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0 <br />1.0 Introduction and Background <br />The federal government regulates solid waste in the United States under Title 40 of <br />the Code of Federal Regulations Subchapter 1 (40 CFR 239 to 2999). These <br />regulations are in 40 CFR 258 (also known as Resource Conservation Recovery Act <br />[RCRA] Subtitle D), Criteria for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills. Under authority of <br />RCRA, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) administers <br />Title 40 regulations and enforces solid waste regulations and policies through its <br />Office of Solid Waste (OSW). <br />Figure 1 -1 shows U.S. EPA's hierarchy of integrated solid waste management which <br />is illustrated in the form of a pyramid of ranked approaches. Source Reduction is at <br />the highest level (A) of the pyramid with landfilling at the bottom. Recycling <br />comprises the middle blocks (B & C) followed by combustion with energy recovery <br />(D) above combustion without energy recovery and landfilling (E). <br />Figure 1 -1 — Solid Waste Management Hierarchy" <br />A \ I Source Reduction and Reuse <br />Composting <br />0) <br />B <br />c <br />U U <br />m Materials Recovery <br />C <br />DI <br />Processing /Combu ition with Energy <br />Recovery <br />E <br />Landfilling and Incineration <br />without Energy Recovery <br />A +B +C +D +E= Capacity (loot to scale) <br />As Orange County updates its Solid Waste Management Plan en route to achieving <br />their goal of 61 percent waste reduction, the County should consider pursuing the <br />first two approaches: source reduction /reuse and recycling. Such activities include <br />the County's support of local recycling and the encouragement of yard waste <br />composting. As of 2006 -07, a reported 47.7 percent waste reduction rate was <br />achieved by the County, eliminating the need to landfill that portion of the waste <br />stream. The portion of waste generated that is not recycled or composted is hauled <br />1 U.S. EPA. <br />GBB/C08027 -01 1 August 15, 2008 <br />