 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(June 2023) |
Business waste is waste generated in commercial establishments, like retail shops, places of entertainment, or administration. [1] Business waste is defined in contrast to household waste. But like those, they usually can be disposed of via municipal waste management.
 | This waste-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This industry-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Hazardous waste is waste that must be handled properly to avoid damaging human health or the environment. Waste can be hazardous because it is toxic, reacts violently with other chemicals, or is corrosive, among other traits. As of 2022, humanity produces 300-500 million metric tons of hazardous waste annually. Some common examples are electronics, batteries, and paints. An important aspect of managing hazardous waste is safe disposal. Hazardous waste can be stored in hazardous waste landfills, burned, or recycled into something new. Managing hazardous waste is important to achieve worldwide sustainability. Hazardous waste is regulated on national scale by national governments as well as on an international scale by the United Nations (UN) and international treaties.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on December 2, 1970, after Nixon signed an executive order. The order establishing the EPA was ratified by committee hearings in the House and Senate.
Industrial waste is the waste produced by industrial activity which includes any material that is rendered useless during a manufacturing process such as that of factories, mills, and mining operations. Types of industrial waste include dirt and gravel, masonry and concrete, scrap metal, oil, solvents, chemicals, scrap lumber, even vegetable matter from restaurants. Industrial waste may be solid, semi-solid or liquid in form. It may be hazardous waste or non-hazardous waste. Industrial waste may pollute the nearby soil or adjacent water bodies, and can contaminate groundwater, lakes, streams, rivers or coastal waters. Industrial waste is often mixed into municipal waste, making accurate assessments difficult. An estimate for the US goes as high as 7.6 billion tons of industrial waste produced annually, as of 2017. Most countries have enacted legislation to deal with the problem of industrial waste, but strictness and compliance regimes vary. Enforcement is always an issue.
Toxic waste is any unwanted material in all forms that can cause harm. Mostly generated by industry, consumer products like televisions, computers, and phones contain toxic chemicals that can pollute the air and contaminate soil and water. Disposing of such waste is a major public health issue.
Superfund is a United States federal environmental remediation program established by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA). The program is administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The program is designed to investigate and clean up sites contaminated with hazardous substances. Sites managed under this program are referred to as Superfund sites. Of all the sites selected for possible action under this program, 1178 remain on the National Priorities List (NPL) that makes them eligible for cleanup under the Superfund program. Sites on the NPL are considered the most highly contaminated and undergo longer-term remedial investigation and remedial action (cleanups). The state of New Jersey, the fifth smallest state in the U.S., is the location of about ten percent of the priority Superfund sites, a disproportionate amount.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is the primary federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.
The National Priorities List (NPL) is the priority list of hazardous waste sites in the United States eligible for long-term remedial investigation and remedial action (cleanup) financed under the federal Superfund program. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations outline a formal process for assessing hazardous waste sites and placing them on the NPL. The NPL is intended primarily to guide EPA in determining which sites are so contaminated as to warrant further investigation and significant cleanup.
Defense Depot Ogden was a U.S. military installation located in Ogden, Utah, United States. It encompassed 1,139 acres (5 km2) with its southwest corner located on 12th Street and Tomlinson Road. Its eastern border is the old Utah Northern Railroad, now owned by the Union Pacific Railroad.
Commercial waste consists of waste from premises used mainly for the purposes of a trade or business or for the purpose of sport, recreation, education or entertainment, but excluding household, agricultural or industrial waste.
The U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Chemical Safety, Waste Management, Environmental Justice and Regulatory Oversight is one a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.
Fresno Municipal Sanitary Landfill in Fresno, California, was the first modern landfill in the U.S., pioneering the use of trenching, compacting, and daily burial to combat rodent and debris problems. It became a model for other landfills around the country, and one of the longest-lived. The landfill was operated by the City of Fresno from 1937 until 1987, when it was closed. At that time, the landfill had reached the size of 145 acres (0.59 km2).
The American Creosote Works Superfund site is an inactive wood-treating facility in Pensacola, Florida. The 18-acre site is located about 600 yards north of the confluence of Bayou Chico and Pensacola Bay at 701 S "J" Street. The Superfund program of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for cleaning up the nation's most contaminated land and responding to environmental emergencies, oil spills, and natural disasters.
The Stringfellow Acid Pits are a toxic waste dump and Superfund site located in Jurupa Valley, California, United States, just north of the neighborhood of Glen Avon.
Solid waste policy in the United States is aimed at developing and implementing proper mechanisms to effectively manage solid waste. For solid waste policy to be effective, inputs should come from stakeholders, including citizens, businesses, community-based organizations, non-governmental organizations, government agencies, universities, and other research organizations. These inputs form the basis of policy frameworks that influence solid waste management decisions. In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates household, industrial, manufacturing, and commercial solid and hazardous wastes under the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Effective solid waste management is a cooperative effort involving federal, state, regional, and local entities. Thus, the RCRA's Solid Waste program section D encourages the environmental departments of each state to develop comprehensive plans to manage nonhazardous industrial and municipal solid waste.
The American Brass Superfund site is a former industrial site, located in Henry County, Alabama. American Brass Inc. (ABI) operated a brass smelter and foundry facility on the site between 1978 and 1992. Prior to its closure in December 1992, the company had been cited by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, (ADEM), on several occasions for Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) violations, arising from its waste and hazardous waste disposal processes. Site surveys, conducted by ADEM after ABI ceased operations, revealed stockpiles of 150,000 tons of contaminated waste, and extensive soil and groundwater contamination.
The Central Landfill is a 154-acre (62 ha) waste disposal site in Johnston, Rhode Island. It is the state's only landfill and receives more than 90% of the state's solid waste. It has been on the Environmental Protection Agency's Superfund National Priorities List since 1986. The site is owned and operated by the Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation (RIRRC).
Guam v. United States, 593 U.S. ___ (2021), was a U.S. Supreme Court case dealing with a dispute on fiscal responsibility for environmental and hazardous cleanup of the Ordot Dump created by the United States Navy on the island of Guam in the 1940s, which Guam then ran after becoming a territory in 1950 until the landfill's closure in 2011. The Supreme Court ruled unanimously that under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, Guam had filed its lawsuit to recover a portion of cleanup costs for the landfill from the United States government in a timely manner, allowing their case to proceed.
