(a)The Administrator shall develop, collect, evaluate, and coordinate information on—
(1)methods and costs of the collection of solid waste;
(2)solid waste management practices, including data on the different management methods and the cost, operation, and maintenance of such methods;
(3)the amounts and percentages of resources (including energy) that can be recovered from solid waste by use of various solid waste management practices and various technologies;
(4)methods available to reduce the amount of solid waste that is generated;
(5)existing and developing technologies for the recovery of energy or materials from solid waste and the costs, reliability, and risks associated with such technologies;
(6)hazardous solid waste, including incidents of damage resulting from the disposal of hazardous solid wastes; inherently and potentially hazardous solid wastes; methods of neutralizing or properly disposing of hazardous solid wastes; facilities that properly dispose of hazardous wastes;
(7)methods of financing resource recovery facilities or, sanitary landfills, or hazardous solid waste treatment facilities, whichever is appropriate for the entity developing such facility or landfill (taking into account the amount of solid waste reasonably expected to be available to such entity);
(8)the availability of markets for the purchase of resources, either materials or energy, recovered from solid waste; and
(9)research and development projects respecting solid waste management.
(b)(1)The Administrator shall establish and maintain a central reference library for (A) the materials collected pursuant to subsection (a) of this section and (B) the actual performance and cost effectiveness records and other data and information with respect to—
(i)the various methods of energy and resource recovery from solid waste,
(ii)the various systems and means of resource conservation,
(iii)the various systems and technologies for collection, transport, storage, treatment, and final disposition of solid waste, and
(iv)other aspects of solid waste and hazardous solid waste management.
(2)Information in the central reference library shall, to the extent practicable, be collated, analyzed, verified, and published and shall be made available to State and local governments and other persons at reasonable times and subject to such reasonable charges as may be necessary to defray expenses of making such information available.
(c)In order to assist State and local governments in determining the cost and revenues associated with the collection and disposal of solid waste and with resource recovery operations, the Administrator shall develop and publish a recommended model cost and revenue accounting system applicable to the solid waste management functions of State and local governments. Such system shall be in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. The Administrator shall periodically, but not less frequently than once every five years, review such accounting system and revise it as necessary.
(d)The Administrator is authorized, in cooperation with appropriate State and local agencies, to recommend model codes, ordinances, and statutes, providing for sound solid waste management.
(e)(1)The Administrator shall implement a program for the rapid dissemination of information on solid waste management, hazardous waste management, resource conservation, and methods of resource recovery from solid waste, including the results of any relevant research, investigations, experiments, surveys, studies, or other information which may be useful in the implementation of new or improved solid waste management practices and methods and information on any other technical, managerial, financial, or market aspect of resource conservation and recovery facilities.
(2)The Administrator shall develop and implement educational programs to promote citizen understanding of the need for environmentally sound solid waste management practices.
(f)In collecting and disseminating information under this section, the Administrator shall coordinate his actions and cooperate to the maximum extent possible with State and local authorities.
(g)Upon request, the full range of alternative technologies, programs or processes deemed feasible to meet the resource recovery or resource conservation needs of a jurisdiction shall be described in such a manner as to provide a sufficient evaluative basis from which the jurisdiction can make its decisions, but no officer or employee of the Environmental Protection Agency shall, in an official capacity, lobby for or otherwise represent an agency position in favor of resource recovery or resource conservation, as a policy alternative for adoption into ordinances, codes, regulations, or law by any State or political subdivision thereof.
