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Regulatory Development 49
Within the context of RCRA, the U.S. EPA promotes an integrated, hierarchical approach to
managing MSW that includes source reduction, recycling, incineration, and landfilling. Waste
reduction and recycling are the preferred elements of the system while landfilling is the lowest
priority.
Subtitle D includes technical criteria for MSW landfills to ensure that their routine operation
will be protective of public health and the environment. A major provision in RCRA involving
MSW management is the prohibition of open dumps. This prohibition is implemented by the states,
using EPA criteria, to determine which facilities qualify as sanitary landfills and therefore remain
in operation. The EPA criteria were originally promulgated in 1979; open dumps were to close or
be upgraded by September 1984. An open dump is defined as a disposal facility that does not com-
ply with one or more of the 40 CFR Part 257 or Part 258 Subtitle D criteria. Using the Part 257,
Subpart A criteria as a benchmark, each state evaluated its solid waste disposal facilities to deter-
mine which facilities were open dumps that needed to be closed or upgraded. For each open dump,
the state completed an Open Dump Inventory Report form that was sent to the Bureau of the
Census.
In the 1984 amendments to RCRA (see below), the U.S. EPA was required to revise the sani-
tary landfill criteria for facilities that received small quantity generator hazardous waste (see
Chapter 11) or hazardous household waste. Under this authority, the Agency promulgated revised
regulations applicable to MSW landfills in October 1991, to take effect in October 1993 for most
provisions. The new criteria required the installation of liners, leachate collection and removal sys-
tems, groundwater monitoring, and corrective action at MSW sanitary landfills.
Other provisions authorized in RCRA for MSW management include: financial and techni-
cal assistance for states and local governments (most of which was ended in 1981 due to budget
cutbacks); research, development, and demonstration authority; and a procurement program,
whose goal was to stimulate markets for recycled products by requiring federal agencies to pur-
chase recycled materials. Consistent with its strong emphasis on recycling, RCRA contains pro-
visions for the EPA to encourage recycling and promote the development of markets for items
with recovered materials content. To help achieve this goal, the EPA publishes federal procure-
ment guidelines that set minimum recovered materials content standards for designated items.
RCRA requires federal procuring agencies to purchase items manufactured with the highest per-
centage of recovered materials practicable. These requirements are specified in Comprehensive
Procurement Guidelines (CPG) and Recovered Materials Advisory Notices (RMAN)(U.S. EPA,
2002). While EPA is the lead agency under RCRA, the Department of Commerce is given
several responsibilities for promoting the greater commercial use of resource recovery tech-
nologies.
The U.S. EPA has established a number of programs to encourage sound waste management,
for example Wastewise, the Jobs Through Recycling program, unit pricing, and full cost account-
ing for MSW (U.S. EPA, 2002).

3.2.5 REGULATION OF HAZARDOUS WASTE UNDER RCRA

Subtitle C of RCRA embraces the hazardous waste management program. A waste is declared
“hazardous” if it appears on a list of about 100 industrial process waste streams and more than
500 discarded commercial products and chemicals. Beyond these lists, a waste may still be
deemed hazardous if it is ignitable, corrosive, reactive, or toxic, measured via specific test pro-
tocols. These requirements are discussed in detail in the Code of Federal Regulations and in
Chapter 11. The 1976 law expanded the definition of solid waste, which includes hazardous
waste, to include:

sludge . . . and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid, or contained gaseous
material.