Waste Reduction for Pollution Prevention discusses the philosophy, regulatory background, and technical options dealing with waste minimization. The book explains waste reduction as a form of pollution prevention to minimize the amount of hazardous materials dumped into the environment. The 1984 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act amendments restrict the amount of waste that can be disposed on land. The approach of the United States is to address pollution after the problem has been created, where attention and resources of industry shift to regulatory compliance. The text notes that waste reduction is the key to preventing future hazardous waste problems. Examples of techniques of waste minimization are good housekeeping, changes in technology and procedures, raw material substitution, recycling, and waste exchanges. The book discusses the biological, thermal, and other emerging thermal processes for industrial waste management, as well as municipal solid-waste recycling, and the organization of a recycling program. The text can benefit economists, environmentalists, urban developers, and policy makers involved in waste management, community preservation and development.

The Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) of the State of California Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of complying with the Regulatory Structure Update. The Regulatory Structure Update is a comprehensive review and refocusing of California's system for identifying and regulating management of hazardous wastes. As part of this effort, the DTSC proposes to change its current waste classification system that categorizes wastes as hazardous or nonhazardous based on their toxicity. Under the proposed system there would be two risk-based thresholds rather than the single toxicity threshold currently used to distinguish between the wastes. Wastes that contain specific chemicals at concentrations that exceed the upper threshold will be designated as hazardous; those below the lower threshold will be nonhazardous; and those with chemical concentrations between the two thresholds will be "special" wastes and subject to variances for management and disposal. The proposed DTSC system combines toxicity information with short or long-term exposure information to determine the risks associated with the chemicals. Under section 57004 of the California Health and Safety Code, the scientific basis of the proposed waste classification system is subject to external scientific peer review by the National Academy of Sciences, the University of California, or other similar institution of higher learning or group of scientists. This report addresses that regulatory requirement.

Hazardous Waste and Solid Waste covers the life of municipal solid waste, bulky (C&D) waste and hazardous waste. It provides in-depth coverage on all aspects of waste characterization, treatment, disposal, and recovery. The book identifies the sources of solid waste, provides general information of the quantities of waste generated and discarded, and examines the potential effects of solid waste on daily life and the environment. It also defines hazardous waste, and provides the criteria environmental engineers must use to determine if material is indeed a waste. The editors give attention to the unique problems of risk assessment, including the Hazard Ranking System and the National Priority List, and transport of hazardous materials. It addresses radioactivity individually, with sections devoted to the principles and sources of radioactivity, safety standards, detection, analysis, recovery, low-level radioactive waste, and high-level radioactive waste. The guide explores municipal waste reduction, material recovery and refuse-derived fuel within a catalog of options for solid waste. Hazardous and Solid Waste is an excellent fundamental resource for those involved in any aspect of waste management. Béla G. Lipták speaks on Post-Oil Energy Technology on the AT&T Tech Channel.

The Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) of IMO, at its sixty-second session in July 2011, adopted the Revised MARPOL Annex V, concerning Regulations for the prevention of pollution by garbage from ships, which enters into force on 1 January 2013. The associated guidelines which assist States and industry in the implementation of MARPOL Annex V have been reviewed and updated and two Guidelines were adopted in March 2012 at MEPC's sixty-third session. The 2012 edition of this publication contains: the 2012 Guidelines for the implementation of MARPOL Annex V (resolution MEPC.219(63)); the 2012 Guidelines for the development of garbage management plans (resolution MEPC.220(63)); and the Revised MARPOL Annex V (resolution MEPC.201(62)).

Incineration has been used widely for waste disposal, including household, hazardous, and medical wasteâ€"but there is increasing public concern over the benefits of combusting the waste versus the health risk from pollutants emitted during combustion. Waste Incineration and Public Health informs the emerging debate with the most up-to-date information available on incineration, pollution, and human healthâ€"along with expert conclusions and recommendations for further research and improvement of such areas as risk communication. The committee provides details on: Processes involved in incineration and how contaminants are released. Environmental dynamics of contaminants and routes of human exposure. Tools and approaches for assessing possible human health effects. Scientific concerns pertinent to future regulatory actions. The book also examines some of the social, psychological, and economic factors that affect the communities where incineration takes place and addresses the problem of uncertainty and variation in predicting the health effects of incineration processes.