Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 16 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (685 download)
Book Synopsis Mandated Recycling Rates by :
Download or read book Mandated Recycling Rates written by and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 16 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1992, Congress sought to rewrite its comprehensive solid waste legislation the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Commodity-specific recycling rates were proposed for consumer-goods packaging, materials and newsprint. In this paper, we compare the impacts on energy, materials use, and landfill volume of recycling at those rates to the impacts associated with alternative methods of disposition to determine, the optimal method for each material. Alternative paths for material disposition include reuse, recycling to the same product, recycling to a lower-valued product, combustion for energy recovery, incineration without energy recovery, and landfilling. The recovery rates considered during RCRA reauthorization are summarized. Combustion was specifically excluded by Congress to meet recovery goals. This exclusion is probably based on the idea that combustion is a form of disposal and therefore wastes resources and has negative environmental effects. Our paper does not make that assumption. A report by Gaines and Stodolsky, from which this paper is derived, offers a more complete discussion of energy and S impacts.