ABSTRACT
The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) of 1984 have made it more difficult and expensive to dispose of hazardous wastes. Some wastes have been or will be banned from land disposal entirely, and other disposal practices are severely restricted. Restrictions have caused a shortage of approved facilities, yielding higher cost of disposal. Land disposal has been the standard means used by industries to dispose of solid and hazardous wastes. Improper or inadequate containment of these wastes has resulted in contamination of air, water, and land resources. As initially defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency, waste minimization includes anything that reduces the load on hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal facilities by reducing the quantity or the toxicity of hazardous wastes. In industry, there is a general perception that pollution control is a cost of doing business and that money or effort expended in compliance should be minimized.
