Solid waste policy of the United States

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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. [1] 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). [2] Effective solid waste management is a cooperative effort involving federal, state, regional, and local entities. [3] 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. [2] Each state will have different methods on how to educate and control the flow of waste

Contents

Solid waste

Solid Waste Tree, Based on Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, United States Environmental Protection Agency Solid Waste Types.jpg
Solid Waste Tree, Based on Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, United States Environmental Protection Agency

Solid waste means any garbage or refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or an air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities. Solid waste does not include solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage, solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows, or industrial discharges. [4] The large scope of the term "solid waste" means that it must be managed in a variety of different ways and that various levels of government employ different policy instruments in order to accomplish this task.

Generally, the term "solid waste" refers to non-hazardous waste, though according to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and other state regulations, "hazardous waste" is also a part of solid waste. [5]

Non-hazardous solid wastes

Municipal

Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage, includes all everyday thrown away items from households, commercial and institutional entities, horticulture, and road sweeping. This includes items such as packaging, paper, cardboard, food scraps, plastic bags & containers, glass bottles, grass clippings, furniture, tires, electrical & electronic items, and metals. In 2009, United States residents generated 243 million tons of trash, down from 255 million tons in 2007. In the same period, the per capita generation of MSW lowered to 4.34 lbs/person/day from 4.63 lbs/person/day. [6]

Figure 2 - MSW generation trends (1960-2009), based on US EPA MSW 2009 facts and figures MSW generation trends.jpg
Figure 2 - MSW generation trends (1960–2009), based on US EPA MSW 2009 facts and figures

Agricultural and animal

Agricultural wastes include primary crop residues that remain in fields after harvest and secondary processing residues generated from the harvested portions of crops during food, feed, and fiber production. This is generated during the production and distribution through decomposition of food, vegetables, or meat, removal of non-usable parts, removal of substandard products, and spoiling due to substandard packaging. Thus the agricultural waste is generated at all stages of the food system including farming, storage, processing, and wholesaling. The food scraps generated by retailers and consumers are not included in this category as these scraps enter the waste stream as municipal solid waste. [7] Animal wastes are wastes generated from farms and feedlots, also known as Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) or Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFOs), consisting of leftover feeds, manure and urine, wastewater, dead animals, and production operation wastes. They produce large amounts of waste in small areas. For example, the EPA reports that a single dairy cow produces approximately 120 pounds of wet manure per day, equaling 20-40 people. The main problems of animal waste mismanagement are environmental, especially water pollution. [8]

Industrial

Industrial waste consists of a significant amount of solid waste. EPA reported that each year United States industrial facilities generate and dispose of approximately 7.6 billion tons of industrial solid waste based on 1980s figures. [9] [ full citation needed ] This figure includes waste generated from 17 industrial manufacturers of organic chemicals, inorganic chemicals, iron and steel, plastics and resins, stone, clay, glass, concrete, pulp and paper, food, and kindred products. [10] Industrial waste does not go into the municipal solid waste stream and therefore is landfilled or processed separately. As per EPA guidelines industrial waste management units have to consider waste characterization and minimization methods, waste constituent information factsheets, risk assessment tools, institutional mechanism/stakeholder partnership principles, safe and proper design guidelines, water (surface and ground) and air monitoring procedures, and facility pre- and post-closure recommendations.

Construction and demolition

C&D waste includes debris generated during the construction, renovation, and demolition of buildings, roads, and bridges. This can be often bulky and heavy building materials consisting of concrete, building wood waste, asphalt from roads and roof shingles, drywall gypsum, metals, bricks, blocks, glass, plastics, building components like doors, windows, and fixtures, and trees, stumps, earth, and rock from construction and clearing sites. Since this often consists of bulky and heavy materials, proper waste management can improve resources. [11] EPA estimated that 136 million tons of building-related C&D waste was generated in the United States in 1996.

Treatment

Treatment waste consists of sludge, byproducts, coproducts, or metal scraps resulting from a facility or plant. Sludge is any solid, semisolid, or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial, or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility exclusive of the treated effluent from a wastewater treatment plant. This includes electric arc furnace dust and baghouse dusts. A byproduct is a material that is not a primary product which is not solely or separately produced in a production process whereas coproducts are intentionally produced. Byproducts need further processing to be useful whereas coproducts are highly processed and can be sold as a commodity without further processing. Examples of byproducts include slag, fly ash, heavy ends, distillation column bottoms, etc. and coproducts include metals such as lead produced during the copper refining process. Scrap metal wastes include sheet metal, wire, metal tanks and containers, scrap automobiles, and machine shop turnings that are generally nonhazardous in nature. [12] [ full citation needed ]

Medical waste

Medical waste and biomedical waste consist of all waste materials generated at health care facilities including hospitals, clinics, offices of physicians, dentists, and veterinarians, blood banks, home health care facilities, funeral homes, medical research facilities, and laboratories. RCRA Subtitle J regulated medical waste in four states (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island) and Puerto Rico, and expired on March 22, 1991. (See Medical Waste Tracking Act.) State environmental and health agencies regulate medical waste, rather than EPA. Other federal agencies have issued safety regulations governing the handling of medical waste, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration. [13]

Special wastes

Congress designated several kinds of industrial wastes as "special wastes," which are exempt from hazardous waste handling requirements under RCRA Subtitle C, including oil and gas exploration and production wastes (such as drill cuttings, produced water, and drilling fluids), coal combustion residuals generated by electric power plants and other industries, mining waste, and cement kiln dust. [14] See Solid Waste Disposal Amendments of 1980.

Hazardous Solid Wastes

The EPA, which regulates hazardous waste under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), considers a waste hazardous waste if it is dangerous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment. Hazardous waste can be liquids, solids, gases, or sludges and can be discarded household, industrial, or commercial products such as oil, paints, certain electronics waste, cleaning fluids or pesticides, or the by-products of manufacturing processes. [15] [ full citation needed ]

Sources

In 2009, U.S. residents, businesses, and institutions produced more than 243 million tons of municipal solid waste, which is approximately 4.34 lbs/person/day. In addition, American industrial facilities generate and dispose of approximately 7.6 billion tons of industrial solid waste each year as per the EPA estimations in 1980. These levels may be much higher now in the 21st century. [6] [19] The primary sources of solid waste are residential, commercial, and industrial entities, construction and renovation sites, hospitals, agricultural fields and animal farms, and treatment and processing plants.

Disposal

Before the 1980s most of the waste generated was either landfilled or burned. More than 90% of the municipal solid waste was landfilled or disposed with less than 7% materials recovery during the 1960s and 70s. This trend started changing after the 1980s when landfill disposal declined to about 54% and resource recovery increased to more than 33%. [6] The most recent numbers from the EPA indicate that in 2012 the US municipal solid waste recycle rate was 34.5%. [20] This section describes the common methods of solid waste disposal practiced in United States and worldwide.

Costs and problems associated with waste

Some of the main issues associated with waste are open dumping, odor, particulate matter emissions, leachate seepage from landfills, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that lead to air pollution, surface and groundwater pollution, food chain contamination, land area depletion, human health impacts, environmental degradation, and negative impacts on plant and animal life.

Rationales for solid waste policy

Figure 3 - Demand Curve and Deadweight loss (DWL), Based on Portney and Stavins (2000), Page 269 Waste Disposal Curve.jpg
Figure 3 - Demand Curve and Deadweight loss (DWL), Based on Portney and Stavins (2000), Page 269

All levels of government - federal, state, and local - are involved in regulating solid waste in United States. Proper waste management extends from solid waste collection, segregation, transportation, storing, treatment and disposal to education, labeling, trading, and interstate & intercontinental movement of waste. Portney and Stavins (2000) provide the following three rationales for government intervention in private waste markets: [22]

  1. Economies of scale - The cost of producing goods or services decreases as production increases. With regards to solid waste this principle applies to landfills where the average cost of landfill construction, operation, and maintenance decreases as waste disposed of increases. This propels interstate trade where private parties divert wastes to large regional landfills.
  2. Public bad - Waste creates dissatisfaction to people which reduces social benefits or increases social cost, making it the opposite of a public good. The government, through its policies, makes waste an "excludable" good (or bad) thereby creating opportunities for waste collection firms to charge the household, industrial, and commercial waste generators for proper collection and disposal.
  3. Negative externalities - Production of waste leads to environmental pollution especially when it is illegally disposed of, openly dumped, or burned, resulting in groundwater contamination or air pollution. It has been proven that emissions include high amounts of methane and trace amounts of benzene, hydrogen sulphide, and chorinated hydrocarbons along with other gases.

This demand curve and the deadweight loss (DWL) associated with waste disposal (landfilling) is illustrated in Figure 3.

Mechanisms and policy framework

The government has a wide variety of different policy tools at its disposal from which it can choose. Due to the diverse nature of solid waste, the government employs a number of different policy tools at various levels in order to ensure efficient and safe handling and disposal of the many different types of waste, as well as in order to encourage recycling and source reduction. The following is a sampling of tools the United States government employs with regards to solid waste.

Deposit Refund

Deposit-refund systems or container deposit legislation, also known as "bottle bills", can be viewed either as a tax on producing waste in the form of beverage containers or as a subsidy for properly recycling these containers. When a retailer buys products from a distributor, it must pay a deposit for each beverage container it purchases. The retailer then includes the cost of the deposit in the item's price, passing it to the consumer. However, the consumer is refunded this money by properly disposing of the used beverage container at a retail or redemption center. The retailer also recoups the deposit from the distributor. This system encourages consumers to properly dispose of the waste they generate by buying beverages in disposable containers. It also creates a privately funded system for the handling of this waste. A deposit-refund bill named National Beverage Container Reuse and Recycling Act was introduced by the House of Representatives in 1994 but never became federal law. [22] Bottle bills are currently in place in ten states as well as in Guam. Delaware repealed its bottle bill in 2010. Oregon was the first state to institute a bottle bill in 1971. The most common deposit is five cents, but this varies by state and by the type of container. [23]

Pay as you throw

Pay as you throw is a model for pricing the disposal of municipal solid waste by unit of waste rather than by charging a uniform price for pickup and disposal. This acts as a tax on waste - the more waste a household produces, the more it will be charged for its disposal. Pay as you throw is administered on the municipal level. The purpose behind this system is to discourage waste generation and to encourage recycling. By charging citizens per unit of waste, municipalities hope to discourage waste generation by causing households to consider the quantity of waste they are producing by making them pay for it. It is estimated that pay as you throw programs have decreased municipal solid waste by about 17% in weight, with a 6% decrease attributed to source reduction efforts and an 8-11% due to waste diversion to recycling and yard programs. [24] In 2006, pay as you throw had been instituted in over 7,000 United States communities. [25]

Permits

Under the RCRA, the EPA issues permits to ensure the safe treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous wastes. In order to receive a permit, the party managing the waste has to meet certain criteria, as specified by the Act. Permits are used to set a minimum baseline of safety standards that must be met in the handling and disposal of waste in order to control this process and ensure a degree of safety is achieved. [26] This is an example of command and control regulation, by which the government specifies certain standards that parties must meet.

Technology standards

Technology standards are another form of command and control regulation by the government. Technology standards stipulate certain types or levels of technologies that must be employed to ensure the safe storage or treatment of waste. For example, technology standards have been created for the design of landfills and there are requirements for the design of the liners in order to prevent leechate. [27]

Performance standards

Performance standards dictate maximum levels of emissions that may be released in the process of waste management and disposal. These standards are set by the federal government, but can be made more stringent by states. For example, incinerators may not emit over 180 mg of particulate matter per dry standard cubic meter. [28] Other emissions from incinerators are also regulated.

Labeling

Different labeling standards are required by the federal government and by some states for different types of waste such as hazardous waste and medical waste. [29] [30] Labeling ensures that those coming into contact with these types of waste are aware of the nature of the waste. In this way, labeling is also intended to help ensure proper handling and disposal.

Challenges and goals

The EPA has set forth challenges and goals with regards to solid waste. The Resource Conservation Challenge aims to:

It has also issued a challenge to increase recycling to encompass 35% of the country's municipal solid waste. The EPA's other three focuses are on recycling electronics, recycling industrial materials, and reducing priority and toxic chemicals. These challenges and goals are supported by voluntary programs and partnerships.

Partnerships

The EPA has established a number of partnerships with businesses and organizations, industries, states, local governments, tribes, and other entities to reduce and effectively manage waste. Examples of these partnerships are Plug-In To eCycling, the Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign, and WasteWise. All of these examples aim to meet the goals of the Resource Conservation Challenge. [32] These partnerships are voluntary. Entities may enter into these partnerships because of a variety of expected benefits, including costs savings and improved public image. In another example, EPA and state and tribal representatives jointly developed a framework for industrial waste management aimed to establish a common set of guidelines. Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, EPA convened a focus group consisting of industry and public stakeholders to provide assistance throughout the industrial waste management process. [10]

Information

On its wastes website, the EPA provides a large amount of information on topics pertaining to waste, such as source reduction and recycling. In this way, the government is working to educate its citizens in order to reduce the amount of waste and ensure its proper disposal in a non coercive manner. This website is also a good source for people looking for instructions on how to properly dispose of items such as compact fluorescent bulbs or electronics. [33]

United States legislation

History

Federal solid waste law has gone through four major phases. The Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) of 1965 was the first U.S. federal solid waste management law enacted. It focused on research, demonstrations, and training. [34] In a second phase, the Resource Recovery Act of 1970 emphasized reclaiming energy and materials from solid waste instead of dumping. In a third phase, the federal government started playing more active regulatory role, with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976. [34] RCRA instituted the first federal permitting program for hazardous waste and it also made open dumping illegal. RCRA focuses only on active and future facilities and does not address abandoned or historical sites which are managed under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 - commonly known as Superfund. Implementation of RCRA was relatively slow [34] and Congress reauthorized and strengthened RCRA through the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) of 1984. This was the beginning of the fourth phase. The 1984 RCRA Amendments suggested a policy shift away from land disposal and toward more preventive solutions. RCRA has been amended on two occasions since HSWA: the Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1992 which strengthened enforcement of RCRA at federal facilities and the Land Disposal Program Flexibility Act of 1996 which provided regulatory flexibility for land disposal of certain wastes. [35]

Solid waste legislation has been constantly strengthened and improved by the introduction of amendments to the major laws mentioned above and other specific laws. The most important amendments are:

Statutes and rules designed to improve community access to information about chemical hazards:

Statutes and rules designed to prevent pollution:

Federal legislation

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

Within RCRA, the EPA has three comprehensive waste management programs:

  1. Subtitle C - Hazardous waste: The Subtitle C program establishes a system for controlling hazardous waste from its generation until its ultimate disposal ("cradle-to-grave" approach). This program identifies the criteria to determine hazardous waste and establishes requirements for all of the parties: producers, transporters and disposal facilities. [47]
  2. Subtitle D - Solid waste: The Subtitle D program establishes a system for controlling (primarily non-hazardous) solid waste, such as household waste. The program provides the states and local governments with guidance, policy and regulations for the efficient waste management. [34]
  3. Subtitle I - Underground storage tanks: The Subtitle I program in RCRA regulates toxic substances and petroleum products stored in underground storage tanks (UST). The program establishes requirements for design and operation of UST aimed at preventing accidental spills. [34]
Main RCRA accomplishments

Some of the main achievements of RCRA since its implementation are given below: [48]

  • Established design and performance standards for landfills and treatment technologies;
  • Established "cradle-to-grave" tracking of hazardous waste;
  • Caused the closure of a large number of mismanaged facilities; two-thirds of non-compliant land disposal facilities were closed;
  • Prevented the disposal of untreated wastes into and onto the land;
  • Permitted more than 900 hazardous waste management facilities;
  • Assessed over 1,600 facilities;
  • Authorized 48 states for the base RCRA program.
Improvement Areas

There are a number of lessons learned post-implementation of RCRA. First of all it appeared that close Congressional oversight could limit flexibility. After 1984, when HSWA were approved, EPA's discretion was influenced by close Congressional oversight. [48] Congress set specific implementation deadlines for the hazardous waste program. The very demanding regulatory development schedule did not allow EPA to pay enough attention to other very important priorities. The important priorities for EPA found by their study are listed below: [48]

  • Program evaluation and long-term priorities should be strengthened;
  • Old regulations should be revised; New regulations could make it difficult for state programs;
  • Stronger focus on environmental data is needed;
  • State authorization should be faster;
  • Alternates should be examined;
  • Potential regulatory overlaps or inconsistencies should be addressed.

State legislation

Federal guidelines have provided state, tribal, and some local governments regulatory responsibility for ensuring proper management of wastes generated from each source in their region but the programs might vary considerably in their guidelines and implementation. [10] As of 2011, the EPA has authorized forty-eight states, except Alaska and Iowa (Hawaii was added in 2001), to implement the RCRA, meaning the states' regulations must meet at least the requirements set at the federal level and may be more stringent. [49] Many states follow the federal rules for hazardous waste management and also have more stringent state requirements on hazardous and toxic wastes in particular. California, New York and Iowa are some states that have additional requirements. For example, the California Department of Toxic and Hazardous Substances distinguishes discarded mercury-containing products and waste oil as separate groups of hazardous waste. [48] [50] [51] [52]

Municipal legislation

Municipalities are in charge of local recycling and trash collection. They can choose whether to contract these services out to private companies or not and how to charge for these services. Municipalities also may adopt approaches of converting waste to energy through methods such as generating electricity from landfill gas. [53] Therefore, municipalities play an important role in everyday waste management. There is, of course, a wide variety of implementation across the country.

Challenges and issues

Solid waste management challenges and issues that should be considered while framing solid waste policy include proper waste generation, segregation, collection, transportation, and disposal methods, landfill management, hazardous and other toxic material management, treatment, incineration, recycling and other technology standards, monitoring, evaluation, and continuous improvement methods. In addition to these issues, policy has to address the short term and long-term economic, environmental, and social costs and benefits, funding methods, and roles of various stakeholders. [1] [2] [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazardous waste</span> Ignitable, reactive, corrosive and/or toxic unwanted or unusable materials

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landfill</span> Site for the disposal of waste materials

A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was simply left in piles or thrown into pits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chemical waste</span> Waste made from harmful chemicals

Chemical waste is any excess, unused, or unwanted chemical. Chemical waste may be classified as hazardous waste, non-hazardous waste, universal waste, or household hazardous waste, each of which is regulated separately by national governments and the United Nations. Hazardous waste is material that displays one or more of the following four characteristics: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity. This information, along with chemical disposal requirements, is typically available on a chemical's Safety Data Sheet (SDS). Radioactive and biohazardous wastes require additional or different methods of handling and disposal, and are often regulated differently than standard hazardous wastes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Industrial waste</span> Waste produced by industrial activity or manufacturing processes

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toxic waste</span> Any unwanted material which can cause harm

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Resource Conservation and Recovery Act</span> Federal law in the United States

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure</span>

Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) is a soil sample extraction method for chemical analysis employed as an analytical method to simulate leaching through a landfill. The testing methodology is used to determine if a waste is characteristically hazardous, i.e., classified as one of the "D" listed wastes by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The extract is analyzed for substances appropriate to the protocol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Municipal solid waste</span> Type of waste consisting of everyday items discarded by the public

Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, as in a garbage disposal; the two are sometimes collected separately. In the European Union, the semantic definition is 'mixed municipal waste,' given waste code 20 03 01 in the European Waste Catalog. Although the waste may originate from a number of sources that has nothing to do with a municipality, the traditional role of municipalities in collecting and managing these kinds of waste have produced the particular etymology 'municipal.'

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Construction waste</span> Unwanted material produced directly or incidentally by the construction industries

Construction waste or debris is any kind of debris from the construction process. Different government agencies have clear definitions. For example, the United States Environmental Protection Agency EPA defines construction and demolition materials as “debris generated during the construction, renovation and demolition of buildings, roads, and bridges.” Additionally, the EPA has categorized Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste into three categories: non-dangerous, hazardous, and semi-hazardous.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Household hazardous waste</span>

Household hazardous waste (HHW) was a term coined by Dave Galvin from Seattle, Washington in 1982 as part of the fulfillment of a US EPA grant. This new term was reflective of the recent passage of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 in the US. This act and subsequent regulations strengthened the environmental protection requirements for landfills, in Subpart D, and created a "cradle to grave" management system for hazardous wastes, in Subpart C. From RCRA 1976 the US EPA promulgated rules in 1980 which explicitly excluded any wastes from household origins from regulation as a hazardous waste at the federal level. Most US states adopted parallel regulations to RCRA 1976 but were allowed to be more stringent. California took advantage of this allowance and chose to not exempt household origin wastes from their state hazardous waste laws. HHW products exhibit many of the same dangerous characteristics as fully regulated hazardous waste which are their potential for reactivity, ignitability, corrosivity, toxicity, or persistence. Examples include drain cleaners, oil paint, motor oil, antifreeze, fuel, poisons, pesticides, herbicides and rodenticides, fluorescent lamps, lamp ballasts containing PCBs, some smoke detectors, and in some states, consumer electronics. Except for California, most states exclude HHW from their hazardous waste regulations and regulate the management of HHW largely under their solid waste regulatory schemes.

Title 40 is a part of the United States Code of Federal Regulations. Title 40 arranges mainly environmental regulations that were promulgated by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), based on the provisions of United States laws. Parts of the regulation may be updated annually on July 1.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hazardous waste in the United States</span>

Under United States environmental policy, hazardous waste is a waste that has the potential to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waste</span> Unwanted or unusable materials

Waste are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor economic value. A waste product may become a by-product, joint product or resource through an invention that raises a waste product's value above zero.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Landfills in the United States</span> American landfills

Municipal solid waste (MSW) – more commonly known as trash or garbage – consists of everyday items people use and then throw away, such as product packaging, grass clippings, furniture, clothing, bottles, food scraps and papers. In 2018, Americans generated about 265.3 million tonnes of waste. In the United States, landfills are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the states' environmental agencies. Municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLF) are required to be designed to protect the environment from contaminants that may be present in the solid waste stream.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ash pond</span> Coal plant disposal structure

An ash pond, also called a coal ash basin or surface impoundment, is an engineered structure used at coal-fired power stations for the disposal of two types of coal combustion products: bottom ash and fly ash. The pond is used as a landfill to prevent the release of ash into the atmosphere. Although the use of ash ponds in combination with air pollution controls decreases the amount of airborne pollutants, the structures pose serious health risks for the surrounding environment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waste management law</span> Area of law regarding waste

Waste management laws govern the transport, treatment, storage, and disposal of all manner of waste, including municipal solid waste, hazardous waste, and nuclear waste, among many other types. Waste laws are generally designed to minimize or eliminate the uncontrolled dispersal of waste materials into the environment in a manner that may cause ecological or biological harm, and include laws designed to reduce the generation of waste and promote or mandate waste recycling. Regulatory efforts include identifying and categorizing waste types and mandating transport, treatment, storage, and disposal practices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Exemptions for fracking under United States federal law</span>

There are many exemptions for fracking under United States federal law: the oil and gas industries are exempt or excluded from certain sections of a number of the major federal environmental laws. These laws range from protecting clean water and air, to preventing the release of toxic substances and chemicals into the environment: the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, National Environmental Policy Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, commonly known as Superfund.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965</span>

The Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) is an act passed by the United States Congress in 1965. The United States Environmental Protection Agency described the Act as "the first federal effort to improve waste disposal technology". After the Second Industrial Revolution, expanding industrial and commercial activity across the nation, accompanied by increasing consumer demand for goods and services, led to an increase in solid waste generation by all sectors of the economy. The act established a framework for states to better control solid waste disposal and set minimum safety requirements for landfills. In 1976 Congress determined that the provisions of SWDA were insufficient to properly manage the nation's waste and enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Congress passed additional major amendments to SWDA in the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 (HSWA).

Water in Arkansas is an important issue encompassing the conservation, protection, management, distribution and use of the water resource in the state. Arkansas contains a mixture of groundwater and surface water, with a variety of state and federal agencies responsible for the regulation of the water resource. In accordance with agency rules, state, and federal law, the state's water treatment facilities utilize engineering, chemistry, science and technology to treat raw water from the environment to potable water standards and distribute it through water mains to homes, farms, business and industrial customers. Following use, wastewater is collected in collection and conveyance systems, decentralized sewer systems or septic tanks and treated in accordance with regulations at publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) before being discharged to the environment.

References

  1. 1 2 "Michigan Solid Waste Policy 2007" (PDF). Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. May 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 EPA. "Waste". Archived from the original on January 6, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  3. 1 2 Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. "Resources on Managing Municipal Solid Waste".
  4. ↑ EPA (April 1, 2012). "Summary of the EPA Municipal Solid Waste Program". Mid-Atlantic Municipal Solid Waste. Archived from the original on April 1, 2012. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  5. ↑ Indiana Department of Environmental Management. "About the Solid Waste Program". Archived from the original on September 13, 2014.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "US Environmental Protection Agency Fact Sheets" (PDF). Epa.gov. December 2010.
  7. ↑ "Material Characterization Paper" (PDF). EPA Final Rulemaking: Identification of Nonhazardous Secondary Materials That Are Solid Waste Biomass - Agricultural Residues and Food Scraps. February 3, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 16, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  8. 1 2 About Animal Feeding Operations (April 2011). "Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs)". EPA Animal feeding operations (AFOs).
  9. ↑ EPA - Industrial Waste (15 November 2016). "Industrial Waste generation estimates". Epa.gov.
  10. 1 2 3 "Industrial Waste". Epa.gov. 15 November 2016.
  11. ↑ "Construction and Demolition (C&D) Wastes". Epa.gov. October 2008.
  12. ↑ "Treatment Waste". EPA Definition of Solid Waste and Recycling.
  13. ↑ "Medical Waste". EPA. 2017-11-07.
  14. ↑ "Special Wastes". Hazardous Waste. EPA. 2018-11-29.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Hazardous Wastes. "Hazardous Wastes". Epa.gov. Retrieved March 10, 2010.
  16. ↑ Household Hazardous Wastes. "Household Hazardous Wastes". Epa.gov. Retrieved December 1, 2010.
  17. ↑ Hazardous Waste Types – Listed Wastes. "Listed Wastes". Epa.gov. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  18. ↑ "Hazardous Waste" (PDF). Epa.gov. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  19. ↑ "Advancing Sustainable Materials Management: Facts and Figures" (PDF). Epa.gov. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  20. ↑ "Sustainable Facilities Tool: U.S. Waste and Recycling". Sftool.gov. Retrieved July 1, 2014.
  21. 1 2 "C&D Landfills". Epa.gov. Retrieved October 2, 2008.
  22. 1 2 3 Portney, Paul R. & Stavins, Robert N. (January 2000). "Public Policies for Environmental Protection". Resources for Future (2 ed.): 261–286. ISBN   1-891853-03-1.
  23. ↑ "Bottle Bills in the USA". Bottlebill.org. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  24. ↑ "PAYT in the US: 2006 Final Report" (PDF). Epa.gov.
  25. ↑ "EPA 2006 PAYT Programs". Epa.gov.
  26. ↑ "EPA Introduction to Permits and Interim Status" (PDF). Epa.gov.
  27. ↑ "EPA Lanfills". Epa.gov.
  28. ↑ "Electronic Code of Federal Regulations". Ecfr.gpoaccess.gov. Archived from the original on 2011-05-29. Retrieved 2011-04-27.
  29. ↑ [ dead link ]
  30. ↑ "Hazardous Waste Labels" (PDF). Unidocs.gov.
  31. ↑ "Resource Conservation Challenge". Epa.gov.
  32. ↑ "EPA Partnerships". Epa.gov.
  33. ↑ "howtorecycle". Epa.gov.
  34. 1 2 3 4 5 Summaries of Environmental Laws Administered by the EPA: Solid Waste Disposal Act/Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (Report). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Congressional Research Service. 2003. RL30022. Archived from the original on 2007-12-15.
  35. ↑ "RCRA History". EPA.
  36. ↑ "Laws & Regulations". EPA.
  37. ↑ "Legislative Search Results". Congress.gov. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  38. ↑ "Jimmy Carter: Solid Waste Disposal Act Amendments of 1980 Statement on Signing S. 1156 Into Law". Presidency.ucsb.edu.
  39. ↑ "Superfund". EPA.
  40. ↑ "Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988". EPA. Press release. Archived from the original on 2009-05-11. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  41. ↑ "Hazardous Waste". EPA. 15 November 2016.
  42. ↑ "Recycled Used Oil Management Standards". Wastes. EPA. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-05-01.
  43. ↑ "Agriculture". EPA.
  44. ↑ "Hazardous Waste". EPA. 15 November 2016.
  45. ↑ "Pollution Prevention (P2)". EPA.
  46. ↑ "Hazardous Waste". EPA. 15 November 2016.
  47. ↑ "US EPA Topic:Waste Inforesources" (PDF). Epa.gov.
  48. 1 2 3 4 "Nation's Hazardous Waste Management Program at a Crossroads: The RCRA Implementation Story". EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response.
  49. ↑ "Authorization Status of all RCRA/HSWA Rules" (PDF). Epa.gov. 15 November 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  50. ↑ "Solid Waste Disposal Act (1965): Major Acts of Congress". Archived from the original on 2011-04-13. Retrieved 2011-04-30.
  51. ↑ "Mercury Waste". Dtsc.ca.gov. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
  52. ↑ "Electronic Code of Federal Regulations". Archived from the original on 2012-03-01. Retrieved 2011-10-26.
  53. ↑ "UCSM 72nd Annual Meeting". Usmayors.org. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2018.
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