Resource

Conservation
and Recovery
Act (RCRA)
 Provision
Subtitle C:
The most important provision of RCRA
as describes its purpose:
Regulate handling of hazardous waste
that will reduce the present and future
danger to environment and human beings.
Cradle to Grave describe intent of act to
control hazardous waste from source to
disposal
Framework for proper management of
hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste.
Discourage end of pipe solution
(Summers et al., 2020)
RCRA’s
Application
Apply to any party that store,
transport, manufacture and dispose
of hazardous wastes.

It is the federal law of the United

States, and many states are
implementing the rules and
regulation designed by RCRA.

(Bradbury et al., 2019)

 Set national
level goals
To ensure waste management in an
environmentally effective way.

To adopt strategies like reduction and

recycling of hazardous and non-
hazardous waste to reduce the quantity
of waste.

To operate programs for natural

resources and energy conservation

Protection of nature and human

health from dangers of waste disposal.
(Caccavale, 2017)
 George Ford approved it on October 21,
1976.

Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965 was

amended by RCRA.
RCRA
Enactment Major amendments in 1980 and 1984.

Joint state and federal endeavor along with

EPA, gives primary provisions that states
later adopt, adapt and enforce.
(Caccavale, 2017)
Need:

CLEAN AIR ACT AND CLEAN FUTURE SUPERFUND SITES AND NEED FOR PREVENTIVE NATURE
WATER ACT DID NOT COVER SOME CERCLA ACTIONS WILL BE LAW RATHER THAN REGULATORY
WASTE MANAGEMENT ISSUES PREVENTED BY RCRA. ACT.

(Bradbury et al., 2019)

 The Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery (ORCR)
implements RCRA.

Waste management regulations has been passed by EPA ; these are

present in the Code of Federal Regulations’ Title 40.
How RCRA Hazardous waste management rules and regulation details start at
implemented? part 260.

Hazardous programs can be operated by states on their own, but

programs must be stringent to federal regulations .

Solid waste managing programs should task with state

implementation procedures.

(Bonaparte et al., 2020)

 The RCRA has been enforced by adopting different
strategies , such as :

EPA’s Administrative Actions: EPA gives the order to the

in-charge and the facility owner to achieve compliance.

How RCRA
enforced? Citizen suits: RCRA gives authority to citizens to enforce
action against the violators of RCRA’s compliance.
Citizens file a complaint in EPA against the person or
organization, and the EPA takes action.
Criminal actions: state regulatory bodies and EPA utilize
criminal judicial actions against the violators of the RCRA
and ensure corrective actions taken by the violator.

(Fredriksson & Wang, 2019)

 • It prohibits industries from releasing hazardous pollutants
into the water bodies. It proves beneficial for natural
resources like water and air.
• It also protects the wildlife species, environment and human
health from coast to coast. As shown in the case study of The
Boeing Company:
Benefit to • They released Polychlorinated biphenyls, chlorinated
solvents, metal and other hazardous substances into the
natural Lower Duwamish Waterway, so the area becomes EPA
Superfund site.
resources • EPA, under the RCRA regulations, ordered cleanup of toxic
contaminants from the shoreline and waterway.
• The Boeing Company cleaned an estimated 265,000 cubic
yards of the waterway.
• Along the shoreline, habitat restoration was also conducted.
• Hence, Act is preserving natural resources.
 
(Sobchuk, 2018)
Heron enjoying
the brunch at the
shoreline of
Lower Duwamish
Waterway
 Bonaparte, R., Gross, B. A., Gupta, R., Beech, J. F., Griffin, L. M., & Phillips, D.
K. (2020, February). Twenty-Year Performance of a Mixed LLRW/RCRA Waste
Disposal Facility. In Geo-Congress 2020: University of Minnesota 68th Annual
Geotechnical Engineering Conference (pp. 29-56). Reston, VA: American
Society of Civil Engineers.

Bradbury, J. D., Smith, C. C., & Schmitz, C. (2019). Agriculture and

Environmental Law: Focusing on Defense Strategies. Drake J. Agric. L., 24, 7.

Caccavale, S. (2017, January). Environmental Regulations: What Safety

Professionals Need to Know. In ASSE Professional Development Conference
and Exposition. American Society of Safety Engineers.

References Fredriksson, P. G., & Wang, L. (2019). The politics of environmental

enforcement: the case of the Resource and Conservation Recovery
Act. Empirical Economics, 1-21.

Sobchuk, C. E. (2018). Evaluating the combined use of three-dimensional

hydrodynamic modeling and polyethylene passive sampling in the Lower
Duwamish Waterway (Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology).

Summers, K., Lamper, A., & Buck, K. (2021). National Hazards Vulnerability and
the Remediation, Restoration and Revitalization of Contaminated Sites—2.
RCRA Sites. Sustainability 2021, 13, 965.