Army costs for handling, management, and disposal of non-hazardous solid waste (SW) are significant. In FY99, costs totaled $97.2M to dispose of approximately 1.6M tons of Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), not including construction/demolition debris. These costs are expected to increase over the next 10 years. Army policy prohibits siting and permitting new MSW landfills, and existing landfills are closing at an alarming rate. Future liability may become a serious issue as installations face increasingly stringent SW regulations at the state and Federal levels. Costs associated with safety and/or environmental impacts of what has already been landfilled, especially in off-post private or commercial landfills, have the potential to skyrocket. Such large costs, when combined with the increased requirements of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the Federal Facilities Compliance Act (FFCA), may disrupt installation activities (including training). |
Description of Research