United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Washington DC 20460
Hazardous Waste
February 1980
SW845
SEPA
Attack on
Hazardous Waste:
The Challenge
of the 1980's
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Editorial: Turning Back the Toxic Tide
On August 1, 1978, on the front page of the New York
Times, a story appeared about a small neighborhood in
up-state New York which few Americans had ever
heard of. The community in question surrounded Love
Canal, and the events which had taken place there—by
any measure —were bizarre and deeply troubling. A
brew of chemicals which had been deposited in the
ground years ago percolated up from the burial site
and invaded the basements of homes. Shrubbery
turned black. Children returned from play with burns on
their hands and faces. Pets died. An abnormally high
incidence of birth defects and miscarriages was
documented. And public health officials discovered
high white-blood-cell counts among the residents—a
possible precursor of leukemia.
But what first appeared to be an isolated health
disaster of catastrophic proportions turned out to be
more ominous yet. After Love Canal, an explosion of
similar incidents burst forth across the nation —in North
Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan, California, Louisiana,
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Iowa, Tennessee, Texas,
and many other states. We learned that Love Canal was
merely the first detonation of a string of chemical time
Pombs literally strewn across the nation.
The hazardous waste problem stemmed from the
industrial chemical revolution which started in the
1940's. If it is to be resolved, it will require an intensive
attack on hazardous waste during the 1980"s. We have
all been the willing beneficiaries of "better living
^ through chemistry," and it is therefore incumbent upon
fall of us to join this effort.
|3 I do not mean to imply that chemistry is an inherently
* But there is another side of the story which
i~t +> o manufacturers fail to talk about in their advertisements:
+> & W o for years, tons of chemical wastes which industry
Q) * ^ ^ generated have been disposed of haphazardly. Many
§ 5 Ji wastes have simply left by the back door of the factory,
S *^ « M so to speak, at slight cost to the producer; but they've
"£ ^ ® f ended up in our backyards, at great risk to our health
,fij c . P> and our fragile environment.
o co a? Nothing less than a fundamental change in the way
industry does business can alter this increasingly
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intolerable situation. Or more accurately, nothing less
will do than a fundamental change in the way American
industry manages its waste products.
Those changes will have far-reaching implications.
The solution will entail placing special demands on
waste generators, waste transporters, and waste
disposers. It will increase the cost of many products. It
will require changes in public attitudes and involvement,
particularly regarding the acceptance of new, highly
technical disposal facilities (facilities which will have to
be sited near someone's community).
We find ourselves in a position which is worse than
being caught between a rock and hard place. We are
literally caught between an annual outpouring of
millions of tons of hazardous waste on the one hand,
and the arduous, uphill battle of managing that waste
properly on the other hand.
The Congress of the United States has charged the
Environmental Protection Agency with the enormous
task of setting remedies in motion which will induce
industry to address our pressing hazardous waste
problems. This year, EPA will be phasing in a complex
series of regulations which are designed to impact the
life-cycle of hazardous wastes from the point of
generation to the point of disposal —from cradle to
grave. For the first time, comprehensive records will be
required on the contents of waste drums, on shipping
arrangements, and on disposal operations. Standards
will be established to ensure that the best available
management techniques are employed. We do riot view
these measures as the final solution. No single"si:roke of
a regulator's pen can quickly change the old habits of
waste mismanagement that industry has become
accustomed to. But the new regulations are an essential
first step which will pave the way to preventing 1 he
creation of new Love Canals.
The new regulations are not EPA's first salvo in the
war on waste. Stimulated by Love Canal, the agency
adopted an uncompromisingly hawkish attitude toward
these problems. We have established a Hazardous
Waste Enforcement Task Force — in Washington and in
the field —and, in cooperation with the Department of
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Justice, have and will bring scores of suits against the
worst offenders in the fly-by-night waste disposal
business. We are working with the Congress to create a
"Superfund" to clean up dangerous abandoned dump
sites. And we're seeking from the Congress greatly
augmented resources —close to 800 EPA employees, as
compared to a handful only four years ago, and $30
million to assist the states to become aggressive, vital
partners in overseeing industry's management of
hazardous wastes.
As a society, we have long been careless and
shortsighted in our treatment of the environment. Real
change will require the concerted efforts of all of us —
business and industry for certain, but also citizens,
interest groups and public officials.
It is hard to believe that a decade has passed since the
first Earth Day. Much has been accomplished in that
time. But I predict that the next decade will be even
more critical —and an overriding environmental issue
will be hazardous waste management.
By EckardtC. Beck
Mr Beck is Assistant Administrator for Water and Waste
Management, US Environmental Protection Agency.
This editorial or any parts of the document it accompanies may be
reprinted without prior permission
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Attack on
Hazardous Waste:
The Challenge
ofthe1980's
Pollution of Ground
Water
Contamination of
Rivers and Lakes
Air Pollution
Explosion and Fire
Poisoning
The Problem
Our country has recently endured an unprecedented
spate of toxic-related episodes. It has become difficult
to pick up a newspaper without reading about drums of
hazardous waste left rotting in areas precariously close
to aquatic resources, or even human communities. One
need only draw on some recent historical events as
examples of the effects:
In 1978, the water supply of Toone, Tennessee, was
found to be contaminated, six years after a nearby
landfill containing pesticide wastes had been closed.
In 1978, poisons leached from a dumpsite in Charles
City, Iowa, into the Cedar River in quantities sufficient
enough to be detected in the water supplies of
communities 60 miles downstream.
In 1972, hazardous chemicals vaporized from a landfill
near the towns of Darrow and Geismar, Louisiana.
People and livestock were exposed to toxic vapor.
In 1978, a fire erupted at a Chester, Pennsylvania,
disposal site. Forty-five firefighters were stricken after
inhaling chemical fumes and a major bridge had to be
closed.
In 1978, President Carter declared Love Canal the first
national disaster area for events other than "an act of
God." Miscarriages, birth defects and other serious
health problems appear to have been caused by
chemical wastes buried nearly a quarter of a century
ago.
Although specific horror stories vary greatly in terms
of the severity of the impacts upon health and the
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environment, the hazardous waste problem has reached
epidemic proportions. The seeds of this problem, in
many cases, were planted years ago, beginning wii:h the
advent of the widespread use of synthetic material!;
following World War II.
Over the last 20 years, extensive national efforts have
focused on cleaning up air and water, as well as on
making the workplace safer for the American laborer.
These were logical, immediate priorities. But
overlooked were the by-product wastes from industrial
processes.
We have now become painfully aware that some: 50
million metric tons of potentially hazardous wastes are
produced annually in the United States. That amount
grows at a projected rate of about 3.5 percent a year,
And less than 10 percent is probably being disposed of
in an environmentally sound manner.
By a combination of ignorance of the hazards and
deliberate avoidance of the costs of waste control by
some industries, we find ourselves saddled with a
problem which will take years to resolve.
How Wastes are Presently
Handled
We are the most highly industrialized society the world
has ever known. Yet no system has been
institutionalized for properly disposing of our toxic
wastes. More effort has heretofore gone into the
regulation of restaurants or taxicabs than into
establishing a safe network for waste disposal.
Furthermore, the number of actors who are involved
with hazardous waste is immense:
• over 750,000 businesses generate some amount of
hazardous waste
• over 10,000 transporters are involved in shipping it
• over 30,000 sites are used for treatment, disposal, or
storage, some on the premises of the generator, others
located elsewhere.
• an unknown number of "midnight dumpers" —
transporters who take the wastes off generators' hands
for a low price, then dispose of it irresponsibly—also
operate on a widespread basis. The end product of their
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services often turns out to be drums of wastes
discarded into sewers, in the woods, in open fields, on
the sides of roads. . .often near municipal drinking
water supplies.
Hazardous wastes —whether from a chemical plant,
battery producer, or electroplater, to cite three
examples—are either disposed of at the factory or off-
site. In either case, the disposal options are nearly
identical:
• disposal on the land
• incineration
• placement in lagoons
• injection wells
• cycling or reclaiming
If wastes are not retained on-site, they are
transported elsewhere by truck, barge, or rail.
Most hazardous waste incidents arise as the result of
indiscriminate disposal by midnight dumpers, improper
management at inadequate treatment, storage or
disposal facilities or spills in transport.
Inadequate
identification of
wastes that are
hazardous
Inadequate
assignment of
responsibility for
safe management
Present Inadequacies
Industry, quite properly, seeks to dispose of wastes at
the lowest possible cost, consistent with the
requirements imposed upon them by laws and
regulations. Presently, in most parts of the United
States, such rules and regulations are non-existent or
incomplete. As a result, there now are a number of
glaring inadequacies in how hazardous wastes are
managed in America:
All wastes have the potential to be harmful, but certain
wastes are particularly hazardous. Until these wastes
are identified as hazardous, mismanagment is likely to
continue.
Currently, except in a few states, a generator, after
handing waste over to a transporter, need assume no
further responsibility. The transporter, in turn, is under
no requirement to dispose of the waste properly. No
records need be kept, hence liability for midnight
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Inadequate
standards for waste
management
facilities
Inadequate
information on
wastes
Inadequate
emergency
notification system
Inadequate
incentives to
improve
technology
Identification of
wastes that are
hazardous
Assignment of
responsibility for
safe management
dumping incidents cannot be traced. No one is
accountable, and in case of surreptitious dumping or an
accident, the public gets stuck with health and
environmental damage—and the cleanup tab.
With the exception of some state programs, no process
exists to define and enforce rigorous design and
operating standards to ensure safe containment or
destruction of hazardous wastes, or to ensure that sites
are not abandoned and left unmonitored and forgotten.
Except in a few states, no one is presently required to
keep records of hazardous waste activities, so it is
impossible to know who is generating hazardous
wastes, how much, how handled, or where.
No method now exists to assure swift cleanup of
hazardous waste spills during transport.
Safe waste management should embody the best
technologies that can be developed. Yet without rules
and regulations to ensure protection of public health
and the environment, the costs of disposal have been
low. As a result, industry has had little incentive to
apply resources or brainpower to developing better,
safer technologies for managing wastes.
The World According to
RCRA
The Congress passed the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act to address these inadequacies and
thereby require industry to change its practices to
ensure safe management of hazardous waste. RCRA
provides specific remedies which will be embodied in
EPA regulations to be issued over the next several
months:
EPA will publish a list of approximately 200 waste
streams that are hazardous, as well as characteristics
and testing procedures whereby waste generators can
identify other waste streams of theirs which are
ignitable, corrosive, reactive, or toxic.
Generators will determine if their wastes are hazardous
by consulting EPA's list, or by testing the wastes.
Alternately, a generator may simply declare his waste
hazardous based on his knowledge of its properties.
When generators ship wastes to off-site facilities,
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Standards for
waste management
facilities
Information on
wastes
they must identify an approved facility to which the
wastes are to go; they must contract with a transporter
to take it there; and they must initiate a manifest which
will track the waste through every step enroute to its
destination. Both the transporter and the management
facility are required to sign the manifest and return the
signed copy to the generator.
Generators must follow up in cases where a signed
manifest is not returned and inform EPA of any missing
wastes.
Transporters are obligated to follow the generator's
instructions and deliver the waste to the designated
facility.
All facilities which store, treat, or dispose of hazardous
waste, whether on-site or off-site, will have to comply
with a series of operating standards, which includes
proper safety measures, development of emergency
procedures, monitoring and training of employees,
long-term financial responsibility, and participate in the
manifest system.
Those facilities will also require permits based upon
the latest technological advances in waste
management. Facilities failing to meet standards must
close down (or will not be permitted to begin)
operations.
As the new national hazardous waste program
begins, existing treatment, storage, and disposal
facilities which notify EPA and submit a permit
application may receive interim status to continue their
operations until their permit applications can be
reviewed. Those facilities must comply with extensive
operating standards during interim status.
Because of the number of sites involved, the
permitting process will necessarily be implemented over
time. The most potentially dangerous sites will be
reviewed first, so that they can be upgraded or closed.
Priority will also be given to new hazardous waste
facilities.
During the 90 days following promulgation of the
regulation defining hazardous waste—i.e., during May,
June, and July of this year—every firm which handles
hazardous waste (whether it be a generator,
transporter, treater, storer, or disposer) must notify
EPA of that fact. EPA will then assign each firm which
notifies an identification number. The firm cannot
continue any hazardous waste activities without using
that identification number.
To help inform those affected, EPA will mail
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Emergency
notification system
Incentives to
improve
technology
information about notification to over 350,000 firms
which it believes may be involved. The mailing will
contain a notification form to be completed and
returned to EPA. If any waste handler fails to be
contacted, it is still his responsibility to notify EPA
within the 90-day period.
Subsequently, every firm which generates,
transports, stores, treats, or disposes of hazardous
waste will submit an annual report to EPA, providing
information what wastes were handled, in what
volume, and in what way.
Generators must make sure that wastes which are being
shipped are properly containerized and labeled.
Transporters are obligated to take prompt cleanup
actions and report any spills or accidents to the proper
authorities.
With responsibilities clearly assigned, and with
standards of safe practice clearly defined, a new era will
begin in which industry will have a strong incentive to
put its best, most imaginative minds to work toward
developing new technologies and new approaches; to
the complex problems of safe waste management,
When Will This Happen?
On February 26, EPA will issue regulations defining the
responsibilities of generators of hazardous waste, of
transporters of hazardous waste, and the requirements
of the notification process. These regulations will
specify how the manifest system is to work. Because
these regulations are being issued early, the regulated
firms will have extra time to understand their new
responsibilities.
In April, EPA will issue regulations defining what
wastes are hazardous and set forth operating standards
for treatment, storage, and disposal facilities. It will also
issue procedural regulations stating how the permit
program will work, and what states must do to be
authorized to run the Federal program.
During May, June, and July, all firms which handle
hazardous waste must notify EPA.
By October, all firms that store, treat, or dispose of
hazardous waste must apply for a permit. Those who
notify and apply for a permit can obtain interim stiatus to
continue their operations.
Also in October, the program takes effect and goes
into operation. The manifest system must be used for all
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waste shipments. All sites with interim status must be in
compliance with the interim operating standards.
In the fall, EPA will issue the standards on which the
permits for storage, treatment, and disposal sites will be
developed.
In the spring of 1981, permitting of facilities will
begin.
State involvement is critical to the success of RCRA.
Under the law, EPA can authorize States to implement
and enforce RCRA —on an interim basis for two years
and then on a final basis. A State program must be
equivalent to the Federal program (substantially
equivalent during the interim period) to be authorized.
Many States have indicated a strong interest in
operating the program. EPA hopes that some 37 states
will qualify for authorization. EPA will administer the
program in any unauthorized States.
Public Opinion
Forces in the
Marketplace
Will RCRA Work?
To carry out the mandates of RCRA will require a
massive transformation in the way that industry has
been accustomed to managing its wastes. A skeptic
might question whether these changes will occur. But a
variety of forces will be at work to press
towards the rapid adoption of safer approaches to
waste management.
Public policy is an outgrowth of public demand. There is
no greater force in a democratic society than that of
public opinion. And by any measure, the current public
attitude is one of outrage directed against the
indiscriminate poisoning of our environment through
hazardous waste mismanagement. Lawmakers,
regulators, the business community—all are aware of a
strong national mood toward tightening the screws on
chemical carelessness.
Under the influence of the new hazardous waste
controls, a number of incentives will be introduced into
the economic marketplace which were previously
missing. Firms offering advanced treatment and
disposal approaches, which formally could not sell their
services, will be swamped by the demand. New firms
will enter the waste management field. Waste storers,
treaters and disposers will seek out more sophisticated
technological processes to properly handle their wastes.
And the costs of environmentally sound waste
management will rise, producing a powerful incentive
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DATE DUE
12
The Courts and
Liability
The Role of Citizens
Monitoring and
Enforcement
. " _.iange methods of production so as
- mimize their output of hazardous wastes.
RCRA contains numerous provisions designed to make
those who handle hazardous waste legally and
financially liable for violations of the regulations. The
degree of liability will, of course, depend on the
circumstances. Through liability suits and other lawsuits
based on RCRA infractions, the judicial system will play
a large role in interpreting the RCRA program and
clearly defining the penalties for non-compliance.
"Public participation" has become a bureaucratic
platitude in many quarters. That is unfortunate,
because RCRA contains many real and potent
opportunities for citizens to exert meaningful influence:
RCRA provides for public hearings as part of the facility
permitting process; it grants citizens opportunities to
petition to add additional wastes to the hazardous
waste list; it provides means for citizens to register
complaints about existing sites or procedures which
may pose public health threats; and it authorizes
citizens to bring legal suits against corporate non-
compliers. In short, RCRA authorizes citizens to play a
central role in protecting themselves against the
dangers brought on by the excesses of our synthetic-
oriented society.
Federal regulations carry the force of law. Enforcement
activities to ensure compliance with the various aspects
of the RCRA program will be conducted at the State,
regional, and national levels. Failure to comply with
specific provisions will result in prosecution. The initial
enforcement effort will be on making sure that the
manifest system and interim status standards are
complied with. Once facilities have been permitted,
major emphasis will be placed on ensuring that permit
requirements are met. But equally as important, the
flexing of RCRA's legal muscle will establish a system
for responsible waste management which will be
buttressed by public opinion, forces in the marketplace,
the courts and liability, and the role of individual
citizens.
(5PL-16)
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Jncontrolled and
\bandoned Sites
Capacity and Siting
What the Future Holds
As this decade begins, so too begins a new effort to
control the serious threats posed by mismanagement of
hazardous waste. If the initiation of RCR A opens the
door to better managerial practices, by the mid 1980's
we should begin to realize noticeable changes in
treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous wastes.
New, safer facilities with highly developed
technological capabilities should appear. Also, the cost
and responsibility of properly handling wastes will be
placed where it belongs—on the generators. This in
turn will create incentives to reduce the production of
hazardous waste in the second half of the 80's, as
alternative products and production processes are
developed.
But the 1980's will also bring a continuing array of
difficult issues which must be dealt with as the attack
on hazardous waste moves forward:
Tens of thousands of disposal sites exist all across the
nation. Many are uncontrolled and/or abandoned.
These sites need to be identified, analyzed, and, where
necessary, brought under control, which will be an
enormous task by any measure.
EPA, Justice, and the States are aggressively
developing enforcement cases against such sites. But
enactment of a Superfund by the Congress is essential
to provide better tools. With a Superfund, EPA will be
able to move in and protect health by cleaning up
problem sites before, not after, time-consuming
litigation. Further, a Superfund will provide funds for
cleanup of abandoned sites, for which no resources are
now available.
Our nation lacks sufficient hazardous waste
management facilities. Establishment of new facilities
almost always results in intense opposition of local
citizens. Current public hostility to new waste disposal
facilities is understandable; people are afraid. But
industry can't properly manage wastes without sites at
which improved management can take place. Hence
every citizen has a personal stake in the resolution of the
siting issue. Our society needs new processes and
procedures whereby sites can be selected at which the
best technologies can be applied to assure the safe
management of hazardous waste.
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Liability
Expanded Listing of
Hazardous Waste
Refined Standards
for Hazardous
Waste
Management
Facilities
Persons who store, treat, or dispose of hazardous waste
must be required to assume some liability for their
actions to assure high standards of performance. But if
liability exposure is too great, responsible industry may
be driven from, or never enter, the marketplace. If that
happens, private capital may fail to finance the new
hazardous waste management facilities which our
nation desperately needs, and the way will be open for
midnight dumpers to resume their illicit operations on a
black-market basis.
Knowledge of which wastes are hazardous is still
imperfect. A continuing process must go forward to
expand and refine the listing and management of
hazardous wastes.
EPA's standards for treatment, storage and disposal
facilities are based on state-of-the-art knowledge about
how wastes can best be managed. But the base of
knowledge will expand and improve, and so too must
the standards. Hazardous waste management facilities
must be upgraded and improved over time so as to
reflect an evolving understanding of how wastes can be
managed most safely.
These are only a few of the issues which the hazardous
waste Hydra will force us to confront throughout the
foreseeable future. For, if the truth be known, the
problem of hazardous waste management will be never
ending. As long as society generates toxic wastes,
society will be forced to find safe ways to manage these
wastes —and the solutions will not be easy.
Nevertheless —as any former resident of Love Canal can
tell you—there comes a time when hazardous waste
management problems can no longer be ignored or
shoved under the rug. That time is now.
GPO 866 3t>8
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