Implications Of US Legal System Of Hazardous Waste Management To China

Many substances which could not be degradated by the environment, especially hazardous waste, have been produced with the development of technology, economy, industry and urbanization. The problem of hazardous waste management, closely related with the development of economy in a country, must get more concern as well, throughout the experience of developed countries. The United States has accumulated rich experience, and established a relatively sound legal system. Enacted in 1976, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act is the basic law of the hazardous waste management in the United States. After several amendments, its provisions on the legal system of hazardous waste management are also more complete. The sound law system of hazardous waste management in America is of great reference value to our country. Therefore, the paper chooses the American legal system to compare with ours, looking forward to make feasible suggestions to perfect the legal system of hazardous waste management.Starting from the basic theory of hazardous waste management, this paper analyses the concepts of waste and hazardous waste, and elucidate the hazardous waste characteristics and the harm to the environment and human health caused by hazards. In the following chapter, the paper reviews the legal system of hazardous waste management in the United States. Starting from the legislation of the United States, it focus on the provisions on the management of hazardous waste of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, and carries on a simple comment on the hazardous waste management law system; Then it introduces the legal principles of the hazardous waste management in the United States, namely "three basic principles", classification management, producer extended responsibility and the nearest disposal principle; and this paper expounds the concrete legal system of hazardous waste management in the United States, including identification system, tracking system, contaminated sites list and repair system and joint and several liability system of polluters. The purpose of introduction of the US legal system of hazardous waste management is to draw some experiences. Through the analysis of the legislation and management of our country, it is pointed out that China’s relevant legal system still exists problems, such as the imbalance in the structure of the legislation, the weak feasibility of existing system, and the omission of some important dangerous waste management legal system. This paper provides recommendations to improve the legal system of hazardous waste management, such as improving the current system of legislation, establishing Environmental Pollution Prevention against Hazardous Waste Act and others, to promote the hazardous waste management in China. In reference to the experience of the United States, the difference between China and the United States of social nature, economic structure, cultural background shall be considered. While the science and rationality of the experience in United States is emphasized, the mode of the United States cannot be directly applied, based on the hazardous waste management legislation and relevant practice.Previous researches on relevant legal issues of hazardous waste management in the United States and China with high academic value also give the author a lot of inspiration. The so-called "innovation" is standing on the shoulder of forefathers, attempting to innovate in the following aspects:first, on the basis of a review on the hazardous waste management legal system and the latest revision of the relevant translated laws and regulations, the paper introduces the concrete management system of the United States and make comments. Second, combined with the legislative experience of the United States, based on the lack of China’s specific legislation on hazardous waste management, the paper puts forward proposal to establish the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Environmental Pollution by Hazardous Waste, hoping to do some basic work for the improvement of China’s hazardous waste management legal system and relevant practice.