Pollution Prevention and Waste Minimization
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INTRODUCTION
This chapter is intended to familiarize the reader with the concepts of pollution prevention and waste minimization, and to help understand how these practices are preferable to the more traditional practices of pollution control and waste management. 1. Every year, U.S. industry emits literally
billions of pounds of pollutants into the environment. For example, in 1998 facilities reported releases of 7.3 billion pounds of chemicals tracked in the Toxics Release Inventory to air, water, or land. 1 2. These releases have environmental impacts, leading to Federal and State regulations. Pollution control costs exceed $100 billion annually. 2 3. Over 20,000 generators produced 40.7 million tons of hazardous waste in 1997. 3 Improper management of hazardous and other industrial wastes has *U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The article does not represent the views of EPA or the U.S.
Government. Riegel s Handbook of Industrial Chemistry, lOth Edition
Edited by Kent. Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York 2003
required remediation and restoration of over 1,400 "Superfund" sites, and parties have agreed to over $15 billion in cleanup settlement costs. 4 Improper management of hazardous waste can also result in large fines. One firm in the northwest United States agreed to pay over $170 million to settle charges that it violated hazardous waste laws. 5 The idea behind pollution prevention is simply that it is easier and cheaper, and better for the environment, to design a process to prevent pollution in the first place, rather than to clean it up later. The U.S. Congress set forth a clear policy with the passage of the Pollution Prevention Act (PPA) of 1990: (b) POLICY: The Congress hereby declares it is to be the national policy of the United States that pollution should be prevented or reduced at the source whenever feasible; pollution that cannot be prevented should be recycled in an environmentally safe manner, whenever feasible; pollution that cannot be prevented or recycled should be treated in an environmentally safe manner whenever feasible; and disposal or other release 19
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RIEGEL'S HANDBOOK OF INDUSTRIAL CHEMISTRY
into the environment should be employed only as a last resort and should be conducted in an environmentally safo manner. [42 US. C. 13101.}
The Congress also made a number of relevant findings. See Section 6602(a). In short, the Congress found that industry and government were relying too much on the end of pipe controls and missing opportunities for source reduction. The Clean Air Act (CAA), Clean Water Act (CWA), and the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) also contain provisions encouraging pollution prevention (P2). See, for example, Section 1003(b) ofthe SWDA, which states: NATIONAL POLICY. The Congress hereby declares it to be the national policy of the United States that, wherever feasible, the generation of hazardous waste is to be reduced or eliminated as expeditiously as possible. Waste that is nevertheless generated should be treated, stored, or disposed of s
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