Introduction
The United States Environmental Protection Agency plays a major role in the fight against continued contamination of the environment and protection of human health. The federal agency achieves its mandate by writing and enforcing laws passed by Congress. With a host of engineers, scientists and environmental specialists, the organization informs the public on different materials that could affect the quality of the environment and the health of human life. In this case, hazardous waste is a title given to numerous substances that have negative effects on the surroundings and the people living within the area. The EPA identified that improper management of these materials could threaten the human and environmental health. Through the continued development of the manufacturing industry, the amount of hazardous waste produced greatly increased. However, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) enforced in 1976 individuals and commercial organization have a framework to ensure proper management.
Hazardous Waste
The US-EPA simply defines hazardous waste as the waste materials that possess properties that make them a danger or capable of causing harm to the human health or the environment. These materials could be generated from varied sources including industrial manufacturing processes and batteries. Therefore, the waste may in numerous forms including solids, gases, liquids, and sludges. The impact of hazardous waste could increase risk of illness or death to human beings or other living things in the environment (Kang, Chen, & Ogunseitan, 2013). According to the agency, the term hazardous waste would be used to identify some forms of solid waste that bear the characteristics mentioned above. Solid waste refers to any refuse, sludge from wastewater treatment plant among other materials discarded from industrial, agricultural and community activities (Wen et al., 2014). In this regard, it is evident that nearly all human activities may bring about some form of solid waste. However, only a select number of them could be hazardous waste.
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Through the RCRA, the EPA established a regulatory definition and a host of processes that could help classify specific substances as hazardous. As this process could be complex in identifying the waste, the agency advocates that generators of waste use a series of questions to approach this process. The first step of identifying a hazardous waste is verifying whether the material is a solid waste (Lim, Kang, Ogunseitan, & Schoenung, 2010). The second step involves examining the refuse is excluded from the regulatory definition of solid or hazardous waste. Once the generators of such remains meet the description provided the EPA, the immediate step is to identify whether the waste is listed or has traits of hazardous waste (Lim, Kang, Ogunseitan, & Schoenung, 2010). The agency provides a list of specific compounds known to pose threats evident in hazardous waste. Various organizations petitioned against the EPA calling for the delisting of their waste from the regulations of RCRA (Wen et al., 2014). If a solid waste material is not part of the successfully delisted ones, it is subject to undergo proper management according to subtitle C regulation.
Characteristics of Hazardous Waste
To understand the description of a hazardous waste, it is important to look into the characteristics of a solid waste. Some of the properties include whether or not it is abandoned, inherently waste-like, discarded military munitions, and recycled in particular ways. In regards to the concept of abandoned, it describes any material thrown away, disposed, incinerated, or improperly recycled (Kang, Chen, & Ogunseitan, 2013). There are substances that in their primary characteristics pose a major threat to the well-being of human beings and the environment itself. In this case, they are considered waste-like such as wastes that contain dioxin. The Department of Defense and the US Armed Forces utilize various ammunition products and components for the defense and security of the country (Wen et al., 2014). However, when these materials are unused or defective, they fall under the classification of solid wastes. An authorized military official could declare that such a product is a waste and rendered nonusable or nonrecyclable due to significant deterioration.
As mentioned earlier, generators of waste should identify whether the solid substances they are disposing meet the definition of the hazardous waste. In this case, some of the characteristic properties include reactivity, toxicity, ignitability, and corrosivity (Wen et al., 2014). The reactivity trait identifies wastes that are unstable under normal conditions, capable of explosion in normal conditions or when heat is applied, may react with water, and could release toxic gases. The toxicity property reflects the harm caused by a substance when absorbed or ingested (Kang, Chen, & Ogunseitan, 2013). These materials are a major threat to the environment and human health as they could percolate from waste and pollute water sources. The ignitability factor of a hazardous waste identifies the liquids that have flashpoints below 60° C, gases and oxidizers that are ignitable, and solids or non-liquids that could cause a fire under certain conditions (Lim, Kang, Ogunseitan, & Schoenung, 2010). These substances were assigned D001 as the official EPA waste code. Under the D002 waste code, the EPA identified aqueous wastes with pH of less than or equal to 2 and greater or equal to 12.5 as having a corrosive characteristic (Wen et al., 2014). If the liquid can corrode steel, it is also included in this classification.
Discrepancies in Regulations
Over the course of the 20 th century, issues arose on solid waste management causing heightened public concern in numerous states. The industrial sector was seen to have a significant increase in generation of waste, reduced capacity for disposal, increased cost of ensuring disposal and opposition to establish new disposal facilities (Sigman, & Stafford, 2011). These challenges continue in many of the communities in America as they struggle to develop solutions that are cost-effective and environmentally friendly. The EPA and its solid waste management officials established strategies of ensuring proper handling of waste and at minimal costs (Sigman, & Stafford, 2011). Through the RCRA, a framework for proper management of hazardous waste is set up to ensure safety from “cradle to grave” meaning its generation and its ultimate disposal.
The generators of waste are the initial link in the waste management system as they are fully responsible for determining whether it poses a threat to human health and the environment. It is under this factor that significant discrepancy is evident as the organizations may falsify their wastes and refrain from identifying waste as some of the listed ones in substitute C regulation (Sigman, & Stafford, 2011). In this practice, the generators of waste are also responsible for overseeing the appropriate disposal of these substances. Under this regulation, the agency allows the organizations to employ a host of practices that could help in detoxifying the materials including treatment and recycling or appropriate disposal (Sigman, & Stafford, 2011). However, generators of these hazardous substances continue to undertake poor disposal practices that lead to the negative effects on human beings and the environment.
Conclusion
The regulatory definition provided by the EPA on hazardous waste is a clear directive to identify the garbage and remains produced in numerous industrial activities. The institution emphasizes a four-step verification process that generators may use to determine whether their waste pose a risk to the environment and people. However, due to the increased costs of disposing these materials and the reduced sites for disposing, generators of such waste may undertake inappropriate measures of proper management. Organizations usually identify legal loopholes that may ensure reduced cost on their part and disregard the impact it may have on the community or the environment. Through consideration of various measures, the EPA can enforce strict laws of punishing individuals who explore such techniques.
References
Kang, D. H. P., Chen, M., & Ogunseitan, O. A. (2013). Potential environmental and human health impacts of rechargeable lithium batteries in electronic waste. Environmental Science & Technology , 47(10), 5495-5503.
Lim, S. R., Kang, D., Ogunseitan, O. A., & Schoenung, J. M. (2010). Potential environmental impacts of light-emitting diodes (LEDs): metallic resources, toxicity, and hazardous waste classification. Environmental Science & Technology , 45(1), 320-327.
Sigman, H., & Stafford, S. (2011). Management of hazardous waste and contaminated land. Annu. Rev. Resour. Econ. , 3(1), 255-275.
Wen, X., Luo, Q., Hu, H., Wang, N., Chen, Y., Jin, J., ... & Fang, W. (2014). Comparison research on waste classification between China and the EU, Japan, and the USA. Journal of Material Cycles and Waste Management , 16(2), 321-334.
