US environmental regulators tighten rules for burning 'other' trash

The US environmental regulators have updated the rules for burning certain types of solid waste. This means more types of incinerators will face stricter pollution controls, and existing ones will have to meet new standards.

For years, some incinerators that burned specific types of waste, not quite municipal trash or hazardous waste, operated under less stringent rules. This update closes those loopholes, forcing more facilities to invest in better pollution control technology. It also means that the US environmental regulators can now enforce against emissions during startup, shutdown, and malfunction periods, which were previously often exempt.