Material and Waste Management Planning Activities
Safe, proper, and timely management of debris is an essential but often overlooked component of an emergency response to a disaster. Debris management is also one of many competing priorities agencies must manage during such events. It is important that disaster debris be properly managed to protect human health, comply with regulations, conserve resources and disposal capacity, reduce injuries, and minimize or prevent environmental impacts. It involves advance thought, planning, and coordination among individuals at various levels of government, community organizations, residents, and the private sector with experience and expertise in material and waste management.
On this page:
- Pre-Incident Four-Step Waste Management Planning Process
- Planning with Limited Time and Resources
- Debris Management Activities During Disasters
Pre-Incident Four-Step Waste Management Planning Process
EPA recommends that all communities plan for debris management before a disaster occurs. Although material and waste management during a disaster depends on many event- and site-specific issues, many of the questions are the same regardless of the disaster.
Typical questions include what kinds of debris may be generated and how much, where will the debris go, and can the debris be mitigated. EPA’s pre-incident waste management planning process is designed to help communities prepare for a disaster’s material and waste management needs, regardless of the hazard. This recommended process guides emergency managers and planners through four steps that cover the initiation, creation, updating, and implementation of a waste (or debris) management plan. The process can also help identify and prioritize investments in material and waste management infrastructure, staffing, and training. The waste management planning process does not have to be completed at one time or by one person.
- Step 1: Conduct Pre-Planning Activities.
- Step 2: Develop a Comprehensive Pre-Incident Waste Management Plan.
- Step 3: Keep the Waste Management Plan Updated.
- Step 4: Implement the Waste Management Plan During an Incident.
Step 1: Conduct Pre-Planning Activities
- Prioritize plan development.
- Conduct a community-specific hazard assessment that looks at realistic worst-case scenarios and hazards, their likelihood, and the potential volumes and masses of materials and wastes generated.
- Consider whether you want a single plan that addresses all hazards (recommended) or separate, scenario-specific plans. (This process assumes a single, comprehensive plan that covers all hazards will be developed; however, separate scenario-specific plans would address much of the same information but would be tailored to the specific scenario.)
- Identify and engage with individuals and groups who should be involved in the planning process, as appropriate.
- Consult individuals or groups who represent material and waste management facilities for reuse, recycling, composting, treatment, and disposal; transfer stations; community planners; building officials; transportation; sanitation; emergency response; environmental and public health; public works; zoning; agriculture; industry; and business; among others.
- Identify, review, and coordinate national, regional, state, local, Tribal, territorial, and any organization-specific plans and mutual aid agreements that outline how resources are shared between entities in a disaster.
- Include plans of bordering jurisdictions, including bordering states, countries, and Tribal lands, if applicable.
- Enhance community resiliency by identifying opportunities for source reduction (e.g., updating building codes for resilient building design and construction), hazard mitigation (e.g., eliminating potential problematic wastes), and developing infrastructure for composting, recycling, and reuse of materials.
- Determine the legal and regulatory waste management requirements, issues, and considerations.
- Review the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA’s) eligibility requirements, specifically those pertaining to debris removal, for applicable situations, such as a federal emergency or major disaster declaration.
- Identify unique local circumstances and issues that may affect material and waste management during an incident (e.g., union concerns, geography, facility capacity).
Step 2: Develop a Comprehensive Pre-Incident Waste Management Plan
- Use available tools to aid in plan development.
- EPA’s Pre-incident All Hazards Waste Management Plan Guidelines: Four Step Waste Management Planning Process provides a suggested outline for a scalable, adaptable pre-incident plan that includes recommended plan contents and identifies issues to consider while developing the plan. The specific contents and organization of a plan are flexible. This document provides a general example to help emergency managers and planners get started.
- Consult the individuals identified in Step 1 when developing the plan.
- Consult haulers, owners and operators of material and waste management facilities, including reuse, recycling, and composting facilities, and other entities as they are identified while developing the plan.
- For some debris streams, such as electronics or hazardous waste, specialized expertise may be needed for transport and other management activities. Make sure all entities receive a copy of the relevant portions of the plan when it is completed.
- Identify options for reuse, recycling, and composting for different materials and wastes.
- Consult with facilities and appropriate regulatory authorities about establishing acceptance criteria for these materials and wastes.
Step 3: Keep the Waste Management Plan Updated
- Reach out to groups across the whole community to review and update the pre-incident plan regularly.
- Schedule waste management-related exercises and track the schedule, scenarios exercised, and groups involved.
- Develop a training plan to address training needs for staff and equipment (e.g., National Incident Management System (NIMS), National Response Framework (NRF), technical, and health and safety trainings).
- Incorporate any waste management lessons learned, after action reports, and improvement plans into the pre-incident plan.
Step 4: Implement the Waste Management Plan During an Incident
Note: For more information about the waste management decision making process after a disaster occurs, refer to the All-hazards Waste Management Decision Diagram for Homeland Security Incidents.
- Identify the pre-incident plan that best aligns with the specific incident, if applicable.
- Identify waste management-related policy or implementation issues that require resolution.
- Create the incident-specific plan based on the pre-incident plan.
- Include the incident’s situational overview, generated material and waste types and quantities, locations of material/waste, an exit strategy, and health and safety requirements, and update other sections of the incident-specific plan with real-world numbers.
- Present the incident-specific plan to the appropriate Incident Command staff (response to an incident, including waste management decision making, will occur within the Incident Command System).
- Notify material and waste management facilities of anticipated needs and utilize contract support, where necessary.
- Implement the material and waste management-related community communications and outreach plan in line with the broader, overall incident communications plan.
- Identify waste sampling requirements and notify labs of anticipated analysis needs.
- Conduct waste management oversight activities, such as site visits to, inspections of, and environmental monitoring at waste management sites, as appropriate.
- Implement a comprehensive material and waste tracking and reporting system.
- Ensure protection of human health and the environment at the incident site over the long-term through continued environmental monitoring, cleanup, inspections, and other activities, as necessary.
Planning with Limited Time and Resources
Pre-incident planning can be done in stages over a period of time. Below is a list of debris management planning activities that may provide the greatest benefit for a community that has limited resources and time to devote to planning. Small but significant steps taken prior to an incident can have a big impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of post-incident decision making for materials and wastes.
1. Consult with interested parties.
- Which people in your community have information or resources related to various debris management-related activities? They may represent material and waste management facilities for reuse, recycling, composting, treatment, and disposal, transfer stations, transportation, sanitation, emergency response, environmental and public health, public works, zoning, key industry and business leaders, and community groups, among others.
- What is each group’s role or authority to act during an incident (e.g., issue emergency declarations, issue permit waivers)?
2. Identify potential debris streams.
- What are the possible debris streams that a disaster may generate in your community, considering the industrial, agricultural, residential, and commercial zones in the community?
- Do any federal, state, local, territorial, or tribal laws or regulations apply to the potential debris streams?
- How much debris is expected to be generated by each debris stream, in relative terms?
- Can the amount of potentially generated debris be reduced by means of source reduction (e.g., updating building codes for resilient building design and construction) or hazard mitigation (e.g., eliminating potential problematic wastes, such as retrofitting PCB transformers to reduce PCB-contaminated wastes) activities?
3. Evaluate existing reuse, recycling, and composting programs.
- What reuse, recycling, and composting options (e.g., recycling facilities, end markets for reused and recycled products) are currently available to your community within and/or across jurisdictional lines?
- Can the existing reuse, recycling, and composting programs be scaled up to handle disaster debris?
- Does your community have green building programs, local waste management ordinances, and/or building code requirements that encourage the creation and help maintain a robust reuse, recycling, and composting infrastructure? Expanding or developing these programs, requirements, and infrastructure can improve disaster debris management capacity.
4. Consider debris collection strategies.
- How may the debris be separated into different debris streams before being removed from the site of the incident?
- Can the volume of the debris be reduced (e.g., composting clean vegetative debris)?
- How may the debris be collected and transported off-site after a disaster?
5. Determine locations or criteria for temporary debris management sites.
- What locations are suitable for debris staging, storage, and decontamination activities in your community, considering cumulative impacts?
- Are contracts or agreements in place to use those locations, if needed?
- What criteria should be used for selecting appropriate sites for different debris streams, if locations cannot be pre-determined?
6. Select potential material and waste management facilities.
- What reuse, recycling, composting, treatment, and disposal options are currently available in your community, state, or region? EPA’s Disaster Debris Recovery Tool and Incident Waste Decision Support Tool (I-WASTE DST) can help identify potential facilities.
- Which debris streams can each facility accept?
- How much of each debris stream can each facility receive?
- Under what conditions, if at all, would specific facilities accept debris?
- Are contracts for disaster debris pre-negotiated with these facilities?
7. Create a debris management-focused community outreach plan.
- How may community members find out when, where, and how debris collection will begin and when normal collection is likely to resume?
- How may your community be informed of debris management-related information, including the transportation and management of disaster debris in or near the community?
- What are the most effective methods of notifying your community about the risks that each debris stream may present to human health and the environment?
- How can information be shared effectively with those with disabilities and Limited English Proficiency?
- Which people or groups in your community can help you spread important information?
- What are possible ways to increase public understanding and acceptance of decontaminated materials, reused materials, recycled products made from disaster debris, and compost?
8. Address health and safety considerations for debris management operations.
- What are the risks associated with the potential debris streams and the use of decontamination technologies?
- Do emergency personnel have appropriate training regarding debris handling and management?
- Is personal protective equipment (PPE) available should a disaster occur?
- How will PPE be safely managed during operations?
Debris Management Activities During Disasters
EPA developed a flow chart that demonstrates the decision making process for debris management activities (pdf)(133 KB) during a response to and recovery from a disaster and identifies areas where pre-incident planning can be useful.
The flow chart has been divided into three stages - initial activities, on‐site activities, and off‐site activities – at which debris management decisions are typically made during a disaster, regardless of the specific type of incident. Many of these debris management activities are part of every response. Having an understanding of the various debris management‐related activities and the considerations and decisions involved with them – and planning for them – can improve health and environmental outcomes, help expedite the cleanup process, and help minimize costs during a disaster, enhancing the community’s resilience.
