Waste and Contaminated Lands Program
In our consumer society, a tremendous amount of waste is generated. How we address the issue of waste says a lot about who we are as a people. No one wants a landfill or a toxic dump in their backyard, and yet waste must be placed somewhere. Despite efforts to promote recycling over the last 20 years, pounds of trash per capita have increased. Waste can be accurately described as inefficiency in our economy, a failure to use resources available to us. Clearly, expanded recycling can play a role in reducing the amount of waste generated and the environmental problems associated with waste. Another available tool is adequate implementation and enforcement of existing laws that concern waste issues. At the federal level, these include the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Comprehensive Environmental Resonse, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, also known as "Superfund"). Generally speaking, RCRA deals with the management of domestic, industrial and other wastes recently or presently generated, while Superfund seeks to remedy historical hazardous contamination. These federal statutes typically have state counterpart laws and regulations with the day-to-day regulation of waste carried out by state environmental agencies. A relatively recent development in waste law is the "brownfields" concept. In many states and also nationally, statutes and regulations have been passed in which, at the most basic level, interested developers can offer to voluntarily clean up a contaminated site, or brownfield, and bring new economic activity to the dormant site in return for a loosening of clean-up standards. The Center recognizes some peril in over-reliance on this method in the face of dwindling resources allocated for the enforcement of RCRA and Superfund.
Where possible, the Center advocates for more environmentally benign approaches to waste issues, both present day generation and disposal as well as for the legacy of historical contamination. Below are a few examples of our recent work in this area:
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