Why reduce PBT chemicals, instead of waste quantities?
PBT chemicals are an environmental concern because they are potentially hazardous to humans and/or ecosystems, and there may be greater potential for exposures to them, since they tend to persist in the environment and move through (and concentrate in) food chains. Reducing waste quantities may not necessarily equal reducing the risk that waste poses to human health or the environment. The EPA has been tasked with focusing more and more on reducing the toxicity of wastes rather than on waste quantities alone. Consequently, the Waste Minimization National Plan (WMNP) focuses on reducing chemicals in wastes rather than the quantity of waste as a whole.
