Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Authorizes EPA to identify hazardous wastes and regulate their generation, transportation, treatment, storage and disposal. RCRA's goals are to: –Protect us from the hazards of waste disposal –Conserve energy and natural resources by recycling and recovery –Reduce or eliminate waste, and –Clean up waste, which may have spilled, leaked, or been improperly disposed.

Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976 Authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to track the 75,000 industrial chemicals currently produced or imported into the United States. The EPA repeatedly screens these chemicals and can require reporting or testing of those that may pose an environmental or human-health hazard. EPA can ban the manufacture and import of those chemicals that pose an unreasonable risk.Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)chemicalshealth hazard Requires that EPA be notified of any new chemical prior to its manufacture and authorizes EPA to regulate production, use or disposal of a chemical

Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (1980) Authorizes EPA to designate hazardous substances that can present substantial danger and authorizes the cleanup of sites contaminated with such substances CERCLA: established prohibitions and requirements concerning closed and abandoned hazardous waste sites; provided for liability of persons responsible for releases of hazardous waste at these sites; and established a trust fund to provide for cleanup when no responsible party could be identified

Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) October 17, Expanded to balance with States and Other Fed. Laws Provided new tools Encouraged citizen involvement.

Emergency Planning & Community Right to Know Act (1986) Also known as Title III of SARA, EPCRA was enacted by Congress as the national legislation on community safety. This law was designated to help local communities protect public health, safety, and the environment from chemical hazards.SARA

Responsible Care Since 1988, the U.S. chemical industry, through the American Chemistry Council, has implemented Responsible Care, a voluntary program to achieve improvements in environmental, health and safety performance beyond levels required by the U.S. government. The program has resulted in significant reductions in releases to air, land and water, major improvements in workplace and community safety, and expanded programs to research and test chemicals for potential health and environmental impacts.

Pollution Prevention Act (1990) The Pollution Prevention Act focused industry, government, and public attention on reducing the amount of pollution through cost-effective changes in production, operation, and raw materials use. Opportunities for source reduction are often not realized because of existing regulations, and the industrial resources required for compliance, focus on treatment and disposal. Source reduction is fundamentally different and more desirable than waste management or pollution control.

PPA The Administrator shall develop and implement a strategy to promote source reduction. As part of the strategy, the Administrator shall— (1) establish standard methods of measurement of source reduction; (2) ensure that the Agency considers the effect of its existing and proposed programs on source reduction efforts and shall review regulations of the Agency prior and subsequent to their proposal to determine their effect on source reduction; (3) coordinate source reduction activities in each Agency Office and coordinate with appropriate offices to promote source reduction practices in other Federal agencies, and generic research and development on techniques and processes which have broad applicability; (4) develop improved methods of coordinating, streamlining and assuring public access to data collected under Federal environmental statutes; (5) facilitate the adoption of source reduction techniques by businesses. This strategy shall include the use of the Source Reduction Clearinghouse and State matching grants provided in this chapter to foster the exchange of information regarding source reduction techniques, the dissemination of such information to businesses, and the provision of technical assistance to businesses. The strategy shall also consider the capabilities of various businesses to make use of source reduction techniques; (6) identify, where appropriate, measurable goals which reflect the policy of this chapter, the tasks necessary to achieve the goals, dates at which the principal tasks are to be accomplished, required resources, organizational responsibilities, and the means by which progress in meeting the goals will be measured; (8) establish an advisory panel of technical experts comprised of representatives from industry, the States, and public interest groups, to advise the Administrator on ways to improve collection and dissemination of data; (9) establish a training program on source reduction opportunities, including workshops and guidance documents, for State and Federal permit issuance, enforcement, and inspection officials working within all agency program offices.[3][3] (10) identify and make recommendations to Congress to eliminate barriers to source reduction including the use of incentives and disincentives; (11) identify opportunities to use Federal procurement to encourage source reduction; (12) develop, test and disseminate model source reduction auditing procedures designed to highlight source reduction opportunities; and (13) establish an annual award program to recognize a company or companies which operate outstanding or innovative source reduction programs.

The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) is a publicly available EPA database that contains information on toxic chemical releases and other waste management activities reported annually by certain covered industry groups as well as federal facilities. This inventory was established under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) and expanded by the Pollution Prevention Act of (site )

The Waste Management Hierarchy

33/50 Program The 33/50 Program targeted 17 priority chemicals and set goals of33% reduction in releases and transfers of these chemicals by 1992 and 50% reduction by 1995, measured against a 1988 baseline. The first of EPA's growing series of voluntary programs, its primary purpose was to demonstrate whether voluntary partnerships could augment the Agency's traditional command-and-control approach by bringing about targeted reductions more quickly than would regulations alone. The program also sought to foster a pollution prevention ethic, encouraging companies to consider and apply pollution prevention approaches to reducing their environmental releases rather than traditional end-of-the- pipe methods for treating and disposing of chemicals in waste.