Solid Waste Disposal Act Essay Paper

Solid Waste Disposal Act Essay Paper

Solid Waste Disposal Act

Section 1: Introduction

The Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) was signed into law on October 20, 1965.  It was the first major federal law directed at disposal of waste. The law recognizes the potentially negative environmental and health consequences connected with certain practices of disposing of waste. The SWDA offers waste management for industrial and municipal waste, promotes waste management technology, and charges municipalities with the obligation for disposal of solid waste.   According to Franchetti (2009), in its original form, the SWDA broadly attempted to address the solid waste problems that confronted the United States via a series of experiments, investigations, research projects, studies, surveys, demonstrations, and training. The major points of the SWDA   were:  supporting resource recovery, promoting better solid waste management; providing support for research and development of improved methods of managing solid waste, and providing financial aid for states to study and develop plans for managing solid waste. Also, the law directed that the United States Public Health Service promulgate and implement regulations for the collection, transportation, recycling, and disposal of solid waste. Ten years after its passage, it was established that the SDWA was not adequately structured to resolve the escalating mountain of waste disposal issues facing the United States. Consequently, important amendments were made to the SWDA and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act were passed in 1976 Solid Waste Disposal Act Essay Paper.

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Section 2. Discussion of Policy Instrument

The Solid Waste Act of 1965 was the first attempt by the federal government to improve the practice of solid waste disposal. It financed the creation of state waste management programs and started the regulation of the management of municipal waste.  The increasing concerns for environmental and human health protection resulted in the amendment of the SWDA with the 1976 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. This amendment encouraged resource recovery and waste reduction and developed a system of national disposal locations for hazardous wastes.  According to Hickman (2003), The Solid Waste Disposal Act recognized that solid waste management issues, unlike air and water pollution issues, go beyond the control of a pollutant to the management of a resource.  Furthermore, the SWDA set the state to transform the disposal of refuse into the management of solid waste.  Whether a material is referred to as solid waste or refuse might seem unimportant, but it was really significant in 1965 and still is at the moment (Hickman, 2003).  

The Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by RCRA has been effective in solid waste and hazardous waste disposal and management.  It is the country’s top solid waste legislation. The law offers sound local and State programs to deal with the escalating amounts of municipal and industrial waste generate in the United States. According to Rosengren (2016), RCRA  made official amendments to the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965 to develop a framework for the  Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the production, treatment, and disposal of all hazardous and solid waste. The effect of the law in reducing emissions’ restoring contaminated land, raising waste recycling rates, and preventing inappropriate waste handling cannot be understated.  Since its enactment, RCRA has developed over the years via a series of legislative and regulatory updates and is still a core portion of the waste industry. RCRA is one of the most successful environmental laws of the last forty years.

The Resource Conservative and Recovery Act (RCRA) is the primary legislation governing the disposal of hazardous and solid waste in the United States. RCRA was passed by Congress on October 21, 1976, to address the rising problems the country faced from the increasing volume of industrial and municipal waste. RCRA the law that amended the SDWDA of 1965, established national goals for conserving natural and energy resources, protecting the environment and human health from the potential hazards of disposal of wastes; ensuring g management of wastes in an environmentally sound way, and reducing the waste produced (Franchetti, 2019).

The federal solid waste disposal Act as amended by RCRA   has been effective in solid waste disposal because it includes directives that the EPA sets out regulations to control the disposal of solid wastes.  To accomplish these goals, RCRA established three different but interrelated programs: the solid waste program, the hazardous waste program, and the underground storage tank program. Franchetti (2009) posits that the solid waste program established under RCRA Subtitle D encourages states to create comprehensive plans to manage municipal solid waste and nonharzardous industrial solid waste forbids the open dumping of solid waste and sets criteria for municipal landfills along with other facilities for the disposal of solid waste. The hazardous waste program established under RCRA Subtitle C establishes a system for the control of hazardous waste from the time this waste is produced to the time it is eventually disposed of, in effect from cradle to grave. The underground storage tank (UST) storage program established under RCRA Subtitle 1 regulates underground storage tanks containing petroleum products and hazardous substances (Tweedy, 2013).

Another reason for the success of the  SWDA as amended by RCRA is because it outlaws all open dumping of waste, encourages the reduction of source and recycling, and promoted the secure disposal of municipal waste. In addition, RCRA directed strict controls over the disposal, storage, and treatment of hazardous waste.  The initial RCRA regulations, “hazardous waste and consolidated permit regulations”   whose was the publication in the Federal Register was done on May 19, 1980, set out the basic cradle-to-grave approach to the management of hazardous waste that exist today(Frachetti, 2009).  Pepper et al. (2019) emphasize that the most significant feature of RCRA offers “cradle-to-grave” management of hazardous waste from the point of waste generation through its treatment and transportation, storage, and disposal. RCRA mandates generators of hazardous waste to characterize their waste, appropriately manage their waste on-site, and manifest all wasters are sent off-site for disposal. Hazardous waste transporters are mandated to fill in their part of the manifest and adhere to the RCRA and the Federal Department of Transportation placarding requirements.  Also, transporters are required to make deliver hazardous waste to a facility that is approved for the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste.  These facilities must fulfill strict performance standards and also regulate their air emission. In addition, the facilities must monitor and avert discharges to groundwater. Also, RCRA bans the disposal of particular untreated hazardous wastes on land Solid Waste Disposal Act Essay Paper.

The law has been a success because enforcement of waste disposal responsibilities handled by both federal and state governments Subtitle C of the SWDA, as amended by RCRA, requires the Environmental protection Agency to promulgate regulations for hazardous waste management. Initially published in May 1980, the hazardous waste regulation controls the disposal, transport, and storage of waste chemicals that might be hazardous if they are landfilled in a conventional manner. These regulations recognize hazardous chemicals in two ways; by definition and by listing.  A chemical substance that meets any of the definitions or appears on any of the lists needs to be treated as hazardous waste.  Jain et al. (2012) indicate that similar to other environmental legislation, the enforcement responsibilities of RCRA for the management of hazardous waste are handled by every state, with approval from the federal government.  Each state is required to provide a submission of a program for the regulation of hazardous waste, with the programs being approved by the environmental protection agency before the state can take on enforcement responsibilities.

The state programs go through three stages before granting final approval. The interim phase is the first phase and is the phase during which the federal program is implemented. States then start providing submissions for their programs for hazardous waste control. The second phase deals with permitting procedures while the third and final phase offers federal guidance for the design and running of facilities for disposing of hazardous wastes (Jain et al., 2012). Hargreaves et al. (2013) emphasize that the United States Environmental Protection Agency delegates the primary obligation of implementing the RCRA hazardous waste program to individual states in order for minimum standards to be consistently applied across the nation. However, individual states are flexible in implementing the rules. State RCRA regulations need to be at least as strict as the federal requirements, but states are authorized to adopt more stringent requirements.

Section 3: Summary

The Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by RCRA was implemented to address the problems connected with the unregulated disposal of hazardous wastes on the land.  The RCRA grants the United States Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate hazardous waste from cradle to grave, including the production, treatment, transportation, and disposal of hazardous waste. The key goals of RCRA are to protect the environment and human health from the hazards posed by the disposal of waste; conserve natural resources and energy through recycling and recovery of waste; eliminate and reduce as expeditiously as possible the production of hazardous waste and ensure that there is the management of wastes in a way that is protective of the environment and human health.

Amendments to the RCRA were made in 1984.  According to Tweedy (2013)  in November 1984, Congress amended RCRA with the passage of the Federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments(HSWA).  The amendments to RCRA required phasing out of disposal f hazardous wastes on land.  Other mandates of the legislation include increased enforcement authority for environmental protection agency, more stringent management standards for hazardous wastes, and a comprehensive underground storage tank program.

The Solid Waste Disposal Act, as amended by RCRA was established with the purpose of managing solid and municipal waste problems and has undergone amendments in accordance with the need for additional regulation of hazardous waste. Tweedy (2013) posits that There has been the amendment of RCRA on two occasions since HSWA. The first amendment to RCRA occurred with the passage of the Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1992, which fortified the enforcement of RCRA at federal facilities.  The second amendment occurred in 1996 with the passage of the Land Disposal Program Flexibility Act of 1996; a law that offers regulatory flexibility for the disposal of certain wastes on land.  The only focus of RCRA is on future and active facilities and does not deal with historical or abandoned sites presently managed under the CERCLA (Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act) Solid Waste Disposal Act Essay Paper.

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This Assignment asks you to write an informative memo that does the following:

Explains the types of policy instruments available; and
Explores how the appropriate policy instrument is selected and what impact that can have on the overall effectiveness of a policy.
You will achieve this objective by selecting an environmental policy of your choice. You must identify the policy instrument or instruments used to achieve the desired policy outcomes and discuss whether the instrument was effective; and, if not, provide an analysis of what you would recommend as an alternate instrument choice and why.

You may select any international policy or domestic policy that interests you. To be successful for this assignment, it is recommended that you do some preliminary review of your selected policy so that you can clearly identify the policy instrument before you begin your assignment; for example, is it a credit, tax, educational strategy?

Your Memo should consist of three sections:

Section 1. Introduction (1/2- 1 page)

As an introduction to your reader, briefly summarize the policy you selected and short background on the issue the policy is addressing. Assume the reader is somewhat familiar but not an expert. This section of the memo should provide an overview of the issue and solution of your selected policy. Refer to Instruments Huppes and Simonis (2009) pp. 272- 273 to provide ways to describe your policy instrument(s). This is listed in the Resources section below.

Section 2. Discussion of Policy Instrument (2-4 pages)
The middle section of your memo is the focus of this assignment. It summarizes the solution proposed by the selected policy instrument. You want to provide a discussion of the success or failure of the instrument and a summary of why the policy instrument was successful or failed. (Note: you may need to infer this section, but use outside citations to support your analysis.) Use the table 13.1 (p. 262 of Huppes and Simonis (2009) for some guidance as to how to evaluate effectiveness as a guide. This is listed in the Resources section below.

Your assignment requires reading and analyzing materials that offer opinions or “positions” on the policy instrument you selected. These can include news articles, blogs, and reports or other resources that you identify. See additional resources in the resources section.

Section 3: Summary (1/2 – 1 Page)

Make a recommendation consistent with your discussion. How effective was this policy instrument and why were other instruments suggested? If so- why?
Resources

Huppes, G. Simonis. U.E. (2009). Environmental policy instruments in a new era. Sections 13.3- 13.4 (pp. 254-279). Retrieved from https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/49570/1/322766818.pdf

Ipbes. (n. d.). Policy Instruments. Retrieved from https://ipbes.net/policy-instruments

OECD. (2019). Policy Instrument Database. Retrieved from https://www.oecd.org/environment/indicators-modelling-outlooks/policy-instrument-database/

EPA. (n.d.). Laws and Executive Orders. Retrieved from https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/laws-and-executive-orders

BallotPedia. (n.d.). Major environmental policy issues by state. https://ballotpedia.org/Major_environmental_policy_issues_by_state Solid Waste Disposal Act Essay Paper

References

Hargreaves, J. S., Pulfpord, I. D., Balakrishnan, M., & Batara, V. S. (2013).  Conversion of Large Scale Wastes into Value-added Products. CRC Press.

Hickman, H. L . (20003). American Alchemy: The History of Solid Waste Management in the United States. ForesterPress.

Franchetti, M. J. (2009). Solid Waste Analysis and Minimization: A Systems Approach: The Systems Approach.  McGraw Hill Professional.

Jain, R., Urban, L.,  Balbach, H. & Webb, D. M.  (2012). Handbook of Environmental Engineering Assessment: Strategy, Planning,  and Management.  Butterworth-Heinemann.

Pepper, I. L., Gerba, C. P., & Brusseau, M. L. (2019). Environmental and Pollution Science.  Elsevier.

Rosengren, C.  (Oct. 20, 2016). As RCRA turns 40, EPA looks to the future of national solid waste policy. https://www.wastedive.com/news/as-rcra-turns-40-epa-looks-to-the-future-of-national-solid-waste-policy/428725/

Tweedy, J. T. (2013). Introduction to Hazard Control Management: A Vital Organizational Function. CRC Press Solid Waste Disposal Act Essay Paper.