Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (RCRA)

The primary goals of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) are to protect human health and the environment from the potential hazards of waste disposal, to conserve energy and natural resources, to reduce the amount of waste generated, and to ensure that wastes are managed in an environmentally sound manner.

A federal law regulating solid and hazardous waste. RCRA governs the generation, storage, treatment, transport, and disposal of hazardous waste.

An amendment to the Solid Waste Disposal Act, RCRA (42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq.) authorized the development of federal regulations for the definition, storage, treatment, and disposal of solid wastes and hazardous wastes, as well as the process by which states may obtain primacy for implementation of the federal program.