten vials of smallpox were discovered while clearing out a storage room in the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. It's unknown if other samples still exist.

->''Still, the power of the diary began to scare [Ginny], and she tried to dispose of it in the girls' bathroom. And then, who should find it but you, the very person I was most anxious to meet?''

* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'' ran on this trope. The pilot movie, ''WesternAnimation/StitchTheMovie'', showed that Jumba kept all his illegal genetic experiments dehydrated into balls and carefully locked in a single storage unit. By the end, the thing breaks and all the little balls rain all over the island, coming into contact with water and wreaking havoc everywhere. The series centers around Lilo and Stitch tracking down every experiment and finding the places each one belonged.

* Product recalls often result in a few examples escaping the recall, especially if it's a voluntary recall. For example, the recent Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall was voluntary, and so far figures show 60% of devices have been returned. That means that there are quite a large number of potentially very dangerous phablets still to be returned...

* Not all of the instances are "devices", but this is more or less the entire point of the ''WebSite/SCPFoundation''.