History of the Industry in PA

Before 1968, there were 1,100 unregulated dumps in Pennsylvania.
There was no professional waste industry.

The dumps basically were unprotected holes in the ground. Waste of
all kinds, even toxic materials, was routinely thrown away. There was
no regulation.

Eventually, the damage to our environment became untenable. The Solid Waste Management Act was passed in 1968 and amended in 1980. The Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act was passed in 1988.

It took large investments and economies of scale to comply with the regulatory requirements established by these new laws. That, in turn,
led to the growth of the private-sector waste industry and professionally operated waste management facilities.