Hazardous Waste

Data Management Problems Delay EPA's Assessment of Minimization Efforts Gao ID: RCED-91-131 June 13, 1991

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) efforts to develop baseline and trend data to measure its progress in minimizing hazardous waste generation.

GAO found that: (1) EPA underestimated the complexity of developing baseline minimization data; (2) staffing and funding constraints and competing priorities limited EPA efforts to obtain minimization data; (3) EPA data collection instruments were badly designed; (4) over half of the states did not use the EPA-designed forms for collecting and reporting biennial data to EPA; (5) EPA did not include small-quantity generators in its surveys or reporting system; (6) EPA data did not account for changes in waste toxicity; and (7) EPA was beginning to redesign its efforts to measure waste minimization.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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