EPA Program for Treatment Alternatives for Hazardous Waste

Abstract

Both Congress and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) believe that treatment and recovery should be the preferred methods for managing the nation's hazardous waste to reduce the potential for harm to human health or the environment. In the 1984 amendments to RCRA, Congress mandated that land disposal of certain regulated hazardous wastes be prohibited and that treatment standards be developed for wastes banned from land disposal. In order to be able to provide current, high quality information on the treatment technologies that are available as alternatives to land disposal, EPA expanded its ongoing efforts to regulate incinerators and hazardous waste combustion by forming the Treatment, Recycling and Reduction Program in 1984.