Waste reduction

Journal Article · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1988 · Hazmat World; (United States)

OSTI ID:5638458

Bishop, J

This paper reports that in 1976, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) identified waste reduction officially as the hazardous waste management strategy of first choice. A decade later, the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) reported to Congress that no commonly accepted definition of waste reduction yet existed, inside or outside of government. The OTA report came two years after Congress had declared as a matter of national policy in the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 (HSWA) that, wherever feasible, the generation of hazardous waste is to be reduced or eliminated as expeditiously as possible. In general, HSWA extends the waste-management programs and regulations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA) and specifically addresses waste reduction, giving it priority status over treatment, incineration and landfilling. From the standpoint of both legal requirements and incentives for generators to reduce the volume of hazardous wastes, HSWA produced what some consider to be a mixed bag of results for the regulated community. The law's so-called land bans directive, which progressively limits the numbers and types of untreated hazardous wastes that can be disposed in landfills, provides at least a negative incentive to eliminate the banned substances from industrial waste streams, as do requirements for treating banned wastes prior to disposal.

• OSTI ID: 5638458
• Journal Information: Hazmat World; (United States), Journal Name: Hazmat World; (United States) Vol. 1:3; ISSN HMWOE; ISSN 0898-5685
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

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095000 -- Biomass Fuels-- Environmental Aspects-- (1990-)
097000 -- Biomass Fuels-- Legislation & Regulations-- (1990-)
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320305* -- Energy Conservation
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54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
ENVIRONMENT
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
INCINERATORS
LAWS
LEGAL ASPECTS
MANAGEMENT
MATERIALS
MINIMIZATION
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
OXIDATION
PLANNING
POLLUTION LAWS
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
US EPA
US ORGANIZATIONS
US RESOURCE RECOVERY ACTS
WASTE MANAGEMENT