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Disaster waste and debris management: decision-making and social processes
Citation:
Maxwell, K. AND M. Matsler. Disaster waste and debris management: decision-making and social processes. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-23/026, 2023.
Impact/Purpose:
Disaster debris and waste present significant recovery obstacles to communities. Managing the waste and debris faces challenges from high costs, intricate logistics, and inter-institutional coordination. This research investigates how disaster waste and debris management decisions are made. It seeks to identify intervention points for helping decision-makers navigate complex organizational, emotional, and socioeconomic issues to make environmentally and socially sustainable and resilient decisions, enabling recovery. This research may be of interested to federal, state, and local agencies tasked with planning for or responding to disasters.
Description:
Disasters generate debris and waste that need to be disposed of in a ways that are cost effective, follow regulatory and reimbursement guidelines, minimize environmental and health risks, and support long term community resilience and sustainability. Disaster waste and debris management involves pre-incident planning, waste estimation, on-site treatment or decontamination, staging, transportation, and off-site disposal for multiple waste streams and types of contaminated materials. Managing the waste and debris faces challenges including high costs, complex administrative requirements, intricate logistics, and inter-institutional coordination. This research analyzes the social processes that affect disaster waste and debris decision-making. It analyzes the role that institutional arrangements, relationships, values, and other social processes have in affecting waste decisions in different disaster contexts and operational stages. It seeks to identify intervention points for helping decision-makers navigate complex environmentally and socially sustainable and resilient decisions, enabling community recovery and rebuilding. This report may be of interested to federal, state, tribal, territorial, and local agencies involved with emergency management or waste management.