View all text of Subchapter VIII [§ 6981 - § 6987]
§ 6983. Coordination, collection, and dissemination of information
(a) InformationThe Administrator shall develop, collect, evaluate, and coordinate information on—
(1) methods and costs of the collection of solid waste;
(2) solid waste management practices, including data on the different management methods and the cost, operation, and maintenance of such methods;
(3) the amounts and percentages of resources (including energy) that can be recovered from solid waste by use of various solid waste management practices and various technologies;
(4) methods available to reduce the amount of solid waste that is generated;
(5) existing and developing technologies for the recovery of energy or materials from solid waste and the costs, reliability, and risks associated with such technologies;
(6) hazardous solid waste, including incidents of damage resulting from the disposal of hazardous solid wastes; inherently and potentially hazardous solid wastes; methods of neutralizing or properly disposing of hazardous solid wastes; facilities that properly dispose of hazardous wastes;
(7) methods of financing resource recovery facilities or, sanitary landfills, or hazardous solid waste treatment facilities, whichever is appropriate for the entity developing such facility or landfill (taking into account the amount of solid waste reasonably expected to be available to such entity);
(8) the availability of markets for the purchase of resources, either materials or energy, recovered from solid waste; and
(9) research and development projects respecting solid waste management.
(b) Library
(1) The Administrator shall establish and maintain a central reference library for (A) the materials collected pursuant to subsection (a) of this section and (B) the actual performance and cost effectiveness records and other data and information with respect to—
(i) the various methods of energy and resource recovery from solid waste,
(ii) the various systems and means of resource conservation,
(iii) the various systems and technologies for collection, transport, storage, treatment, and final disposition of solid waste, and
(iv) other aspects of solid waste and hazardous solid waste management.
Such central reference library shall also contain, but not be limited to, the model codes and model accounting systems developed under this section, the information collected under subsection (d), and, subject to any applicable requirements of confidentiality, information respecting any aspect of solid waste provided by officers and employees of the Environmental Protection Agency which has been acquired by them in the conduct of their functions under this chapter and which may be of value to Federal, State, and local authorities and other persons.
(2) Information in the central reference library shall, to the extent practicable, be collated, analyzed, verified, and published and shall be made available to State and local governments and other persons at reasonable times and subject to such reasonable charges as may be necessary to defray expenses of making such information available.
(c) Model accounting system
(d) Model codes
(e) Information programs
(1) The Administrator shall implement a program for the rapid dissemination of information on solid waste management, hazardous waste management, resource conservation, and methods of resource recovery from solid waste, including the results of any relevant research, investigations, experiments, surveys, studies, or other information which may be useful in the implementation of new or improved solid waste management practices and methods and information on any other technical, managerial, financial, or market aspect of resource conservation and recovery facilities.
(2) The Administrator shall develop and implement educational programs to promote citizen understanding of the need for environmentally sound solid waste management practices.
(f) Coordination
(g) Special restriction
(Pub. L. 89–272, title II, § 8003, as added Pub. L. 94–580, § 2, Oct. 21, 1976, 90 Stat. 2834; amended Pub. L. 95–609, § 7(u), Nov. 8, 1978, 92 Stat. 3083.)