STATEMENT OF BROWNING-FERRIS INDUSTRIES, INC. BEFORE THE PANEL ON MATERIALS POLICY SUB-COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS U.S. SENATE JULY 18, 1974 My name is Ted Flood. I am Vice President of Browning-Ferris Industries, Inc., the nation's largest waste systems company with operations in 130 cities in 32 states, as well as Canada and Puerto Rico. We have 89 Solid Waste Systems Operations; numerous contracts with municipalities serving all parts of 90 cities; we have 40 secondary-fibre reception centers in operation, with more planned; 25 Chemical Services Division locations, 5 of which are liquid-waste reception and treating centers. We will handle approximately 12 million tons of our nation's waste this year; and our Resource Recovery Division supplied one million tons of paper making fibre to the paper making industry in 1973; and we expect to handle more than 1,500,000 tons in 1974. We have established 5 hazardous liquid-waste reception and treating centers, located in Houston, and Port Arthur, Texas, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mobile, Alabama and Youngstown, Ohio. We believe achievement of the goals of a clean environment, accelerated use We are concerned, however, with the limited involvement of private enterprise contained in the Bill. In light of the fact that private industry handles 73% of the total solid wastes in our country, it is vitally important that allencompassing legislation be promulgated with more consideration of those companies currently involved and performing the management of our daily waste stream and resource recovery. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the private sector of the waste system field handles 3/4 of the daily solid waste stream and handles it effectively and efficiently. He collects, processes and disposes of more waste every single day than many European countries generate in a month. Because of his innovations and technical development in the area of solid waste collection, the private waste systems operators' productive efficiency virtually subsidizes the present waste collection economy. It is the private operator who handles 73% of the nation's solid waste with only 34% of the nation's solid waste employees. During the period from 1960 to 1974, the real cost to the consumer of just one of the collection services our company provides in a typical operation decreased 28% using 1967 constant dollars. That same expertise and efficiency is now being applied to recovery of wastes with: Liquid Waste Reception and Treating Centers This same private sector stands ready to make the financial, managerial and technical investments necessary to implement and operate a national recovery program. What is required to accelerate recovery is not Federal funding, but a greater demand for recovered resources. We are in accord with the majority of the objectives of SB-3560; however, we feel strongly that the focal point of the bill should place even more emphasis on creating demand for greater use of recovered resources rather than on building unproven recovery systems using. tax revenues. Specifically, we have the following recommendations regarding Senate Bill 3560: I. The Federal government now is the largest single purchaser of goods in America. We are told its purchases range up to 30% of the GNP. Having outright control of so much purchasing power, we endorse the mandate that all agencies of the U. S. Government purchase competitive goods employing recovered materials. We believe the mandate should go further to require that: A. All specifications for materials purchased by the government B. Authorize expenditures necessary for the EPA to create and To the extent Federal funds are to be appropriated in this area, use them to implement the methods outlined above. We oppose the system of grants authorized by Section 217(b) as an unnecessary expenditure of funds. II. Our second area of concern deals with Federal standards relating to hazardous waste. We believe greater enforcement of existing regulations will accelerate the time when we attain our national anti-pollution goals. We also believe the role of the Federal Government should be that of promulgating standards that establish desired environmental goals and assuring enforcement. This is the meaningful stimulus necessary to assure that those goals are met. There is no doubt that we need uniform standards, not minimums, relating to hazardous waste and that enforcement of those standards is the necessary government role in this area. The private sector currently handles the treatment and disposal of many hazardous wastes. Many industrial firms have done outstanding jobs of treating their waste to environmentally acceptable degrees before such wastes leave their plants. However, the major deterent to achieving the overall goal of having all hazardous wastes properly treated stems from the lack of established uniform standards and enforcement. According to the 1973 Federal budget estimated for funding of pollution control and abatement of solid waste, approximately $64.6 million was budgeted for expenditure by nine Federal agencies but less than 1% of that amount was earmarked for establishing standards and for enforcement, and historically, where clearcut laws are in effect and enforced, the best job has been done. Additionally, private enterprise has the financial capacity to make major investments in hazardous waste treatment and disposal facilities. Unfortunately, the opportunity to develop this market is economically unstable--and will remain so---in the absence of government establishing and enforcing uniform standards that are meaningful and achievable. III. We would hope that previously mentioned suggestions concerning the establishment of Federal standards would help to reduce overlapping local, regional and state regulation duties. For example, operating permits are usually required by cities or towns, counties, and states; and, now, new Federal permitting requirements are suggested. We believe these pyramid |