Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965
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| Resource Conservation and Recovery Act |
The Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), is an Act of Congress passed in 1965. The United States Environmental Protection Agency described the Act as "the first federal effort to improve waste disposal technology". After the industrial revolution, the change in quality of living caused an increase in solid waste generation. In the 1970s, Congress decided that SWDA was not enough to properly manage the nation’s waste and passed The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which amended and superseded SWDA. Other amendments to SWDA include RCRA Subpart S for remedial investigation and The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendment (HSWA).
After the industrial revolution lead to increases in municipal waste, local and regional governments and private individuals developed many diverse, and frequently unsafe or unsanitary, disposal technologies for disposal of this waste. The most frequent disposal method used was open dumps and burning of trash. As the Germ Theory of Disease developed in the late 19th and early 20th century, this led to increased attention of waste disposal as a public health crisis in the United States. Due to increasing demand for better waste management during the 1960s, the United States passed SWDA in 1965.
As the first Environmental Law, SWDA’s main goal is to reduce waste and protect human and environmental health. by decreasing pollution and promoting better municipal waste disposal technology. It dictates disposal of copious amounts of both municipal and industrial waste. It also defines solid waste as a local responsibility, promotes advancement of waste management technology, and declares waste management standards.
The Resource Recovery Act (RRA), passed in 1970, was the first amendment to the SWDA. This amendment called for increased government involvement in waste management, incited reduction of waste as well as recycling technology, and introduced criteria for disposal of hazardous waste.
RCRA
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act(RCRA) was created as the first amendment to SWDA, after congress realized that the SWDA was not comprehensive enough. RCRA identifies the increasing amount of both hazardous and non-hazardous being produced at the time, and declares that in order to maintain the quality of life expected in the United States, new waste management practices need to be established. It also bans open dumps and discusses the implications of hazardous waste, recycling, and renewable energy. RCRA then goes on to dictate that assistance must be provided to communities for waste management and declare that Hazardous Waste must be properly managed, and incite a need for research into better management practices. RCRA also altered the responsible party from an “end of the pipe,” meaning the waste disposal or water remediation facility, to a “cradle to grave,” meaning the party who created the waste.
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