Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

1
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

• Authorizes EPA to identify hazardous wastes and
  regulate their generation, transportation,
  treatment, storage and disposal.
• RCRA's goals are to
• Protect us from the hazards of waste disposal
• Conserve energy and natural resources by
  recycling and recovery
• Reduce or eliminate waste, and
• Clean up waste, which may have spilled, leaked,
  or been improperly disposed.

2
Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976

• Authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection
  Agency (EPA) to track the 75,000 industrial
  chemicals currently produced or imported into the
  United States. The EPA repeatedly screens these
  chemicals and can require reporting or testing of
  those that may pose an environmental or
  human-health hazard. EPA can ban the manufacture
  and import of those chemicals that pose an
  unreasonable risk.
• Requires that EPA be notified of any new chemical
  prior to its manufacture and authorizes EPA to
  regulate production, use or disposal of a chemical

3
Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (1980)

• Authorizes EPA to designate hazardous substances
  that can present substantial danger and
  authorizes the cleanup of sites contaminated with
  such substances
• CERCLA
• established prohibitions and requirements
  concerning closed and abandoned hazardous waste
  sites
• provided for liability of persons responsible for
  releases of hazardous waste at these sites and
• established a trust fund to provide for cleanup
  when no responsible party could be identified

4
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act
(SARA)

• October 17, 1986.
• Expanded to balance with States and Other Fed.
  Laws
• Provided new tools
• Encouraged citizen involvement.

5
Emergency Planning Community Right to Know Act
(1986)

• Also known as Title III of SARA, EPCRA was
  enacted by Congress as the national legislation
  on community safety. This law was designated to
  help local communities protect public health,
  safety, and the environment from chemical
  hazards.

6
Responsible Care

• Since 1988, the U.S. chemical industry, through
  the American Chemistry Council, has implemented
  Responsible Care, a voluntary program to achieve
  improvements in environmental, health and safety
  performance beyond levels required by the U.S.
  government. The program has resulted in
  significant reductions in releases to air, land
  and water, major improvements in workplace and
  community safety, and expanded programs to
  research and test chemicals for potential health
  and environmental impacts.

7
Pollution Prevention Act

• (1990)
• The Pollution Prevention Act focused industry,
  government, and public attention on reducing the
  amount of pollution through cost-effective
  changes in production, operation, and raw
  materials use. Opportunities for source reduction
  are often not realized because of existing
  regulations, and the industrial resources
  required for compliance, focus on treatment and
  disposal. Source reduction is fundamentally
  different and more desirable than waste
  management or pollution control.

8
PPA

• The Administrator shall develop and implement a
  strategy to promote source reduction. As part of
  the strategy, the Administrator shall
• (1) establish standard methods of measurement of
  source reduction
• (2) ensure that the Agency considers the effect
  of its existing and proposed programs on source
  reduction efforts and shall review regulations of
  the Agency prior and subsequent to their proposal
  to determine their effect on source reduction
• (3) coordinate source reduction activities in
  each Agency Office and coordinate with
  appropriate offices to promote source reduction
  practices in other Federal agencies, and generic
  research and development on techniques and
  processes which have broad applicability
• (4) develop improved methods of coordinating,
  streamlining and assuring public access to data
  collected under Federal environmental statutes
• (5) facilitate the adoption of source reduction
  techniques by businesses. This strategy shall
  include the use of the Source Reduction
  Clearinghouse and State matching grants provided
  in this chapter to foster the exchange of
  information regarding source reduction
  techniques, the dissemination of such information
  to businesses, and the provision of technical
  assistance to businesses. The strategy shall also
  consider the capabilities of various businesses
  to make use of source reduction techniques
• (6) identify, where appropriate, measurable goals
  which reflect the policy of this chapter, the
  tasks necessary to achieve the goals, dates at
  which the principal tasks are to be accomplished,
  required resources, organizational
  responsibilities, and the means by which progress
  in meeting the goals will be measured
• (8)  establish an advisory panel of technical
  experts comprised of representatives from
  industry, the States, and public interest groups,
  to advise the Administrator on ways to improve
  collection and dissemination of data
• (9) establish a training program on source
  reduction opportunities, including workshops and
  guidance documents, for State and Federal permit
  issuance, enforcement, and inspection officials
  working within all agency program offices.3
• (10) identify and make recommendations to
  Congress to eliminate barriers to source
  reduction including the use of incentives and
  disincentives
• (11) identify opportunities to use Federal
  procurement to encourage source reduction
• (12) develop, test and disseminate model source
  reduction auditing procedures designed to
  highlight source reduction opportunities and
• (13) establish an annual award program to
  recognize a company or companies which operate
  outstanding or innovative source reduction
  programs.

9
The Toxics Release Inventory

• (TRI) is a publicly available EPA database that
  contains information on toxic chemical releases
  and other waste management activities reported
  annually by certain covered industry groups as
  well as federal facilities. This inventory was
  established under the Emergency Planning and
  Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) and
  expanded by the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990.
  
• (site http//www.epa.gov/tri/tridata/tri02/index.h
  tm )

10
The Waste Management Hierarchy
11
33/50 Program

• The 33/50 Program targeted 17 priority chemicals
  and set goals of33 reduction in releases and
  transfers of these chemicals by 1992 and 50
  reduction by 1995, measured against a 1988
  baseline. The first of EPA's growing series of
  voluntary programs, its primary purpose was to
  demonstrate whether voluntary partnerships could
  augment the Agency's traditional
  command-and-control approach by bringing about
  targeted reductions more quickly than would
  regulations alone.
• The program also sought to foster a pollution
  prevention ethic, encouraging companies to
  consider and apply pollution prevention
  approaches to reducing their environmental
  releases rather than traditional end-of-the-pipe
  methods for treating and disposing of chemicals
  in waste.