Solid waste policy in 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. In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates household, industrial, manufacturing, and commercial solid and hazardous wastes under the 1976
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is the principal federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.United States. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. , , ''et seq., ...
(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.


Solid waste

Solid waste means any garbage or refuse, sludge from a
wastewater Wastewater is water generated after the use of freshwater, raw water, drinking water or saline water in a variety of deliberate applications or processes. Another definition of wastewater is "Used water from any combination of domestic, industrial ...
treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or an
air pollution Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different typ ...
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. 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.


Non-hazardous solid wastes


Municipal

Municipal Solid Waste 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 ...
(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 Cardboard is a generic term for heavy paper-based products. The construction can range from a thick paper known as paperboard to corrugated fiberboard which is made of multiple plies of material. Natural cardboards can range from grey to light ...
, food scraps, plastic bags & containers,
glass bottle A glass bottle is a bottle made from glass. Glass bottles can vary in size considerably, but are most commonly found in sizes ranging between about 200 millilitres and 1.5 litres. Common uses for glass bottles include food condiments, soda, liq ...
s, grass clippings, furniture, tires, electrical & electronic items, and
metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
s. 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.


Agricultural and animal

Agricultural wastes include primary
crop residue Crop residues are materials left in an agricultural field after the crop has been harvested. These residues include stalks and stubble (stems), leaves and seed pods. Good management of field residues can increase efficiency of irrigation and c ...
s that remain in fields after harvest and secondary processing residues generated from the harvested portions of crops during food, feed, and
fiber Fiber or fibre (from la, fibra, links=no) is a natural or artificial substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials. The strongest engineering materials often incorpora ...
production. This is generated during the production and distribution through
decomposition Decomposition or rot is the process by which dead organic substances are broken down into simpler organic or inorganic matter such as carbon dioxide, water, simple sugars and mineral salts. The process is a part of the nutrient cycle and is e ...
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 Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...
, storage, processing, and wholesaling. The food scraps generated by
retailers Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholesaler, and t ...
and consumers are not included in this category as these scraps enter the waste stream as
municipal solid waste 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 ...
. Animal wastes are wastes generated from farms and feedlots, also known as Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) or
Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations In animal husbandry, a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO), as defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), is an intensive animal feeding operation (AFO) in which over 1,000 animal units are confined for over 45 day ...
(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.


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. This figure includes waste generated from 17 industrial manufacturers of
organic chemicals In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. The s ...
, inorganic chemicals,
iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...
and steel,
plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
s and
resin In polymer chemistry and materials science, resin is a solid or highly viscous substance of plant or synthetic origin that is typically convertible into polymers. Resins are usually mixtures of organic compounds. This article focuses on n ...
s, stone, clay,
glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...
,
concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...
, pulp and paper, food, and kindred products. Industrial waste does not go into the
municipal solid waste 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 ...
stream and therefore is landfilled or processed separately. As per EPA guidelines industrial waste management units have to consider
waste characterization Waste characterisation (''waste characterization'' US) is the process by which the composition of different waste streams is analysed. Waste characterisation plays an important part in any treatment of waste which may occur. Developers of new waste ...
and minimization methods, waste constituent information factsheets,
risk assessment Broadly speaking, a risk assessment is the combined effort of: # identifying and analyzing potential (future) events that may negatively impact individuals, assets, and/or the environment (i.e. hazard analysis); and # making judgments "on the ...
tools, institutional mechanism/stakeholder
partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments ...
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 Debris (, ) is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, as in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier, etc. Depending on context, ''debris'' can refer to ...
generated during the
construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form Physical object, objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Pr ...
,
renovation Renovation (also called remodeling) is the process of improving broken, damaged, or outdated structures. Renovations are typically done on either commercial or residential buildings. Additionally, renovation can refer to making something new, ...
, and demolition of buildings, roads, and bridges. This can be often bulky and heavy
building material Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-ma ...
s consisting of concrete, building wood waste,
asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...
from roads and
roof shingle Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat, rectangular shapes laid in courses from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive course overlapping the joints below. ...
s,
drywall Drywall (also called plasterboard, dry lining, wallboard, sheet rock, gypsum board, buster board, custard board, and gypsum panel) is a panel made of calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum), with or without additives, typically extruded between thic ...
gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywal ...
,
metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
s, bricks, blocks,
glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...
,
plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
s, 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. 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 Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...
.
Sludge Sludge is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. For example, it can be produced as a settled suspension obtained from conventional ...
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 Wastewater treatment is a process used to remove contaminants from wastewater and convert it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once returned to the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on the environmen ...
. This includes
electric arc furnace An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc. Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundries for producing cast iron products) up to ...
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 Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...
produced during the
copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pinkis ...
refining process. Scrap metal wastes include
sheet metal Sheet metal is metal formed into thin, flat pieces, usually by an industrial process. Sheet metal is one of the fundamental forms used in metalworking, and it can be cut and bent into a variety of shapes. Thicknesses can vary significantly; ex ...
, wire, metal tanks and containers, scrap automobiles, and machine shop turnings that are generally nonhazardous in nature.


Medical waste

Medical waste and
biomedical waste Biomedical waste or hospital waste is any kind of waste containing infectious (or potentially infectious) materials. It may also include waste associated with the generation of biomedical waste that visually appears to be of medical or laborator ...
consist of all waste materials generated at health care facilities including hospitals, clinics, offices of
physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
s, dentists, and
veterinarian A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...
s,
blood bank A blood bank is a center where blood gathered as a result of blood donation is stored and preserved for later use in blood transfusion. The term "blood bank" typically refers to a department of a hospital usually within a Clinical Pathology laborat ...
s, home health care facilities,
funeral home A funeral home, funeral parlor or mortuary, is a business that provides burial and funeral services for the dead and their families. These services may include a prepared wake and funeral, and the provision of a chapel for the funeral. Services ...
s, medical research facilities, and laboratories. RCRA Subtitle J regulated medical waste in four states ( New York,
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
,
Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...
,
Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...
) and
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
, 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 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
,
Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agenc ...
, and the
Food and Drug Administration The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA or US FDA) is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Health and Human Services. The FDA is respon ...
.


Special wastes

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
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 Produced water is a term used in the oil industry or geothermal industry to describe water that is produced as a byproduct during the extraction of oil and natural gas, or used as a medium for heat extraction. Produced water is the kind of brackis ...
, and
drilling fluid In geotechnical engineering, drilling fluid, also called drilling mud, is used to aid the drilling of boreholes into the earth. Often used while drilling oil and natural gas wells and on exploration drilling rigs, drilling fluids are als ...
s), coal combustion residuals generated by electric power plants and other industries,
mining waste In mining, tailings are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different to overburden, which is the waste rock or other material that overli ...
, and
cement kiln Cement kilns are used for the pyroprocessing stage of manufacture of portland and other types of hydraulic cement, in which calcium carbonate reacts with silica-bearing minerals to form a mixture of calcium silicates. Over a billion tonnes of ...
dust. ''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 The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is the principal federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.United States. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. , , ''et seq., ...
(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
sludge Sludge is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. For example, it can be produced as a settled suspension obtained from conventional ...
s and can be discarded household, industrial, or commercial products such as oil, paints, certain electronics waste, cleaning fluids or pesticides, or the
by-products A by-product or byproduct is a secondary product derived from a production process, manufacturing process or chemical reaction; it is not the primary product or service being produced. A by-product can be useful and marketable or it can be consid ...
of
manufacturing process Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a ran ...
es. * Household Hazardous Wastes: This includes used and leftover household products that contain, corrosive, toxic, ignitable, or reactive constituents. Examples are medical waste, used oil, paints, cleaners, batteries, pesticides, and light bulbs/lamps. Since these contain potentially hazardous ingredients, improper disposal can lead to human health risks and environmental pollution. Proper and safe management of hazardous wastes is important in the collection, reuse, recycling, and disposal stages which are mostly facilitated by the municipalities or local governments and specified by EPA in household hazardous waste regulations. * Industrial Hazardous Wastes: The primary generators of hazardous wastes in any region are industrial facilities, manufacturing and processing units, workshops and maintenance units, nuclear facilities, chemical units, etc. The following section briefly describes the four main types of industrial hazardous wastes. *Listed Waste: 40CFR Part261 specifies four lists of wastes. These are: ** F-list: This is waste mainly generated from industrial or manufacturing processes or other different industrial sectors, also called non-specific source wastes. ** K-list: This is generated from specific industrial sources such as petroleum refining, wood treatment, pesticide manufacturing, inorganic pigment of chemical manufacturing, metal and coke production, and veterinary pharmaceutical industries. ** P-list and U-list: These are discarded or intended to be discarded commercial chemical products that have listed generic names, container residues, spill residues, or off-specification species. P-list differs from U-waste where the former is acute hazardous waste and the latter toxic waste. * Universal Waste: Federal regulations have designated hazardous wastes such as batteries, pesticides, mercury-containing equipment, and light bulbs/lamps as universal wastes. This is a way to streamline them separately and control and facilitate proper collection, storage, recovery or treatment, and disposal that encourages reducing the quantity of such wastes going to landfills and incinerators and thereby increases recovery and recycling rates. * Characteristic Waste: These are wastes that are defined based on their specific characteristics of ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity. Federal statute 40CFR§261 regulates these wastes. Ignitable wastes are defined by their combustion capacity under conditions when they consist of
waste oil Waste oil is defined as any petroleum-based or synthetic oil that, through contamination, has become unsuitable for its original purpose due to the presence of impurities or loss of original properties. Differentiating between "waste oil" and "use ...
s and solvents. Corrosive wastes like battery acids are characterized by their pH value – acids (pH ≤ 2) and bases (pH ≥ 12.5). Reactive wastes include lithium-sulfur batteries and explosives that can cause explosions, toxic fumes, or gases and toxic wastes that are harmful to human health or environment when inhaled or ingested or disposed. Examples of toxic wastes include mercury and lead. * Mixed Waste: These are wastes that contain both radioactive and hazardous waste components making them complicated to regulate. Low Level Mixed Wastes (LLMW) are generated from sources such as industrial, hospital, and nuclear power plant facilities and also from processes such as medical diagnostic testing and research, pharmaceutical and biotechnology development, pesticide research, and nuclear power plant operations. The other two types are High Level Mixed Waste (HLW) and Mixed Trans Uranic Waste (MTRU).


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. 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%. The most recent numbers from the EPA indicate that in 2012 the US municipal solid waste recycle rate was 34.5%. This section describes the common methods of solid waste disposal practiced in United States and worldwide. * Landfills: These are technically designed areas where waste is disposed scientifically. They are characterized by liners that prevent seepage of leachates into the groundwater. There are different designs for landfills used for municipal solid waste or household waste, construction & demolition waste, and hazardous waste. According to an EPA report, the number of municipal solid waste landfills has gone down from 7924 in 1988 to 1754 in 2006. There were close to 1900 construction & demolition landfills in 1994. * Combustion or Incineration:
Combustion Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combus ...
or
incineration Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-energy facilities. Incineration and other high ...
of waste reduces the amount of landfill space needed by burning waste in a controlled manner and also generates electricity through
waste-to-energy Waste-to-energy (WtE) or energy-from-waste (EfW) is the process of generating energy in the form of electricity and/or heat from the primary treatment of waste, or the processing of waste into a fuel source. WtE is a form of energy recovery. Mo ...
technologies such as gasification,
pyrolysis The pyrolysis (or devolatilization) process is the thermal decomposition of materials at elevated temperatures, often in an inert atmosphere. It involves a change of chemical composition. The word is coined from the Greek-derived elements ''py ...
,
anaerobic digestion Anaerobic digestion is a sequence of processes by which microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen. The process is used for industrial or domestic purposes to Waste management, manage waste or to produce fuels. Mu ...
, fermentation, etc. * Transfer Stations: Transfer stations are intermediate facilities where the collected municipal solid waste is unloaded from collection trucks, compacted to reduce the volume of the waste, and held for a short time before it is reloaded onto larger, long-distance trucks or containers for shipment to landfills or other treatment and disposal facilities. * Recovery & Recycling: Wastes are also good sources of raw materials. Recovery and
recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...
of wastes can help to reduce the use of virgin materials for producing new goods. Recycling construction & demolition waste can also save the space in landfills and large amounts of materials like metals,
glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...
,
plastic Plastics are a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic materials that use polymers as a main ingredient. Their plasticity makes it possible for plastics to be moulded, extruded or pressed into solid objects of various shapes. This adaptab ...
s, and cardboards can be recovered. * Composting:
Composting Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...
is a way to return nutrients back into the environment by allowing microorganisms to turn the waste into
manure Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the Soil fertility, fertility of soil by adding organic ma ...
. Applying this manure to agricultural land can improve the fertility of the soil providing it essential nutrients. It is estimated that 27.8% of the municipal solid waste generated in United States in 2009 was organic waste consisting of yard trimmings and food waste that is compostable. The agricultural and animal waste generated can also be composted and used as manure. For example, it is estimated that a dairy cow produces approximately 40 pounds of waste (dung, urine) per day which can be dried and used as manure. This manure can also be used in digesters to produce
biogas Biogas is a mixture of gases, primarily consisting of methane, carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide, produced from raw materials such as agricultural waste, manure, municipal waste, plant material, sewage, green waste and food waste. It is a ...
(methane gas) or electricity, and other biofuels like ethanol.


Costs and problems associated with waste

Some of the main issues associated with waste are
open dump Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * ''Open'' (Cowboy Junkies album), 2001 * ''Open'' (YF ...
ing, odor, particulate matter emissions, leachate seepage from landfills, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that lead to air pollution, surface and
groundwater pollution Groundwater pollution (also called groundwater contamination) occurs when pollutants are released to the ground and make their way into groundwater. This type of water pollution can also occur naturally due to the presence of a minor and unwante ...
, food chain contamination, land area depletion, human health impacts, environmental degradation, and negative impacts on plant and animal life.


Rationales for solid waste policy

All levels of government - federal, state, and local - are involved in regulating solid waste in United States. Proper
waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment and disposal of waste, together with monitorin ...
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: #
Economies of scale In microeconomics, economies of scale are the cost advantages that enterprises obtain due to their scale of operation, and are typically measured by the amount of output produced per unit of time. A decrease in cost per unit of output enables ...
- 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. # 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. # 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 In economics, deadweight loss is the difference in production and consumption of any given product or service including government tax. The presence of deadweight loss is most commonly identified when the quantity produced ''relative'' to the amoun ...
(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 system A deposit-refund system (DRS), also known as deposit-return system, advance deposit fee or deposit-return scheme, is a surcharge on a product when purchased and a rebate when it is returned. A well-known example is when container deposit legislation ...
s 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. 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.


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. In 2006, pay as you throw had been instituted in over 7,000 United States communities.


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. This is an example of
command and control regulation Command and Control (CAC) regulation finds common usage in academic literature and beyond. The relationship between CAC and environmental policy is considered in this article, an area that demonstrates the application of this type of regulation. Ho ...
, 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.


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. 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.
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: *"Prevent pollution and promote reuse and recycling; *Reduce priority and toxic chemicals in products and waste; and *Conserve energy and materials." 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. 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.


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.


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. 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 The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is the principal federal law in the United States governing the disposal of solid waste and hazardous waste.United States. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. , , ''et seq., ...
(RCRA) of 1976. 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 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 ...
(CERCLA) of 1980 - commonly known as Superfund. Implementation of RCRA was relatively slow 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. 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: * Resource Recovery Act of 1970 which provides state and local governments with technical and financial help in planning and developing resource recovery and waste disposal systems * Used Oil Recycling Act of 1980 which defines the terms used oil, recycled oil, lubricating oil, and re-refined oil, and encourages state to use recycled oil * Solid Waste Disposal Act Amendments of 1980 which targets against hazardous waste dumping * Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986 which amends CERCLA of 1980, increases state involvement in the Superfund program, and encourages greater citizen participation in decision making * Medical Waste Tracking Act of 1988 created RCRA Subtitle J, which expired on March 22, 1991. ''See'' Medical waste. * Ocean Dumping Ban Act of 1988 which prohibits all municipal sewage sludge and industrial waste dumping into the ocean * RCRA cleanup reforms I&II of 1999 and 2001 which accelerate the cleanup of hazardous waste facilities regulated under RCRA * Used Oil Management Standards of 2003 which defines used oil management standards in a more exact manner Statutes and rules designed to improve community access to information about chemical hazards: * Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (EPCRA), also known as SARA Title III of 1980, which provides for notification of emergency releases of chemicals, and addresses communities' right-to-know about toxic and hazardous chemicals * RCRA Expanded Public Participation Rule of 1996 which encourages communities' involvement in the process of permitting hazardous waste facilities and expands public access to information about such facilities Statutes and rules designed to prevent pollution: * Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 which requires the EPA to establish an Office of Pollution Prevention and the owners and operators of manufacturing facilities to report annually on source reduction and recycling activities * Hazardous Waste Combustors; Revised Standards; Final Rule - Part 1 of 1998 which provides for a conditional exclusion from RCRA for fuels which are produced from a hazardous waste and promotes the installation of cost effective pollution prevention technologies


Federal legislation


Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

Within RCRA, the EPA has three comprehensive waste management programs: # 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. # Subtitle D - Solid waste: The Subtitle D program establishes a system for controlling (primarily non-hazardous) solid waste, such as
household waste 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, a ...
. The program provides the states and local governments with guidance, policy and regulations for the efficient waste management. # Subtitle I - Underground storage tanks: The Subtitle I program in RCRA regulates toxic substances and petroleum products stored in
underground storage tank An underground storage tank (UST) is, according to United States federal regulations, a storage tank, including any underground piping connected to the tank, that has at least 10 percent of its volume underground. Definition & Regulation in U.S. ...
s (UST). The program establishes requirements for design and operation of UST aimed at preventing accidental spills.


=Main RCRA accomplishments

= Some of the main achievements of RCRA since its implementation are given below: * 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. 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: * 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. 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. 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.


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. 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 Incineration is a waste treatment process that involves the combustion of substances contained in waste materials. Industrial plants for waste incineration are commonly referred to as waste-to-energy facilities. Incineration and other high ...
,
recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...
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.


References

{{Waste * Waste legislation in the United States Environment of the United States
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...