PROCEEDINGS

The Surgeon General's Conference
      t/r
  on Solid Wuste Management

FOR METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON
        July 19-20, 1967

Edited by Leo Weaver

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE
             Public Health Service

    NATIONAL CENTER FOR URBAN AND INDUSTRIAL HEALTH
               Solid Wastes Program

                         CINCINNATI

                        I967


Public Health Service Publication No. 1729

Library of Congress Catalog No. 67432888

For sale by tbe Saperintmdeat of Dcmmmta, U.S. Qovemmeat Printing OflIce
         Wmht#m,D.C.2S4O2-~7Scanta


FOREWORD

SEVERAL MONTHS HAVE GONE BY since we met to discuss Metropolitan
Washington's area-wide solid waste management problems. Since that time,
much has happened and I believe significant progress has been made toward
the solution of these problems. One important action was the announce-
ment by the Secretary of the Interior and the Engineer Commissioner of
the District of Columbia of a timetable of 60 to 90 days for the conversion
of Kenilworth from an open burning dump to a sanitary landfilling demon-
stration for community improvement.

The Kenilworth Dump has long been an ugly, enormous, burning pile of
solid waste, befouling the air of our nation's capital with great plumes of
smoke. It has been a menace to health in Washington, D.C. and its environs.
Unfortunately, in other cities and towns across the nation, similiar dumps
pose the same problem.

The idea of getting rid of the Kenilworth Dump was a top priority sub-
ject for discussion in the proceedings that make up the subject of this
volume. It is a pleasure to be able to report, so soon after the conference,
that the meeting stirred prompt action.

But much remains to be done. In calling the conference I stressed that
lack of technology is not the real barrier to safe and sanitary solid waste dis-
posal. The barriers are chiefly political and economic. The local govern-
ments of the Washington area, working together toward a common solution,
constitute the vital force required to achieve the environmental health bene-
fits inherent in effective solid wastes management. The many salutary com-
ments received indicate the conference answered both a regional and a
national need. Certainly it has put the Washington area problems of solid
waste management in better perspective and created a more favorable
environment for innovative solutions.

The conference approach itself is applicable to our many metropolitan
areas. The conference format, together with input from the well-chosen
speakers with various viewpoints, present in these proceedings a valuable
dialogue concerning the problem here in the Washington area and elsewhere
in the country.

November 1967
Bethesda, Maryland

WILLIAM H. STEWART
Surgeon General

. . .
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CONFERENCE STAFF

JEROME H. SVORE
General Chairman

LEO WEAVER
Executive Secretary

    G.LAMAR HUBBS            KENNETH FLIEGER
Deputy Executive Secretary       Information Ofiicer

LEROY STONE and JOHN T. TALTY      JOAN F. TUDOR
   Program Oficers         Administrative Oficer

               Secretaries and Aides

BARBARA K. APO~TOL                       GERRI METSCH
JACQUELYN S.JORDAN                    ERNESTINEROGERS
SANDRA L.Loos                          LINDA TRAVERS

Special appreciation for assistance and cooperation is extended to the staff
of the Naticnal Center for Air Pollution Control and the Training Program
of the National Center for Urban and Industrial Health.

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CONTENTS

PAGE

First Plenary Session

WELCOME TO THE CONFERENCE, Leo Weaver. . . . . . . . . . 1
INTRODUCTION OF KEYNOTE SPEAKERS, ]erome H. Svore . . . . . 3
KEYNOTE ADDRESS, William H. Stewart . . . . . . . . . . . 5
KEYNOTE ADDRESS, Joseph D. Tydings . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
HEALTH ASPECTS OF SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL, Richard A. Prindle . .I5
LUNCHEON ADDRESS: POLITICS AND TRASH, Royce Hanson . . . . .21

Second Plenary Session

PANEL A: PRESENT PRACTICES AND NEEDS IN THE
  METROPOLITAN AREA . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25

SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL STUDY FOR THE WASHINGTON
METROPOLITAN AREA, L. W. Bremser . . . . . . . . . . .25

AIR POLLUTION AND SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL PRACTICES
]ohn T. Middleton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .35
SOLID WASTE HANDLING BY FEDERAL INSTALLATIONS
  Fred W. Binnewies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41

SOLID WASTE HANDLING BY FEDERAL INSTALLATIONS
  William H. Eastman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

ABANDONED AND SCRAP AUTOMOBILES, William A. Vogely . . . . .51

LEGISLATIVE NEEDS FOR A METROPOLITAN SOLID WASTE
DISPOSAL PROGRAM, John J. Bosley . . . . . . . . . . .61
OPEN DISCUSSION: PANEL A . . . . . . . . . . . . . .65

PANEL B: TECHNOLOGY TODAY   ..........  .73

TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS, Robert D. Bugher  ........  .73

LAND RECLAMATION, Frank R. Bowerman   .........  .87

REFUSE REDucnoN PROCESSES, Elmer R. Kaiser  .......  .93

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PAGE

RECYCLING AND UTILIZATION, C. I. Harding  .........  105

OPEN DISCUSSION: PANEL B  ..............  121

PANEL C: DEVELOPMENT OF A REGIONAL SOLID WASTE
  DISPOSAL PLAN . : . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

THE NEED FOR LONG-RANGE PLANNING FOR A SOLID
  WASTE DISPOSAL PLAN, Paul M. Reid . . . . . . . . . 131

ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS IN THE REGIONAL APPROACH
  To SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT, Ross L. Clark . . . . . . 139

PUBLIC ADMINIST~TION ASPECTS OF AREA-WIDE PIZANNING
Hugh Mields, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . 149

ASSISTANCE AVAILABLE UNDER THE SOLO, WASTE DISPOSAL ACT
Richard D. Vaughan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
OPEN DISCUSSION: PANEL C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
LUNCHEON ADDRESS, William B. Spong, Jr. . . . . . . . . . 167

Third Plenary Session

SUMMARIES BY PANEL CHAIRMEN, Achilles M. Tuchtan,
Abraham Michaels, and Walter A. Scheiber . . . . . . . 173

CONFERENCE SUMMARY - A PATTERN FOR ACTION, Leo Weaver .   .  185

CONFERENCE ADJOURNMENT, Jerome H. Svore . . . . . . . . 189

vi