Improper Trash Disposal

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The Code of Federal Regulations, Title 42 Chapter 82, Subchapter I, Section 6903 (1976) defines disposal as “discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including ground waters.” Practices for the collection of solid waste ranging from the types of trashcan, or reusable waste containers, to training operators collecting solid waste, and maintaining records associated with the waste collection system, required for federal agencies and recommended to state and local governments, have been provided as well (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40 Part 243, 1976). The government upon waste management guideline establishment, under the afore-mentioned Codes then designated enforcement to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As we move into the enforcement of environmental policies by EPA we see federal standards that states must comply with and our first mention of what the government determines as improper trash or waste disposal. Two key EPA policies that determine improper trash disposal are The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (1988) which regulates the generation, transportation, and treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes and excludes hazardous wastes from incinerator and landfill facilities requiring disposal at a permitted facility and the Household Hazardous Waste (2008) that states household products that are toxic, corrosive or flammable require special methods of disposal and pouring them on the ground, down the drain, into open sewage systems, or...

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...er stress, undernourished, dehydrated, and lower immunity are the perfect setting for an outbreak! Dysentery, diarrhea, meningitis, Hepatitis A, and B, acute upper respiratory infections, tetanus and rabies are the most common diseases affecting populations after disasters and all are easily linked to waste disposal (Wisner, B. & Adams, J., 2002).

Conclusion

Disposal of trash or waste or garbage however you call it is critical in society today with federal, state, and local laws in place to ensure the health and safety of citizens and protect and conserve the environment. The future of our planet is at stake from decades of neglect and misuse of our resources and we must do all that we can to protect and preserve it. Reading and researching has renewed my sense of environmentalism and it starts in my home by recycling, reusing and properly disposing of trash.

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