General

Wastes from industries include solid wastes, air pollutants, and wastewaters. These separate categories of wastes are regulated by separate and distinct bodies of laws and regulations. Solid wastes are regulated by RCRA, CERCLA, SARA, HSWA, and other federal laws and regulations, as well as certain state laws and regulations. Air pollutants are regulated by the Clean Air Act (as well as other federal and certain state laws and regulations). Wastewater discharges are regulated by the Clean Water Act, as amended (as well as other federal and certain state laws and regulations). However, the three categories of wastes are closely interrelated, both as they impact the environment and as they are generated and managed by individual industrial facilities. As examples, certain solid wastes handling, treatment, and disposal facilities are themselves generators of both air discharges and wastewaters. Bag houses used for air pollution control generate solid wastes; air scrubbers and other air pollution control devices generate both liquid and solid wastes streams; and wastewater treatment systems generate sludges as solid wastes and release volatile organics and aerosols as air pollutants.

The total spectrum of industrial wastes, then, must be managed as a system of interrelated activities and substances. Materials balances must be tracked, and overall cost effectiveness must be kept in focus. Moreover, as discussed more fully in Chapter 4, the principles of pollution prevention must be implemented to the most complete extent practicable. All wastes must be viewed as potential resources. In some cases, wastes can be used as...