PREVENTION AND RECYCLING

When pollution prevention and recycling options are not economically feasibly, pollution can still be reduced by treating wastes so that they are transformed into... 

Despite the best efforts of pollution prevention and recycling programs, hazardous wastes are being, and will continue to be, generated. Classification of hazardous waste is necessary for cost-effective waste management. 

Addressing the final stage of the lifecycle of a product, extended producer responsibility and the Commission s Prevention and Recycling of Waste Strategy [241] place demands on companies and local authorities to take-back certain products42. This may be especially important to ensure the correct disposal of used consumer... 

Section 313 (40 CFR 372), Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) Businesses are required to file annual reports with federal and state authorities of releases to air, water, and land above a certain threshold for chemicals on the TRl/Section 313 list (40 CFR 372.65) by July 1 each year for the previous year s releases (139). TRI requirements are triggered if a facility is involved in manufacturing with 10 or more full-time employees, manufactures, processes, or otherwise uses with one or more listed substances in a quantity above the statutory reporting threshold of 25,000 Ibs./yr (manufactured or processed) or 10,000 Ibs./yr (otherwise used). Beginning with the 1991 reporting year, such facilities also must report pollution prevention and recycling data for such chemicals pursuant to Section 6607 of the Pollution Prevention Act (42 U.S. Code 13106). n-Hexane was added to the TRI list in 1994 with reporting for 1995 emissions (135). Isohexane is not on the TRI list. 

DOE O 450.1 EO 13101, Sec. 705(a)(1) 4.8.1 A program to promote cost-effective waste prevention and recycling of reusable materials shall be developed. 

EO 13101, sec. 705(a)(2) 4.8.1.1.1 The recycling coordinator shall implement or maintain the waste prevention and recycling programs. 

Prevention and recycling schemes for waste and packaging waste regulations. 

The European Commission s Thematic Strategy on the prevention and recycling of waste established new aims and objectives for EU waste policy. In addition, it put forward a vision of an EU recycling society as its long-term goal [4]. 

Thematic Strategy on the Prevention and Recycling of Waste, COM(2005) 666 Final, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium, 2005. 

Solvent Recovery. Most of the activated carbon used in gas-phase applications is employed to prevent the release of volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere. Much of this use has been in response to environmental regulations, but recovery and recycling of solvents from a range of industrial processes such as printing, coating, and extmsion of fibers also provides substantial economic benefits. 

Although the EPAs policy does not consider recycling or treatment as actual pollution prevention methods per se, these methods present an opportunity to reduce the amount of waste that might otheiwise be discharged into the environment. Clearly, the definition of pollution prevention and its synonyms (e.g., waste minimization) must be understood to fully appreciate and apply these techniques. 

Pollution prevention practices have become part of the U.S. National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program, working in conjunction with best management practices (BMPs) to reduce potential pollutant releases. Pollution prevention methods have been shown to reduce costs as well as pollution risks through source reduction and recycling/reuse techniques.5... 

U.S. EPA endorses pollution prevention as one of the best means of pollution control. In 1990, the Pollution Prevention Act6 was enacted and set forth a national policy that pollution should be prevented or reduced at the source whenever feasible pollution that cannot be prevented should be recycled in an environmentally safe manner, whenever feasible pollution that cannot be prevented or recycled should be treated in an environmentally safe manner whenever feasible and disposal or other release into the environment should be employed only as a last resort and should be conducted in an environmentally safe manner. ... 

Shredded circuit boards. Circuit boards are metal boards that hold computer chips, thermostats, batteries, and other electronic components. Circuit boards can be found in computers, televisions, radios, and other electronic equipment. When this equipment is thrown away, these boards can be removed and recycled. Whole circuit boards meet the definition of scrap metal, and are therefore exempt from hazardous waste regulation when recycled. On the other hand, some recycling processes involve shredding the board. Such shredded boards do not meet the exclusion for recycled scrap metal. In order to facilitate the recycling of such materials, U.S. EPA excluded recycled shredded circuit boards from the definition of solid waste, provided that they are stored in containers sufficient to prevent release to the environment, and are free of potentially dangerous components, such as mercury switches, mercury relays, nickel-cadmium batteries, and lithium batteries. 

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