Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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Widespread p ollu tion of water has become a major problem throughout the world and waste disposal has always been a serious cause of pollution. Often, the places where people used to think it was safe to swim or to use the water for drinking were no longer safe. Due to the seriousness of the environmental damage, the U.S. Congress passed the Solid Waste Disposal Act in 1965 to improve the methods of managing waste disposal, but it was found to be inefficient and was amended by the Resource Recovery Act; this act as well yielded weak results over time. Congress finally took stronger measures and enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) in 1976 to safely manage and dispose of massive amounts of municipal and industrial waste by empowering the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate waste disposal and cleanup. The RCRA was efficient in dealing with waste management because it processed the waste from the point of origin to the point where the waste was being disposed.

The goal in enacting the RCRA was to protect the nation’s waters by cleaning up any spilled or leaked waste. The act also worked in a way to eliminate or reduce certain waste from getting into the environment. RCRA is not only responsible for taking care of large-scale toxic wastes but is also in charge of municipal wastes. It involves related federal and state agencies in waste management and coordinates them to achieve better results.

In 1998 the RCRA Orientation Manual was published and the RCRA program set out within the document has been evolving ever since. The RCRA manual covered different areas such as solid waste management and management of hazardous waste. The measures of the RCRA require not only coordination among federal and state agencies such as the EPA’s Office of Solid Waste, Emergency Response, EPA Regional Organizations, and state waste and environmental departments, but also the industries and businesses regulated by the RCRA, and the general public.

The RCRA also manages and establishes control measures for underground storage tanks for waste management. Normally, these underground storage tanks contain petroleum or very hazardous substances that are dangerous or flammable; the mere act of burying the substances does not render them 100 percent safe, so the tanks must be well constructed and maintained so that they provide adequate safety while operating. Those who own underground storage tanks must secure loads in order to comply with the environmental regulations. There is no guarantee that the underground storage tanks will not leak, so Congress amended RCRA in 1986 to create the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund to facilitate and clean up any leakage of the underground storage tanks.

Solid wastes are defined as abandoned or recycled materials that are considered useless, but industries and businesses are increasingly encouraged to reuse recoverable solid waste as much as possible. It must be determined first if the recycled materials are RCRA-regulated or not before being processed, since that would establish guidelines for their handling. Hazardous waste has four types: ignitable, corrosive, reactive, and toxic. These wastes have to be tested for toxicity in order to determine characteristics. In order to recycle hazardous waste efficiently and safely, measures within the RCRA facilitate the proper management of commonly recycled waste streams. The EPA’s Office of Solid Waste (OSW) is responsible for reducing waste by conserving resources and preventing future waste disposal problems by establishing regulations and having all leakage and waste areas cleaned up.

In spite of the government organizations that have been created to protect the environment, public involvement is just as important. As part of the RCRA’s measures, communities play a major role by involving and educating all the citizens who participate in different programs administered by the EPA.

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