cfr 261.32, and p-list and the u-list (discarded commercial chemical products) found in the regulations at 40 cfr 261.33. rcra's record keeping system helps to track the life cycle of hazardous waste and reduces the amount of hazardous waste illegally disposed. comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability act the comprehensive environmental response, compensation, and liability act (cercla) was enacted in 1980. the primary contribution of cercla was to create a "superfund" and provide for the clean-up and remediation of closed and abandoned hazardous waste sites. cercla addresses historic releases of hazardous materials, but does not specifically manage hazardous wastes. the valley of the drums, a toxic waste dump in northern bullitt county, kentucky country examples united states in the united states, the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste are regulated under the resource conservation and recovery act (rcra). hazardous wastes are defined under rcra in 40 cfr 261 where they are divided into two major categories: characteristic wastes and listed wastes. the requirements of the rcra apply to all the companies that generate hazardous waste as well as those companies that store or dispose hazardous waste in the united states. many types of businesses generate hazardous waste. dry cleaners, automobile repair shops, hospitals, exterminators, and photo processing centers may all generate hazardous waste. some hazardous waste generators are larger companies such as chemical manufacturers, electroplating companies, and oil refineries. a u.s. facility that treats, stores, or disposes of hazardous waste must obtain a permit for doing so under the rcra. generators and transporters of hazardous waste must meet specific requirements for handling, managing, and tracking waste. through the rcra, congress directed the united states environmental protection agency (epa) to create regulations to manage hazardous waste. under this mandate, the epa developed strict requirements for all aspects of hazardous waste management including the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. in addition to these federal requirements, states may develop more stringent requirements that are broader in scope than the federal regulations. furthermore, rcra allows states to develop regulatory programs that are at least as stringent as rcra and, after review by epa, the states may take over responsibility for the implementation of the requirements under rcra. most states take advantage of this authority, implementing their own hazardous waste programs that are at least as stringent, and in some cases are more stringent than the federal program. the u.s. government provides several tools for mapping hazardous wastes to particular locations. these tools also allow the user to view additional information. toxmap was a geographic information system (gis) service from the division of specialized information services archived 2019-03-21 at the wayback machine of the united states national library of medicine (nlm) that used maps of the united states to help users visually explore data from the united states environmental protection agency's (epa) toxics release inventory and superfund basic research program. this resource was funded by the us federal government. toxmap's chemical and environmental health information was taken from nlm's toxicology data network (toxnet), pubmed, and other authoritative sources. the us environmental protection agency (epa) "where you live" allows users to select a region from a map to find information about superfund sites in that region.