The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), an amendment to the Solid Waste Disposal Act, was enacted in 1976 to address a problem of enormous magnitude—how to safely dispose of the huge volumes of municipal and industrial solid waste generated nationwide. It is a problem with roots that go back well before 1976.

There was a time when the amount of waste produced in the United States was small and its impact on the environment relatively minor. (A river could purify itself every 10 miles [16 km].) However, with the industrial revolution in the latter part of the nineteenth century, the country began to grow with unprecedented speed. New products were developed and consumers were offered an ever-expanding array of material goods.

This growth continued through the early twentieth century and took off after World War II when the nation's industrial base, strengthened...