498. UNT FOUR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY BOX ONE CORPORATIONs RESPONSE TO ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY When Americans think about those symbols around washroom tissue, office stationery, and towels. In us that are truly "American, thoughts of baseball addition, they are redesigning dozens of other pack- and apple pie come to mind. When we are asked to aging items they use in order to reduce the amount think about corporations that are truly American, of material in them. the McDonalds Corporation-the hamburger The corporation estimated that by recycling people-comes to mind. In each of their restau- corrugated cardboard shipping containers nation- rants, they provide information for the customers wide, they could reduce the amount of waste about the nutritional value of their foods and other McDonald's restaurants formerly sent to landfills by interesting bits of information about the company. 30%-40% In recent years, McDonald's has presented informa- It is efforts like that of the mcdonald's tion about their support of recycling. They have Corporation that will help us reach our future recy. stated that they are the largest user of recycled cling goals paper in their business. Specifically, they use recy-. Note: For more information on the recycling program Happy Meal bags, corrugated shipping containers, mental Affairs, McDonald's Corp, Oak Brook, IL 605on cled paper for trayliners, brown carryout bags of McDonald's Corporation write: McDonald's Envi Source reduction The ultimate approach to solid waste reduction is to limit its creation in the first source reduction place through source reduction. This can be achieved by avoiding the use of non- mpp roach involving reusable products, such as paper towels and paper diapers, and by reducing the the reducion or amount packaging associated with groceries and carryout foods such as ham- eliminstion of use f burgers and pizzas. (A cardboard round and a paper bag constitute less packaging materials that produre on accumulation of than an entire corrugated cardboard box. Lightweight containers like aluminum w soft drink cans create less to recycle than heavier ones. a third approach is to sell products in concentrated form so they can be packaged in the smaller containers currently used. Examples of this technique are frozen orange juice, other concen trated juice drinks, and laundry detergent Solid waste management has come a long way in the past 20 years. Today, most people know what is and is not environmentally sound waste management, and the necessary technology to ensure appropriate disposal of waste is available. One question still remains: When will protecting the environment become a high enough priority for most Americans to act and demand wise waste management? (See Box 15.2.) Hazardous Waste lozarrlous waste Like solid waste, hazardous waste-waste that is dangerous to human health or combination o the environment-has become the subject of intensified concern in recent years wastes that i Improperly handled hazardous waste can result in an immediate threat to human dangerous to human t health or to the environment. Until 1976 and the passage of RCRA, hazardous health or the vironment waste could be disposed of in the same way that other solid wastes were; that is, by placing it in a dump or landfill. In addition, a great deal of hazardous waste was ille- gally buried or discarded into waterways. Today, Americans are faced with the dual