There are many regulations that will burden you by having to record, audit, etc, where/when/why/how you are dumping waste, to help
assure you aren't dumping it into a river.
Dow, having established cash flow and infrastructure, can trivially bear whatever these costs. These regulations were even created because Dow themselves (et al), somewhere in the middle of their life, optimized their profit by dumping in rivers.
You personally know the environmental harm and grave illegality [0] of improperly disposing of waste products, and your company is small enough that you can be sure everybody is of similar mind - you're focused on solving technical problems, having not yet been taken over by beancount-maximizers. But you still must pay the costs of the overbearing "compliance" paperwork designed around large amoral entities, perhaps even having to hire a dedicated government bureaucrat fresh out of law school. This is the gatekeeping-legislation dynamic people complain about.
[0] Which given your corporate size and lack of TBTF, would be a criminal penalty rather than a civil wrist slap.