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54 Waste Management Practices: Municipal, Hazardous, and Industrial
3.3 OTHER RECENT LAWS AFFECTING MSW MANAGEMENT
Several other solid and hazardous waste-related measures have been enacted by Congress over the
past decade. Although these are technically not amendments to RCRA, they are implemented at the
federal level with authority for enforcement subsequently provided to states.

3.3.1 THE PUBLIC UTILITY REGULATION AND POLICY ACT OF 1978
The Public Utility Regulatory and Policy Act of 1978 (PURPA) was enacted in response to the
energy crises of the 1970s. PURPA was intended to increase the diversity of fuel use and increase
the production and efficiency of electricity generation while providing better prices to customers.
The new legislation was designed to boost domestic supplies of energy, which includes directing
public and private utilities to purchase power from waste-to-energy facilities.
Under PURPA a new class of electricity generators called qualifying facilities (QFs) was cre-
ated. QFs were composed of cogenerators using natural gas and small power producers that used
renewable resources such as wind, solar, municipal waste, or biomass. PURPA required utilities to
connect QFs to transmission grids and to purchase their power at a price that did not exceed the
avoided cost of installing and operating new capacity. At the same time the Power Plant and
Industrial Fuel Use Act, enacted concurrently with PURPA, prohibited the use of oil and natural gas
in new power plants (Levitan and Nezam-Mafi, 1998).

3.3.2 SANITARY FOOD TRANSPORTATION ACT
Some waste haulers travel long distances, sometimes to other states, in order to transport MSW. In
order to economize shipments some waste hauling companies would carry produce or other farm
products on their return trip, which understandably raised concerns regarding food safety. The
Sanitary Food Transportation Act of 1990 (P.L. 101–500) required the regulation of trucks and rail
cars that haul both food and solid waste. The Act directed the Departments of Agriculture, Health
and Human Services, and Transportation to promulgate regulations specifying the following
(McCarthy and Tiemann, no date):

● Recordkeeping and identification requirements
● Decontamination procedures for refrigerated trucks and rail cars
● Materials for construction of tank trucks, cargo tanks, and ancillary equipment

3.3.3 CLEAN AIR ACT
The Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments of 1990 (Section 305 of P.L. 101–549) contain a provision
mandating more stringent federal standards for solid waste incinerators, known as the Maximum
Achievable Control Technology (MACT) emission standards (see Chapter 15). The CAA amend-
ments require the EPA to issue new source performance standards to control air emissions from
municipal, hospital, and other commercial and industrial incinerators, including hazardous waste
burning cement kilns and lightweight aggregate kilns. The MACT standards set emission limita-
tions for polychlorinated dibenzodioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs), met-
als, particulate matter, total chlorine, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and destruction and removal
efficiencies (DRE) for organic emissions.
New facilities must comply with the EPA requirements within 6 months of the time they are
issued and existing units must comply within 5 years of issuance.

3.3.4 POLLUTION PREVENTION ACT
The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 (sections 6601–6610 of P.L. 101–608) was enacted as part of
the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1991. The Act declared pollution prevention to be a