History of the RCRA

The RCRA regulations are a combination of laws that were previously enacted beginning in 1965 and the standards set forth in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. In response to increasing accumulations of dangerous municipal and industrial waste, the U.S. Congress passed the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965. Later, Congress passed the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, which amended the Solid Waste Disposal Act. The RCRA law was written to specifically address concerns about the environmental impact of hazardous waste. The RCRA law gave the EPA the authority to develop enforceable requirements for waste management in an effort to meet the RCRA goals. To develop the RCRA regulations, the EPA combined other legislation that governed waste management and incorporated the standards of the RCRA law to form what is now known as the RCRA.

To learn more about RCRA visit our RCRA Hazardous Waste Safety Online Training web page.