Waste and Materials Management During Emergency Response
About the Webinar
Originally presented on May 13, 2026
A significant component of responding to and recovering from large-scale or isolated events is the management of wastes and materials resulting from the incident itself or from activities cleaning up after the incident. The quantification, segregation, transportation, staging, storage, and disposal of waste can be an arduous and costly undertaking that is difficult to manage, regardless of whether it results from natural, accidental, or intentional disasters. Waste must be holistically considered with decisions being made regarding remediation throughout the response and recovery timeline.
To facilitate planning and the proper management of disaster wastes and materials, EPA developed several waste planning and management tools for chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear incidents and natural disasters. This suite of tools can assist decision makers with waste management decisions in the pre-planning, mitigation, response, and recovery phases of an incident. This webinar will provide an overview of several EPA tools currently available to support decision making and planning for waste management following a large-scale event.
About the Presenter
Erin Silvestri is a Section Chief with EPA’s Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions. Erin has been with the U.S. EPA for almost 19 years. Prior to becoming Section Chief, Erin supported multidisciplinary homeland security related research to advance emergency response preparedness including: development of sampling, processing, and analysis methods and protocols for pathogens, chemicals, and biotoxins in various environmental media. She developed field and laboratory ready documents and resources for responders following intentional or accidental homeland security-related chemical, biological, and radiological contamination incidents. She has provided support to several large-scale demonstrations which aimed to develop and demonstrate capabilities needed to prepare for releases of biological agents. Erin has a Master of Public Health from the University of Michigan and certificate in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) from Northern Kentucky University.