Waste Minimization: Major Problems of Data Reliability and Validity Identified
PEMD-92-16
Published: Mar 23, 1992. Publicly Released: Mar 23, 1992.
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Highlights
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the quality of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data used to determine the need for mandatory waste minimization requirements, focusing on: (1) the degree and causes of measurement error in the EPA National Survey of Hazardous Waste Generators; (2) how to reduce or eliminate those errors; and (3) how to minimize future problems.
Recommendations
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should direct the Assistant Administrator, Solid Waste and Emergency Response, to investigate alternatives to the production mix measure in order to accurately depict the extent of waste minimization progress. |
Closed – Implemented
EPA has implemented several efforts which should improve its ability to measure trends in waste minimization. It has improved its waste minimization data collection instruments; it has incorporated an activity/production index into its data development activity; it is refining its methodologies for measuring minimization trends.
|
| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should direct the Assistant Administrator, Solid Waste and Emergency Response, to clarify waste stream definitions by making RCRA waste code categories more definitive. |
Closed – Implemented
EPA has continued to redefine waste code categories.
|
| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should direct the Assistant Administrator, Solid Waste and Emergency Response, to clarify regulatory status so that respondents do not confuse RCRA-defined hazardous wastes, hazardous wastes exempt from RCRA, and wastewater. |
Closed – Implemented
EPA has taken a number of steps to clarify the regulatory status of various wastes. It has: (1) added a regulatory status data element to the biennial hazardous waste reporting system; (2) clarified the hazardous waste reporting instructions with respect to regulatory status; (3) added discussions on regulatory status distinctions within training sessions for hazardous waste generators and is including these distinctions in the revised biennial reporting regulations.
|
| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should direct the Assistant Administrator, Solid Waste and Emergency Response, to request that hazardous-waste-generating industries define waste minimization programs to ensure that goals, budgeting, incentive programs, use of technical assistance, and assessments are well delineated. |
Closed – Implemented
EPA will add reference to 1993 biennial reporting mechanisms which will help regulated industries define waste minimization programs.
|
| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should direct the Assistant Administrator, Solid Waste and Emergency Response, to request that hazardous-waste-generating industries maintain recordkeeping systems that provide sufficient detail on goals, activities, and progress of waste minimization activities. |
Closed – Implemented
EPA has required industries to do so. They will be required to maintain records that more fully record waste minimization activities and progress.
|
| Environmental Protection Agency | The Administrator, EPA, should direct the Assistant Administrator, Solid Waste and Emergency Response, to conduct site visits of a sample of hazardous waste generators in order to maintain quality assurance and control in waste minimization program activities. |
Closed – Implemented
The agency is conducting site visits. In these reviews, EPA plans to evaluate generation and management data that are submitted by the generators and treatment, storage, and disposal facilities responsible for generating and managing approximately 90 percent of the total hazardous waste.
|
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Topics
Data integrityEnvironmental monitoringEnvironmental policiesHazardous substancesManagement information systemsPollution controlRegulatory agenciesReporting requirementsSurveysWaste management