Note: This information is provided for reference purposes only. Although the information provided here was accurate and current when first created, it is now outdated.

Box 4. Waste Management Hierarchy

The federal Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 established source reduction-preventing the generation of toxic chemicals in waste at their source-as the preferred approach waste management. This national policy also established a hierarchy of options for situations where source reduction is not feasible:

• For waste that cannot be prevented, recycling is the preferred option.
• Because combustion of waste for energy recovery shares some aspects with other approaches, EPA added energy recovery to the hierarchy.
• For waste that cannot be recycled or burned for energy recovery, the next preferred option is treatment.
• Release or disposal of the chemical is viewed as a last resort, to be employed only when preferred methods cannot be implemented.

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