Date: September 5, 2011
Source: News Room
Manufacturers are beginning to worry that EPA's efforts to widen the scope of its MSW Characterization Study will inevitably lead to new regulations, especially for industrial and construction and demolition (C&D) wastes that are not currently reported. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), which accuses the agency of having an "aggressive regulatory agenda [that] threatens economic growth and jobs," according to its website, believes there is "always the potential that this could lead to new burdensome regulations." They are also engaged in a "No New Regs" campaign against what it calls EPA's overregulation.
At issue is EPA's biennial municipal solid waste (MSW) characterization report, which the agency recently said it was planning to overhaul to include measurements of industrial and construction & demolition (C&D) waste streams, according to an Aug. 2 Federal Register notice seeking comment on the efficacy and scope of its biennial "Municipal Solid Waste in the United States" report. EPA said it will use the input to develop "new measurement definitions and protocols for measurement of these materials" and possibly address C&D and non-hazardous industrial materials in future reports. EPA initially sought comment on a draft version of the report by Aug. 31 but NAM, in Aug. 18 comments, asked EPA for additional time to comment. "Many of our members who may have construction and demolition materials and non-hazardous industrial materials may not have had the business need to review the EPA's [biennial] report on municipal waste before, as it has dealt only withmunicipal solid waste and not industrial wastes or materials," the group said.
Still there is support for EPA to possibly include new waste streams in its report. Some in the waste management industry for example are concerned that the limited scope of EPA's current report diminishes the true size of the waste stream while at the same time makes their market share look artificially larger. Similarly, many in the recycling industry would also like to see an expanded report, especially since manufacturers are seeking to design products around materials that are being collected at recycling at high rates.
Waste Business Journal and others including BioCycle produce reports that show a much larger waste stream being generated and disposed than is accounted for in EPA's report. There are several reasons for the discrepancy says Jim Thompson of Waste Business Journal. One has to do with the scope of the existing study which limits itself to residential waste. Another has to do with methodology which involves the extrapolation of a very limited albeit detailed sampling. Waste Business Journal gathers detailed waste data from individual waste processing and disposal facilities then adds up the totals and combines the data with that which is reported by waste firms, municipalities and state regulatory authorities. BioCycle also surveys the state agencies for detailed data.
See also: "EPA Considering Changes to Its Municipal Waste Characterization Report," (www.wasteinfo.com/news/wbj20110810B.htm).
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