Waste management is included under the TRI definition of toxic chemicals that are otherwise used, which refers to activities that are not manufacturing or processing.
TRI requires that subject facilities report releases and other waste management of listed chemicals. Facilities must also report transfers of toxic chemicals for waste management to off-site locations. Waste management comprises recycling, combustion for energy recovery, treatment (including treatment for destruction and waste stabilization), and release, including disposal.
TRI was created to give the public a view of how toxic chemicals are handled at a facility and the risk those chemicals pose to the public. Hence, it is most important that managers correctly report how toxic substances are managed. Making the appropriate distinctions between release, reuse, recovery, disposal, and related activities is critical to providing an accurate picture of your facility.
Accordingly, the following points about two waste management terms—recycling and combustion for energy recovery–should be kept in mind when preparing TRI reports.
- To determine if recycling and combustion for energy recovery are occurring, EPA applies two concepts—the intended and ultimate function of the toxic chemical and the direction of the toxic chemical or chemical stream based primarily on the type of device or process handling the chemical.
- To conclude that the toxic chemical is not reportable, one should determine that the stream containing the chemical has always been directed toward further processing, i.e., it is integral to the production of a product.
- Equipment or processes, such as treatment or pollution control devices or processes whose primary function is to make a chemical stream amenable for further management or release, are not integral to production, even if a toxic chemical is removed from the stream and reintroduced to a processing stream.
- To determine that a chemical is not integral to production and reportable as a toxic chemical in waste, one should determine that the stream containing the chemical has become spent or contaminated such that it cannot be reused or used without some form of recovery, except for disposal, waste stabilization, or treatment for destruction.
- Chemicals that can be recirculated within a system are considered reused, not recycled–and not reportable–as long as there is no reclamation of the chemical before the continued use or reuse.
- Similarly, use of a chemical without reclamation to make it usable would not be reportable as waste management of the toxic chemical.
- Manufactured by-products, as well as toxic chemicals that were intended to be processed but were not, are managed as wastes and must be reported.
- By definition, recycling involves recovery of a toxic chemical from a chemical stream and reuse of that chemical. Recovery activities are not integral to production. Therefore, regardless of the function or nature of the toxic chemical, the recovery and reuse of any toxic chemical after it has entered a treatment or control device or process is reportable recycling of that chemical.
- Treatment devices are not limited devices that are federally or state permitted.
- Combustion for energy recovery should be restricted to devices where energy is produced from the combustion of the toxic chemical and harnessed.
- EPA interprets combustion for energy recovery as the combustion of the toxic chemical that (1) is (i) a RCRA hazardous waste or waste fuel, (ii) a constituent of a RCRA hazardous waste or waste fuel, or (iii) a spent or contaminated otherwise used material; and (2) has a significant heating value (e.g., 5,000 Btu per pound) and is combusted in an energy or materials recovery device.
- EPA considers an energy or materials recovery device to be an industrial furnace or boiler as defined in 40 CFR 260.10.
- In determining whether an EPCRA Section 313 listed toxic chemical is combusted for energy recovery, the facility should consider the Btu value of the toxic chemical and not the chemical stream.
The above aspects of TRI reporting are covered in more detail in EPA’s Interpretations of Waste Management Activities: Recycling, Combustion for Energy Recovery, Treatment for Destruction, Waste Stabilization, and Release.