"A long time ago in a [May 19, 1980 Federal Register] far, far away
[or so it seems]," the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) declared its authority to regulate all hazardous secondary
material, whether discarded or reused, under the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and that it would exercise
its authority to promote properly conducted waste reclamation. Ever
since then, a kind of Empire/Rebellion struggle has played out over
the scope and extent of broad-based recycling exclusions to the
RCRA's solid waste definition.
Over the years, recycling exclusions generally focused on
particular industries. However, EPA's last final rule, issued in the October 30, 2008
Federal Register during the Bush administration, contained
several much broader exclusions. Those exclusions covered a waste
generator's onsite recycling, offsite recycling in the United
States, and transfers of hazardous secondary materials for
recycling conducted outside the United States.
