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REMARKS BY THE HONORABLE DOUGLAS M. COSTLE
ADMINISTRATOR, U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
PREPARED FOR DELIVERY AT THE
"RESOURCE RECOVERY TECHNOLOGY SEMINAR"
ON THURSDAY, APRIL 28, 1977
It is a pleasure to be here today and to have this opportunity to
make a few remarks during this joint EPA-local government seminar on the
implementation of resource recovery technology. Today and tomorrow you
will be discussing in considerable detail and depth, a variety of
approaches to the recovery of resources from municipal solid waste.
Even though I was intimately involved a few years ago in helping to
bring about new approaches to resource recovery in the State of
Connecticut, I will resist the temptation of attempting to compress a
two-day seminar into a half-hour luncheon speech. Instead, I will
attempt to relate what you are doing here to a number of other sig-
nificant issues and activities which are of strong concern to EPA as
we engage in the vital process of planning and implementing the new
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
It is noteworthy that more than half of your topics for discussion
involve approaches and considerations which would not be considered
technology-intensive by any usual definition of the term. In this
regard, this seminar is illustrative of the new and hard-won perceptions
which most of us are finally beginning to hold as to how we must deal
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with environmental issues. We know now that economic, social and
institutional problems must also be solved. In the middle 1960"s,
however, when RCRA's original progenitor was created by Congress, the
public's rising anxieties about freshly perceived environmental problems -
that our society had largely overlooked during two centuries of tech-
nologic and economic achievement, were accompanied by two related
illusions that have not been easy to cast off. The first of these was
that science, which in those times was always spelled with a capital S>
could magically produce a quick high-technology solution to any problem
and the second, that government alone could work out the means of applying
the solution. In this way the environment could be enhanced and protected
with no necessity for any alteration in the behavior of people or
their institutions, while society went on blithely pursuing business as
usual on a completely different track. Environmental progress since
that time, has depended on tlie gradual loss of the innocence which
these illusions represented and their replacement by the sometimes unwelcome
but always rewarding knowledge that solving environmental and related
health problems touches virtually every aspect of our lives.
After all it wasn't so long ago when it was widely believed that
the total solution to air and water problems was to hang a black box
somewhere near the end of the production process. We were concerned
that this approach was costly but we liked its simplicity and it had
the strong appeal of promising to interfere as little as possible with
our traditional ways of doing things. When it became apparent that
air and water pollution problems could not be solved unless solid
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waste management problems were also addressed, the popularly preferred
solution Mas for the government to install larger black boxes/ presumably
in or near all the standard metropolitan statistical areas, -which would
--through the magic of science— receive our wastes, clean them up, and
funnel them back into the production stream. Myths about the wonders of
"urban ore" became so prevalent that even today well-intentioned, environ-
mentally concerned people are shocked when it is suggested that no
matter how successful we are in resource conservation and recovery, there
is now and will probably always be, a significant residue that will have
to be dealt with as a waste rather than as a resource. While we strive
to conserve and recover, we must at the same time recognize that landfill
is not inherently evil and can be carried out in a manner consistent with
environmental and public health protection. As a matter of fact, the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act cannot possibly achieve its
laudable objectives unless we agree that proper disposal is a proper part
of enlightened solid waste management.
Our environmental indignation and zeal of the past decade were well
founded and should continue to motivate us. But it is time to harness
our passions to oar perceptions, to descend from the clouds to the solid
ground of reality, so that our search for solutions will not be impeded
by misplaced effort and disillusionment. Certainly we must now acknowledge
that environmental and related health problems are inextricably inter-
woven into the social, cultural, and economic fabric of society. While
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placing control devices to curb the flow of pollutants at the end of the
production process is one of the mechanisms we must use, it is by no
means the only one. Indeed, as we move into the future, that approach
will assume less importance, provided we take.our lessons from the past to
heart and consider the environment in everything we do. Forethought
will reduce the economic costs and enhance the public health and
environmental benefits. Environmental afterthought is costly on
both counts.
The realization that we cannot rely on after-the-fact solutions to
solve all environmental problems is reflected in the two most recent
environmental laws enacted by the Congress and to be implemented by
EPA— the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act. TSCA. provides our society with the long-needed opportunity
to learn to look before we leap. Through it, we may one day be able
to stop the toxic or carcinogenic suprise-a-month syndrome which has
caused many to despair of our ability to enjoy the remarkable benefits
of science and technology without paying too high a price in public
health and environmental damage.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act represents the culmination
of more than a decade of tentative conclusions, uncertain actions, and
running debate about the Federal role in the management of waste residuals.
It mandates a variety of different approaches to a complex set of issues
that touch the very frontiers of environmental progress. It acknowledges
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that energy and materials conservation needs and public health and
environmental protection needs are interdependent rather than conflicting.
Precisely because it does not suggest a simple answer to a series of very
complex questions it will be a challenging and rewarding Act to implement.
It asks government at all levels, industry, and the public to recognize
that solid waste practices influence and are influenced by far-reaching
social and economic issues, ranging from the attitudes of the individual
citizen and consumer, through how products are extracted, manufactured
and marketed, to such issues as depletion allowances and international
trade policies. It calls for new patterns of interaction among all levels
of government, the assumption of key responsibilities by industry, and for
meaningful public understanding and participation in all the major activities
to be carried out under the Act. It underscores the fact that the land is a
natural medium which needs to be protected just as air and water do. More-
over, it reminds us that resource conservation and recovery cannot be
neglected if we are to move closer to that glittering and elusive prize
known as environmental quality.
As you know, RCRA does not suggest that there is a_ way to properly
manage solid waste, just as in your seminar, you do not suggest that there
is a way to recover resources from municipal solid waste. It provides
direct cradle-to-grave regulatory authorities through a State/Federal
partnership over hazardous wastes. It contains less direct but nonetheless
compelling provisions intended to bring about recovery or the environmentally
sound disposal of all other wastes, and the eventual cessation of open
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dumping. The mechanisms are different because the problems are different.
It authorizes technical and financial assistance for the development of State
and Regional Solid Waste Management Programs which must encourage increased
resource conservation and recovery. This is vital. Increased conservation
and recovery is essential to help hold down the costs of disposal which are
bound to rise as dumps are closed and environmentally sound landfills
replace them. It calls for studies and renewed attention to a number
of other important issues, such as waste reduction, municipal sludges,
and rural solid waste problems. It touches in a variety of ways, on
virtually every facet of solid waste management which has come to the
surface since the first federal legislation on this issue was passed
in 1965.
Since I cannot possibly comment on each of these, I shall davote
my remaining minutes to briefly discussing current EPA activities which
bear most directly on the theme of this seminar.
Under the new Act, EPA is undertaking a widened range of activities
in resource conservation and recovery. A major new responsibility is
our role in carrying out the work of the interagency Resource Conser-
vation Committee, which was established by RCRA and which, in effect,
should become a new national forum on materials policy issues, following
upon the work of the recent National Commission on Supplies and Shortages,
the National Commission on Materials Policy, and other similar efforts.
This committee will conduct a 2-year study of proposals to stimulate
materials conservation and recycling and of existing public policies
that affect the efficiency with which materials are used. Because of
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the far-ranging nature of these proposals and policies, Congress required
that the Committee include the Secretaries of Commerce, Labor, Treasury,
and Interior, the Chairman of the Council on Environmental Quality, and
a representative of the Office of Management and Budget, with the EPA
Administrator as Chairman. A representative of the Council of Economic
Advisors is also participating at the Committee's invitation.
Among the specific topics assigned to the Resource Conservation
Committee is the appropriateness and feasibility of imposing disposal
charges on consumer products—charges roughly equal to the costs of
collecting and disposing of the associated solid wastes, with a reduction
in the charge for use of recovered materials. Actually EPA has had the
disposal charge concept under study since 1970, as required by the
Resource Recovery Act, and now the details and alternatives to be
considered in implementing a charge system are being worked out. The
results of our studies thus far indicate that a disposal charge system
is administratively feasible and could be an effective incentive for
increased recycling.
The Federal government is itself a prime consumer and therefore
has opportunities to practice and promote conservation in its own
purchasing and use of materials.
Under RCRA, Federal agencies will be required, in purchasing
products to select those composed of the highest percentage of recycled
materials practicable. EPA will provide guidance and information to
other agencies on how they can carry out this requirement.
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The Beverage Container Guidelines, under which a refundable 5-cent
deposit will be placed on all containers for beer and soft drinks sold
on Federal facilities, is beginning to be implemented. The Department
of the Interior, for example, is instituting deposit systems in all the
National Parks this summer.
The EPA guidelines on source separation—that is, the separating
out of recyclables by waste generators—are mandatory for Federal agencies
that generate economically recoverable paper wastes. The EPA offices here
in Washington have been practicing source separation of office wastepaper
with considerable success; we are pushing to rapidly institute the practice
in Federal offices across the country.
Source separation is at present the primary means of recovering
materials from waste. Moreover, neighborhood recycling centers, separate
municipal collection of recyclables, office paper separation, and other
source separation programs have tremendous unused potential. Expansion
of source separation practices depends in large on improved markets for
secondary materials. Successful source separation programs also depend,
however, on know-how and sufficient means to establish viable systems.
EPA will continue to encourage innovative source separation programs
and to provide technical assistance to communities and groups interested
in setting up such systems.
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The EPA-supported demonstrations of separate municipal collection
of cans, paper, and glass in Marblehead and Somerville, Massachusetts,
have now been in operation over a year and are showing good results.
The importance of public education and. careful planning are being
evidenced in these projects.
The "high-technology" r.ixed-waste processing systems undoubtedly
have a major role in resource recovery, even though questions remain
about the commercial viability of particular types of systems or their
appropriateness in particular settings and conditions. Through public
and private efforts, the state of the art of resource recovery systems
has advanced considerably in the past few years. We are pleased to
note, for example, that the technologies demonstrated with EPA support
in St. Louis and Franklin, Ohio, are now being utilized commercially.
Even the Baltimore pyrolysis project has served to provide all of us
with worthwhile experience and information about technological problem-
solving as well as the potentials for pitfalls in trying out new and
expensive technology. It should be well noted that significant risks
in such demonstration projects are inherent—that is why cities are
reluctant to undertake them without Federal sharing of costs—but
without risk-taking, commercial-scale prototype systems cannot be
attempted.
EPA currently is giving emphasis to evaluating the systems that have
been developed and to communicating such knowledge to State and local
governments, industry, and others in the field through our technical
assistance program.
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Technical assistance is a vital tool at this stage of progress in
resource recovery. The state of the art is not widely known, there have
been exaggerated claims made for various systems that need to be seen
in a more objective light, and communities often do not have good access
to the expertise required for successful implementation. Resource
recovery systems are not typical of other public works projects in their
complexity and in the fact that they must be run like a business, produc-
ing and selling products.
Before enactment of RCRA, we were already heavily involved in
developing guides and information on municipal implementation of
resource recovery systems and in giving in-depth consultation to communities.
We also provided small grants to communities to enable them to plan
adequately for implementation. Our role has been to aid the development
of effective, equitable partnerships between local governments and
industry based on the best available knowledge about the capabilities,
requirements, and risks of resource- recovery systems.
Under RCRA, technical assistance will be expanded via the "Resource
Conservation and Recovery Panels" —teams of Federal, State, and local
personnel and consultants who will be made available through our
Regional Offices to State and local governments upon request. Seminars
such as this one and workshops and public meetings will further serve
to spread and clarify the facts about resource recovery as well as
about the other components of solid waste management.
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I said at the beginning of my talk today that solving environmental
and public health problems touches virtually every aspect of our lives.
Consequently, the quest for rigid "either-or solutions" is obsolete and
the artificial barriers that have been erected in the past between
environmental and other important national goals must be removed.
The tendency to erect such barriers has been particularly strong in
recent times in relation to energy and the environment. While I am not
suggesting that there has not been cause for concern among those who
have feared that the urgent need to fulfill energy needs might result in
the dismantling of environmental gains, I do suggest that it is now time
to stress the interrelatedness of energy and environmental goals.
Last Tuesday, as you know, President Carter made his unprecedented
address to the Nation on the energy problem. He said "with the
exception of preventing war, this is the greatest challenge our country
will face during our lifetimes" and he called on all of us to put up
with the inconveniences and to make sacrifices. It is very noteworthy
that he said nothing to suggest that we must sacrifice environmental
gains to achieve energy goals. Quite to the contrary, President Carter
pointed out that one of the several important reasons why we must begin now
to deal with the energy crisis is that unless we do, "we will feel
mounting pressure to plunder the environment." He also outlined the ten
fundamental principles of the administration's national energy plan,
none of which calls for the sacrifice of environmental gains and two
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of which, make clear that just the opposite is true. As you may recall,
he said "the third principle is that we must protect the environment.
Our energy problems have the same cause as our environmental problems—
wasteful use of resources. Conservation helps us solve both at once."
The sixth principle, v;hich he called the cornerstone of the energy policy,
"is to reduce denand through conservation. Our emphasis on conservation
is a clear difference between this plan and others which merely encourage
crash production efforts." "Conservation," he went on to say, "is the
quickest, cheapest, most practical source of energy." The tenth principle
is also of special interest to this audience, I am sure, it is that we
must start now to develop new, unconventional sources of energy.
Therefore, we must move—for energy, environmental, natural resources
and health reasons—to capture the potential recoverable energy and
materials in the municipal solid waste stream, which is the subject: of
this seminar. The energy equivalent of 400,000 barrels of oil a day,
plus significant quantities of steel, glass, paper and aluminum, must be
converted from an environmental problem to an economic opportunity. But
as your program suggests there is no simple add-on device that will make
it come true.
Public attitudes, and practices must be changed, our historical
view of what is waste and what is not must be altered. It is no accident
therefore that RCRA contains an unusually complete array of provisions which
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make public participation an integral part of the process of planning and
implementation rather than a mere after-the-thought add-on. Genuine
public awareness and participation are essential for a number of reasons,
two of which are of salient importance.. First, while the public has
first hand experience with air and water pollution in their daily
lives, the thousands of hazardous and somewhat less hazardous open
dumps, pits, ponds and lagoons which exist throughout our country,
leaching their witches brew into ground water and often contributing to
surface water and air pollution, are hardly popular tourist attractions
and we must make a conscious effort to become aware of them. Unless the
public has a reasonable opportunity to learn about themr the timely
implementation of RCRA will suffer. Second/the Act is the utter opposite
of an add-on. Government at all levels, industry and the citizen and
consumer must embrace the true significance of its varied provisions,
and alter their perceptions and practices accordingly. If as citizens of
the most wasteful nation on earth, we do this in the full spirit of the
Act, we may be pleasantly suprised to learn, as we move toward the future,
that we can also recapture an important legacy of the past when a respect
for the earth and a careful husbanding of the bounty it has so generously
given our nation was a vital part of the American ethic.
Mcl530
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