Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is the title for the 1976 federal environmental law that substantially amended the Solid Waste Disposal Act and established a national framework for managing solid and hazardous waste. The RCRA is codified at 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq. The Act authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish and enforce federal requirements governing waste management programs.
The RCRA uses "solid waste" as a legal term, not merely a description of physical form. Under 42 U.S.C. § 6903, solid waste can include discarded material in solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous form. The RCRA defines "hazardous waste" as solid waste that, because of its quantity, concentration, or characteristics, may cause or significantly contribute to, increased mortality or to serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness, or pose a substantial present or potential hazard if it is improperly managed.
The EPA implements the RCRA through regulations principally codified in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). The RCRA is divided into statutory Subtitles, including Subtitle C (Subchapter III, Hazardous Waste Management), Subtitle D (Subchapter IV, Solid Waste Disposal), and Subtitle I (Subchapter IX, Regulation of Underground Storage Tanks). These statutory Subtitles should be distinguished from the parts and subparts of the CFR that contain EPA's implementing regulations.
Subchapter III (42 U.S.C. §§ 6921–6939g) creates the principal hazardous-waste program. It regulates waste from generation through transportation, treatment, storage, and disposal, often known as "cradle-to-grave" management. The system includes rules for identifying hazardous waste; duties for generators and transporters; manifests used to track shipments; operating and permitting standards for treatment, storage, and disposal facilities; land-disposal restrictions; enforcement; and corrective action for certain releases.
Subchapter IV (42 U.S.C. §§ 6941–6949a) addresses nonhazardous solid waste. States generally have the primary role in managing nonhazardous solid waste, while federal regulations establish the minimum criteria for municipal and industrial waste-disposal facilities and prohibit open dumping.
Subchapter IX, (42 U.S.C. §§ 6991-6991m), was added by the 1984 Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments, and separately regulates underground storage tanks containing petroleum or certain hazardous substances. Because the RCRA contains several programs, whether a material or facility is regulated depends on its characteristics, uses, exclusions, and the applicable federal and state rules.
The EPA may authorize a state hazardous-waste program to operate in lieu of the federal program if the state program is equivalent to, and consistent with, the federal program and provides adequate enforcement. Authorized states may impose requirements more stringent than the federal minimum. The applicable requirements therefore may come from federal law, authorized state law, or both.
The RCRA authorizes government enforcement and limited citizen suits. Qualifying plaintiffs may seek relief against a person alleged to be in violation of specified RCRA requirements or against certain persons who contributed or are contributing to the handling, storage, treatment, transportation, or disposal of waste that may present an imminent and substantial endangerment, subject to statutory notice and other restrictions. In Meghrig v. KFC Western, Inc., 516 U.S. 479 (1996), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the citizen suit provision does not authorize recovery of past cleanup costs, and that an imminent and substantial endangerment claim requires the endangerment to exist when the suit is filed.
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), commonly called Superfund, separately provides important mechanisms for imposing cleanup liability and recovering cleanup costs.
[Last reviewed in August of 2026 by the Wex Definitions Team]
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