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Recommendation IND 5 — Encourage waste handlers (including businesses and other entities that generate waste) to become materials brokers.

Provide technical assistance to waste handling firms and others so they can become materials brokers and transcend the current treatment, storage, and disposal model to support greater material reuse and recycling. The goal is for these “second-generation” treatment facilities to reclaim and recover waste for beneficial value and to stock reusable materials for redistribution and reuse. More research is needed on better alternatives and beneficial reuse of hazardous waste and materials to achieve a closed loop system using wastes as resources.

Several organizations have developed to encourage these efforts, such as by-product synergy, and Ecology has provided them with funding and organization support. As this new closed-loop system evolves, Ecology will need to examine its regulatory controls and permitting authority to ensure proper management of hazardous materials and substances.

Milestone IND E: Hazardous waste handlers including businesses and other entities in Washington have taken noticeable steps toward becoming brokers of materials.

Links and Resources

• By-Product Synergy (Exit Ecology)

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