Every year, disasters such as wildfires, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanoes, and winter storms affect American communities. In the aftermath of a major disaster, a potential threat to safety and obstacle to recovery is the presence of significant amounts of disaster debris. Depending on the type of disaster, debris may include waste soils and sediments; trees, limbs, and shrubs; man-made structures (e.g., collapsed homes, buildings, or bridges); and personal property. Residents' ability to return to the area and live in a safe and healthy environment may depend on how quickly and effectively a community manages its debris. To avoid overburdening existing landfill space, many communities attempt to divert as much debris as possible from area landfills through recycling, burning, composting, or another method of volume reduction. The logistics of such diversion can prove complicated without proper pre-disaster planning. Improperly managing debris can have detrimental long-term repercussions. During or after a disaster, some debris will likely become mixed with hazardous constituents. For example, under flooding conditions, household hazardous waste or sewage may contaminate otherwise benign personal property or building materials, such as drywall or carpeting. Improper disposal of contaminated debris may lead to future environmental, health, or safety problems, such as groundwater contamination. This report provides an overview of federal and state waste management requirements relevant to debris removal, as well as the challenges that can make it difficult for communities to manage debris quickly and safely. To support those communities, a number of federal agencies may provide certain types of debris removal assistance. This report provides an overview of federal and state agency roles in disaster debris removal. A number of federal agencies are authorized to support communities with disaster debris removal. This report focuses on support provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Each agency that provides debris removal support may do so under a number of different conditions or statutory authorities. A discussion of those various conditions or authorities is beyond the scope of this report. Federal waste management standards are established in the Solid Waste Disposal Act—more commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA; 42 U.S.C. §6901 et seq.). Under Subtitle C of RCRA, EPA has primary authority to regulate solid waste identified as hazardous. Non-hazardous solid wastes and wastes explicitly excluded from the Subtitle C requirements are regulated under Subtitle D of RCRA. EPA's role in regulating solid waste under Subtitle D has largely been to promulgate federal landfill criteria as necessary to meet RCRA's prohibition on "open dumping." Under Subtitle D, states have primary authority to regulate waste and to implement and enforce federal standards related to RCRA's open dumping prohibition. Generally, the overwhelming majority of disaster debris involves wastes regulated under Subtitle D. While not specifically defined in federal law, the term disaster debris generally refers to waste materials created by or in the aftermath of a natural or man-made disaster, such as: construction and demolition (C&D) waste from destroyed buildings; vegetative debris, soils, and sediment; rotting materials, such as food or dead animals (e.g., pets or livestock); damaged vehicles, consumer appliances, and electronic devices; and hazardous chemicals or products, including those released from commercial, industrial, agricultural, or residential sites. These materials are handled by municipal waste management agencies every day—but not as they would be after a disaster that destroys homes, businesses, and institutions, potentially turning entire structures, their contents, and surrounding vegetation into waste. Decisions about how the waste will be managed are made largely by local or state agencies. If requested by a state or local government, EPA and/or the Corps may provide technical assistance or operational oversight of the state's debris removal activities (see discussion in the " Federal Agency Roles " section). Ultimately, however, it is generally the state's decision how its debris will be managed. Typically, management will include some activity to reduce its volume. Disaster debris reduction primarily involves open burning/incineration, recycling, chipping and grinding, or composting. The remaining waste is generally disposed of in a landfill. The fact that disaster debris may not be subject to federal hazardous waste management standards does not mean the waste is not hazardous or will pose no risk to human health or safety or the environment. State agencies responsible for managing disaster debris can face a number of challenges in managing disaster debris quickly and safely. After a disaster, states generally attempt to manage disaster debris in a way that limits short- and long-term threats to public health and safety or to the environment. Those threats arise if the debris is not managed quickly, but they can also arise through improper reduction and disposal practices. There are a number of factors that may make it difficult to both quickly and safely manage disaster debris. After discussing several key challenges, Table 1 at the end of this section lists the common categories of disaster debris and the challenges often associated with properly managing each category. One of the greatest challenges facing a community recovering from a disaster is the overwhelming volume of debris generated. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina created more than 118 million cubic yards (CY) of debris over a 93,000-square-mile area. Most disasters have not generated debris on the scale of Hurricane Katrina (although Hurricane Harvey may). Still, many have, in a single incident, generated debris in amounts that were several times greater than a region would otherwise manage in an entire year. The logistics of managing tens of thousands or millions of cubic yards of vegetative or C&D waste may be a daunting task, even in a community that is prepared for such an event. When not prepared, a region must coordinate the physical removal of debris and likely designate a temporary staging area to sort and separate the waste before determining the appropriate management method. If debris removal contractors have not already been identified, it may be time-consuming to find a sufficient number of waste haulers able or qualified to do the work. States generally try to lessen the burden on existing landfill facilities and potentially reduce costs by reusing and recycling high volume wastes. However, those communities may lack the physical space to fully implement reduction strategies. Also, if residents have begun to return to a disaster area, there may be significant opposition to burning by community members who would be affected by the smoke. The fact that most disaster debris is not subject to the RCRA Subtitle C hazardous waste management requirements does not mean that the waste poses no hazard. Debris may be inextricably mixed with or contaminated by harmful or hazardous constituents. Safe management options, as well as the cost and time it takes to implement those options, will depend on whether, or the degree to which, the contaminated debris can be separated from more non-hazardous waste (see Figure 1 ). For example, vegetative debris often represents a significant proportion of disaster debris. When clean, it can be chipped or ground up for re-use. It is estimated that the volume of vegetative debris can be reduced by as much as 75% using this method of waste reduction. Because of the potentially huge volume of vegetative debris following a disaster, burning may be a preferred method of waste-handling (which is estimated to reduce the waste by as much as 90%). However, burning or chipping for reuse may not be safe options for reducing vegetative debris contaminated with sewage, oil, or other contaminants. In the past, a sizable proportion of disaster debris was classified as C&D waste. Under federal law, C&D waste is classified neither as hazardous waste nor as municipal solid waste (MSW). Therefore, C&D landfills are not subject to federal design and operational criteria. For example, C&D landfills are not required under federal law to have protective liners that an MSW landfill would have. Instead, states determine what criteria a C&D landfill must meet, as well as what materials constitute C&D waste . In the event of an emergency, a state may change the regulatory definition of C&D waste to more broadly include large volumes of debris generated in the wake of the disaster. If that C&D waste is commingled with hazardous materials, it may be disposed of at landfills that are not designed to accept such wastes. EPA suggests, and most states generally attempt, to remove hazardous materials such as asbestos, lead-based paint, and other contaminated materials from C&D waste before landfill disposal. States may also attempt to lessen the burden on disposal facilities and potentially reduce costs by reusing and recycling C&D waste. However, if hazardous materials are mixed with C&D waste to the point that they cannot be segregated (see photo of mixed disaster debris in Figure 1 ), that waste may end up being disposed in a landfill that is not meant to safely receive such waste. Generally, debris removal from private property does not qualify for federal funding because it is considered a responsibility of individual property owners that may be covered by private insurance. However, if home and business owners move disaster-generated debris to a public right-of-way, federal funding may be available for its removal. Therefore, the speed with which cleanup and rebuilding occurs may depend on how quickly residents are able to return to the area and assist in debris removal from private property. As noted, safe and efficient management of disaster debris may be difficult if different types of debris cannot be separated. Returning residents are generally asked to separate debris as much as possible (see FEMA Debris Removal Guidelines illustrated in Figure 2 ). The greater the devastation, the longer it may take before residents can return and, in turn, the greater the chance that some wastes will become contaminated and/or cannot be safely or easily separated.