Waste Generation Reduction: A First Step Toward Developing a Regulatory Policy to Encourage Hazardous Substance Management through Production Process Change

Abstract

ABSTRACT

From an engineering perspective, the issue of hazardous chemical wastes is no different than the air, water, and workplace pollution issues with which the nation has long grappled. Quite simply, hazardous residues are a production process problem; the nature and amount of the residues produced are determined by the nature of the production processes employed.

The long-term goal of a reasoned hazardous waste management policy must be to effect changes in industrial processes so as to reduce significantly the amount of hazardous residues generated by those processes. This goal will not be reached unless industry itself is motivated to explore the necessary technological innovation and adaptation. The challenge, then, is to create a regulatory climate which provides such motivation.

We believe that the development of effective regulatory policies at the state level to encourage production process change will require a commitment to overall hazardous substance management, rather than to the management of hazardous residues deposited into any particular environmental medium. If state hazardous waste policies are to serve as a focal point for hazardous substance management, they must incorporate: (1) a specific programmatic emphasis on waste generation reduction as the preferred means of hazardous waste management; (2) vigorous enforcement of current treatment and disposal laws; (3) a shift in emphasis from the nature of the various waste streams that are produced to the nature of the various industrial "productive segments" that generate hazardous waste; (4) refinement and expansion of programs for the sharing of technological information; and (5) a graduated increase in regulatory stringency over time.