Essays on EPA

Recycling refers to the process that involves changing waste products into new usable products (Clean Energy Ideas, 2009). Although the advantages of recycling are well known by many, it would be overwhelming to discover what a world of benefit there is when people begin to fully understand, appreciate and participate in activities involving recycling. The following discussion lists the benefits that come with recycling of waste materials; recycling is one sure way of conserving and protecting the environment and materials that are valuable, thus making the world a cleaner and greener place to inhabit (Mohammed, 2006). It eliminates the need for ...

The Implications Of The Economics Of Sustainability And Environmental Well Being

Questions

Developing economic regulations that will ultimately lead to the implementation of sustainable industries has been on the cards for decades now. What is the state of sustainability initiatives today? Corporations play a major role in sustainability. How has the face of Corporate Social Responsibility changed to accommodate sustainability? Governments of developed as well as third world nations have pledged their dedication towards sustainability but have these nations taken any concrete steps towards environmental well being?

Sustainability Initiatives Today

In Borneo, villagers are replacing polluting diesel generators with small scale hydro-generators and tapping local streams to produce clean and affordable electricity for their ...

Scenario #3

1. Should the oily rags stay on the plant site?

Oily rags are classified as contaminated debris under EPA’s definition of hazardous waste because the rags are contaminated with oil which has the characteristic of being highly ignitable. As such, the oily rags should not be kept at the site since the high temperatures at the plant site could easily ignite the oil-air mixture in the dumpsters causing a fire. Therefore, their continued stay at the plant site poses a high preventable risk for fire (Hackman, Hackman & Hackman,2002).

2. What responsibility does Fleet Operations have?

Fleet Operations are the generators of the hazardous waste in ...

Introduction In 1990, pollution prevention was set as a priority in the American national objectives of environmental management through the Pollution Prevention Act (Weinberg, 2006). According to EPA, pollution prevention is decreasing waste before recycling, treatment, or disposal. Public pollution prevention programs are administered by the POTW (Publicly Owned Treatment Works), the largest municipal investment dedicated to environmental quality.

POTW Administered P2 Programs

The various types of programs administered are Voluntary, Regulatory, Enforcement, and market based programs (Bishop, 2000). Enforcement programs are aimed at enforcing a strategy that will achieve full compliance with environmental laws. An example of these programs is Septic System Pollution ...

Waste Management

Brownfield sites can be defined as deserted or underutilized facilities that were previously used for industrial and/or commercial purposes, and are available for re-use and re-development (Davis, 2002). They are usually contaminated with many toxic chemicals and have to be assessed, cleaned, and decontaminated in order to be used again. An example is the 45-acre property in Pennsylvania; it was formerly used for storage of refined salt products, refining and production plant for aluminum and cryolite, bulk repackaging and blending facility for chemicals and repackaging, and warehousing facility for Forane and refrigerators (EPA, 2010). Efforts to clean the area ...

Environmental waste refers to the unwanted by- products which are released to the environment and have the potential of harming living things around the areas of production or release. Paints are mixed up with various organic solvents that have volatile compounds. Free release of those volatile compounds will have a negative impact on the existence of living things, living within the vicinity of paint companies. It is therefore important to ensure the implementation of optimal strategies garnered towards reducing the toxins produced during the manufacturing process. Key in this mandate is the need to minimize the level of solvents utilized ...