ASHLAND UNIVERSITY

SOLID AND HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT

JANUARY, 2006

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is a federal environmental law that regulates solid and hazardous wastes from generation through disposal. Hazardous wastes are classified into two categories: listed and characteristic. Characteristic hazardous wastes exhibit one or more of the four hazardous characteristics (ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity and toxicity. Listed hazardous wastes are specifically listed by name or process in the Code of Federal Regulations and in Ohio's Hazardous Waste Management Rules.

Clean air
The 1990 Clean Air Act gives enforcement powers to EPA and enables them to fine violators, much like a police officer giving tickets.

Clean water
The Ohio EPA Division of Drinking and Ground Waters protects human health and the environment by characterizing and protecting ground water quality and ensuring that Ohio's public water systems provide adequate supplies of safe drinking water.

U.S. EPA's focus was changed from pollution control to pollution prevention by the Pollution Prevention Act of 1990. Congress established a national hierarchy for managing wastes. The environmental management hierarchy includes:

1. Reduction
2. Recycling
3. Treatment and
4. Disposal

The highest priority in the hierarchy is preventing pollution through source reduction which is defined as any effort to reduce, at the source, the quantity of waste generated. The second priority which is recycling is defined as use, reuse or reclamation of a material. It does not include burning waste as fuel.

Here at Ashland University, implementation of a high visibility recycling program has resulted in a heightened awareness of employee responsibility and better separation of all forms of waste. By recycling, pollution of the environment is decreased.