ASSIGNMENT

RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY ACT (RCRA)

TKA3702

PERATURAN DAN UNDANG-UNDANG ALAM SEKITAR

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RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY ACT (RCRA)

Introduction

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) were passed in 1976 as

an amendment to the Solid Waste Disposal Act. RCRA is mainly address the

issue of solid waste disposal and hazardous waste management. The

program set three goals:

1. To protect human health and the environment.

2. To reduce waste and conserve energy and natural resources.

3. To reduce or eliminate the generation of hazardous waste as

expeditiously as possible.

Below are the some of the issue covered under the RCRA:

hazardous waste generators and transporters

biennial reporting for hazardous waste activities

land disposal restrictions (LDR)

municipal solid waste landfill criteria

solid and hazardous waste recycling

treatment, storage, and disposal facilities

waste minimization and hazardous waste combustion

federal procurement of products that contain recycled material

Amendments were added to expand the program in 1984. The Hazardous

and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) broadened the scope of RCRA,

authorizing EPA to regulate underground storage tanks containing petroleum

products or hazardous substances.

Some of the RCRA components are summarized as below:

RCRA applies to:

1. Generators of the waste

Generator status is based on the amount of waste generated per

calendar month, and the amount of waste accumulated onsite at

any time.

2. Transporters of the waste

3. Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities (TSDFs)

Land Disposal Restrictions

Generally, hazardous waste cannot be disposed of on land

(including underground) without prior treatment to reduce toxicity

and/or mobility of its hazardous waste constituents

Wastes meeting treatment standards may be land disposed

Land disposal includes “placement in or on the land, except in a

corrective action management unit, “including placement in a

landfill, surface impoundment, waste pile, injection well, land

treatment facility, underground mine or cave, a concrete vault, or

bunker intended for disposal purposes

Comparison between RCRA and Malaysian Regulation

In Malaysia, the regulation that uses to manage the solid wastes and

hazardous waste are Environmental Quality (Schedule Wastes) Regulations

2005. There are some differences between this regulation and RCRA, such as

in table:

Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act, RCRA

Environmental Quality (Schedule

Wastes) Regulations 2005

The principal of Federal Law that

applied in the United State.

The Federal Law that applied in Malaysia.

Responsibility by Department of

Commerce (DOC), DOE, and the

Department of the Interior (DOE) and

also Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

Responsibility by Department of

Environmental only.

There did not list out the categories

of the wastes.

There have listed out all the categories of

the wastes in the First schedule of this

regulation.

Need to apply permit for the

treatment, storage, and disposal of

the waste.

No need apply permit for treatment,

storage, and disposal of the waste, but

before manage the wastes need to apply

approval from Director-General.

These Acts apply to industrial and

firm, it also applies to residential

wastes.

Applied in the industrial waste and firm

only. Did not use in residential wastes.

The compound and offences can

divide into three categories that are

civil penalties, criminal penalties, and

also citizen’s suits.

There have a general compound and

offences to whose did not comply this

regulation, that is not exceeded RM2000

which mention in the sub-regulation 1.

There have prepared the corrective

action to manage the hazardous

wastes that have released. It can

It did not have the corrective action but it

have conduct training about how to

manage the wastes to all the employees.

protect the human health and

environment.

Encourage recycling to reduce the

volume of wastes. There have some

types of recycling such as reclaimed

the wastes, burn the wastes into

energy recovery, and etc.

Did not mention about recycling.

From the above comparison, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

more stringent than the Environmental Quality (Schedule Wastes)

Regulations 2005 in Malaysia. This is because RCRA use the concept of

‘cradle to grave’ which it managed the hazardous and non-hazardous waste

from their point of generation, transport, treatment, and their disposal and

besides that it has required some recycling activity. On the other hand, the

compound and offences in the RCRA is stricter than Malaysian Regulation.

For instance,

Civil penalties range up to $25,000 per violation per day.

Criminal conviction for "knowing" violations includes a potential

$50,000 penalty per violation per day, plus up to two or in some cases,

five years in jail.

The penalty doubles for repeat offenders.

"Knowing endangerment", or the placing of a person at risk of death or

serious injury by an unlawful hazardous waste activity, may result in a

$250,000 fine for individuals and imprisonment for up to fifteen years.

Organizations may be fined up to $1,000,000.

Moreover, it required permit to manage the waste whereas Malaysia only

need to apply approval from Director-General. Apply for permit need more

time to wait the permit process.

Comprehensiveness of the act

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

The RCRA put a greater emphasis on resource conservation where it is

prioritize to reduce and increase the efficient and sustainable use of

resources while the resource conservation is considered as a secondary

objective. It’s more comprehensive through its ‘cradle to grave’ life cycle

approach in managing the chemical risk of the solid and hazardous waste.

Besides it encourage recycling practice as the efficient use and reuse of

materials could be a key to a more sustainable economic system. It focused

on moving toward a broader materials management program, away from

current typical ‘waste only’ focus.

Environmental Quality (Schedule Wastes) Regulations 2005

This regulation is comprehensive only on waste management which regulate

the storage, transport, treatment and disposal of hazardous wastes. For

instance;

Scheduled wastes must be rendered innocuous before it can be

disposed.

Generation of scheduled wastes shall be reduced using the best

practicable means;

Waste generators to notify the DOE of any scheduled wastes

generated and keep up-to-date inventory of scheduled wastes

generated, treated and disposed.

Scheduled wastes may be stored, recovered and treated within the

premises of a waste generator.

Land farming, incineration, disposal, off-site recovery, off-site storage

and off-site treatment shall only be carried out at prescribed premises

licensed by the DOE.

However, this regulation does not promote recycling to reduce the volume of

wastes as being encouraged by the RCRA such as reclamation of the wastes,

and burning the wastes into energy recovery.

References

1. Legal Research Board. (2009). Environmental Quality Act 1974

(Act127), Regulation, Rules And Orders. International Law Book

Services.

2. http://www.epalaw.com/rcra.htm

3. http://www.mwcog.org/uploads/committeedocuments/

+15cXw20030318111239.ppt

4. http://www.dnrec.state.de.us/DNREC2000/Divisions/AWM/do/

MetachemTaskForce/Miscellaneous/RCRA%20Program

%20summary.pdf

5. http://www.p2pays.org/ref%5C02/01926.pdf