Illegal Disposal of Hazardous Waste: Difficult To Detect or Deter

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO studied issues related to illegal hazardous waste disposal to determine whether: (1) information regarding illegal disposal is available; (2) the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and states can identify hazardous waste generators and the types and quantities of waste that they produce; (3) the hazardous waste transportation manifest system effectively detects illegal waste disposal; (4) inspections of waste generators and transporters effectively detect illegal disposal; (5) enforcement actions are taken against hazardous waste disposal violators; and (6) other methods not covered in federal regulations could detect illegal disposals.