EPA Sends Solid Waste Definition Rule to White House for Review

Date: March 25, 2011

Source: News Room

The EPA has sent its revised and much anticipated definition of solid waste rule to the White House for review. The rule determines whether materials are considered solid waste or hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation & Recovery Act (RCRA) which determines the stringency of controls in their handling. The latest proposal is required as part of a settlement agreement with environmental groups who challenged the Bush-era rule in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, alleging that exemptions in the rule meant to encourage recycling of wastes that otherwise would have been considered hazardous, went too far and did not provide protections against so-called "sham recyclers," especially since they seemed to be located disproportionately near low-income and minority communities. The Obama EPA announced in May 2009 that it was considering more precisely defining how companies must "contain" recyclable materials and enhancing notification requirements for companies planning to take advantage of the regulatory exemptions the rule provides. The agency in January 2010 also released a draft methodology for analyzing the rule's impacts on low income and minority communities.

Meanwhile, an industry legal challenge to the Bush-era rule is continuing. The DC Circuit agreed in January to hold environmentalists' complaints in abeyance pending the outcome of the new rulemaking -- a move activists say is essential because it gives them the ability to bring EPA back to court if they are ultimately dissatisfied with the outcome.

To learn more, visit: www.epa.gov/osw/hazard/dsw/.

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