WASTE
AND TOXICS IN RHODE ISLANDWASTE
AND TOXICS IN RHODE ISLAND
"We have seen a significant transformation in the way we view our air, water, and land. Today, there is universal agreement that our natural resources are valuable, not just for the economic prosperity they help create, but for what they add to our quality of life."---EPA Administrator Christie Whitman
Waste and Toxics in Rhode Island is one of the most important indicators of how the transformation EPA Administrator Christie Whitman describes above manifests itself. Is the state protecting human health and the environment from the potential hazards of solid waste and hazardous disposal, reducing the amount of waste generated, and ensuring that wastes are managed in an environmentally sound manner?
Waste and Toxics in Rhode Island captures the quantities, trends, and in some cases, projections of waste and toxics generated in the state over the past decade (although each category reports slightly different time spans). The state has made significant strides in reducing some pollutants, while regressed and increased generation in other categories. Some of the indicators such as air toxics have direct impacts on human health, another such as solid waste track and project consumption patterns in the state, and yet others such as hazardous waste and the Toxics Release Inventory data are valuable sources of information regarding resources and toxic chemicals that are being used, disposed of, or released into the environment.
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