Agenda - Council - 06/23/1981 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Objectives 2. Establish an order of preference for hazardous waste management practices that will achieve environmentally safe handling and disposal, conserve energy and material resources, and minimize total costS. Policies 2. The Metropolitan Council will consider waste reduction practices as having the greatest benefit to improved hazardous waste management, followed, in order of preference, by source separation, waste processing and utilization and land disposal. WASTE REDUCTION Waste reduction (or source reduction) seeks to control and minimize the quantity of waste produced by changing product design and/or consumer behavior. Reducing the amount of waste will reduce: o (REDUCE) Production costs, o (REDUCE) Public spending for waste management, o (REDUCE) The rate of resource consumption, and o (REDUCE) Potential environmental impacts. Several approaches may be used to reduce the quantity of waste at source: o o its Charges on products to stimulate design changes that reduce waste; Deposits as an incentive for reusing products; Bans on certain materials; o voluntary actions; and o Buying and internal management practices. Product Charges Generally, the cost of a product does not reflect what the public must pay for collection and disposal of solid or hazardous waste generated by the product. The goal of product charges is to charge or tax the producer for the costs of waste disposal. Implementing waste reduction policies through product charge programs would require legislative action. To be successful, the costs of implementing the programs must not exceed the benefits to the public. However, thorough analyses of product charge policies are not readily available. A federal cabinet-level Resource Conservation Committee mandated by the Resource Conv~rvation and Recovery Act of 1976 will examine the implications of waste management charges on