The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), enacted in 1976, is a Federal law of the United States contained in 42 U.S.C. §§6901-6992k. It is usually pronounced as "rick-rah" or "Wreck-rah." The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) states that RCRA's goals are:

• to protect the public from harm caused by waste disposal
• to encourage reuse, reduction, and recycling
• to clean up spilled or improperly stored wastes.

EPA waste management regulations are codified at 40 C.F.R. pts. 239-282. Regulations regarding management of hazardous waste begins at 40 C.F.R. pt. 260. As noted below, most states have enacted laws and promulgated regulations that are at least as stringent as the federal regulations.

The EPA replaced its toll-free hotline c. 2005 with the RCRA Online Database -- http://www.epa.gov/rcraonline. For more information see EPA's RCRA Orientation Manual (1996).

Related acts

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An amendment of the earlier Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, RCRA was enacted to create a management system to regulate waste from "cradle-to-grave." In 1984 the Hazardous and Solid Wastes Amendments Act was added to the Act and in 1986 the law was expanded further to regulate underground storage tanks and other leaking waste storage facilities. However, unlike the "Superfund" (CERCLA), RCRA only regulates active and not historical sites.

Implementation and scope

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The EPA Office of Solid Waste (OSW) is responsible for implementing RCRA. The act is similar to the Clean Air Act (USA) (1970) in that it allows the OSW to delegate responsibility for certain wastes to the state level. All but three states have accepted full responsibility for RCRA enforcement and receive financial support for doing so.

Primarily, RCRA defines hazardous waste and mandates record keeping and reporting necessary to keep track of where such wastes originate, are treated, stored or disposed. This is accomplished through the use of a manifest system called Biennial Reporting System: reports which companies file every two years with EPA or their local state agency. The EPA or state agency issues permits under RCRA to Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDFs) which are allowed to handle hazardous waste under the terms of the permit. RCRA includes significant enforcement legislation including the ability to pursue criminal prosecution and large fines for failing to comply with RCRA's reporting requirements and its other provisions.

Major sources of hazardous solid waste have been exempted from coverage of RCRA. These sources include municipal water, domestic sewage, NPDES permit, and "recycling". Recycling waste under RCRA is restricted to wastes that are part of an ongoing process and destined for immediate re-use (within 90 days). See American Mining Congress v. EPA.

TSDFs

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Texas Industries

External links

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• TSDF permitting
• Collected Papers of William Sanjour, a retired EPA employee and whistleblower

1976 in law | United States federal environmental legislation