EPA is offering the same opportunity to tribes. EPA's role is to evaluate states' and tribes' programs and decide if they are adequate to ensure safe disposal of municipal solid waste. States and tribes that apply for and receive EPA approval of their programs have the opportunity to provide a lot of flexibility in implementing the regulations. This added flexibility allows states and tribes to take local conditions and needs into account, and can make the costs of municipal solid waste management more affordable. States and tribes also may establish requirements that are more stringent than those set by the federal government.
Private citizens have a role, too.
Individuals can help ensure that adequate landfill capacity exists for their wastes by supporting the siting and development of facilities that comply with the regulations. Individuals can exercise their responsibility through grassroots activities, such as participating in public meetings regarding landfill siting, by taking part in permitting processes, and by working closely with the responsible state or tribal officials. A discrete area of land or an excavation that receives household waste, and that is not a land application unit, surface impoundment, injection well, or waste pile, as those terms are defined in the law. Such a landfill may be publicly or privately owned. Waste placement in existing units must be consistent with past operating practices or modified practices to ensure good management.