EPA cited several other RCRA violations at the RI facility including: failure to separate or protect containers holding hazardous wastes from containers holding incompatible materials, failure to provide adequate hazardous waste management training to its personnel, failure to maintain a hazardous waste contingency plan, and failure to properly manage and label its universal waste.
But it was the hazardous waste determination violation in particular that seemed to have caught their eye. In a press release EPA said, "The company’s violation of RCRA requirements, and in particular their failure to determine if its wastes were hazardous, significantly increased the likelihood that hazardous wastes might be improperly managed and disposed of, and that the public and the environment could have been exposed to hazardous wastes."
Hazardous Waste Determination is Difficult for Many
BLR Waste Expert, Liz Dickinson, was telling me that this is often a hang-up for many EHS managers. One of the most frequently asked questions she gets from generators is, "Is my waste a hazardous waste regulated under RCRA?"
If the answer is "no," you’re off the hook–the RCRA hazardous waste laws and regulations do not apply to the management of that waste. If the answer is "yes," however, the generator and subsequent handlers of the hazardous waste must comply with myriad RCRA rules that are in place in order to ensure the safe management of the hazardous waste.
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Solid or Hazardous: How to Tell in 3 Steps
Making a hazardous waste determination (figuring out whether a waste is subject to RCRA Subtitle C) is a 3-step process:
- Is the material a "solid waste"?
- Is the waste specifically excluded from RCRA hazardous waste regulation?
- If the waste is a solid waste, is the solid waste "hazardous"? This step requires the generator to determine:
- Is the waste a "listed" hazardous waste?
- Does the waste exhibit one or more of the four characteristics of hazardous waste?
What RCRA Means By Solid Waste
In order for a material to be a hazardous waste, it must first be a solid waste.
RCRA uses the term "solid waste" instead of the more common term "waste." Under RCRA Subtitle C, "solid waste" is defined as: "any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations and community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved material in domestic sewage".
As defined in the RCRA regulations, "solid waste" includes any material that is discarded. A discarded material is any material that is abandoned, recycled, inherently wastelike, or is a military munition identified as a solid waste. The definitions of what constitute "abandoned," "recycled," and "inherently waste-like" materials are somewhat complex so in a nutshell here’s what you need to know.
"Abandoned" materials are solid waste if they are "abandoned" by being:
- Disposed of, or
- Burned or incinerated, or
- Accumulated, stored, or treated (but not recycled) before or in lieu of being abandoned by being disposed of, burned, or incinerated.
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"Inherently waste-like" materials are the following wastes that EPA has designated as solid wastes when they are recycled in any manner:
- Hazardous Waste Nos. F020, F021 (unless used as an ingredient to make a product at the site of generation), F022, F023, F026, and F028
- Secondary materials fed to a halogen acid furnace that exhibit a characteristic of a hazardous waste or are listed as a hazardous waste except for brominated material that meets specified criteria
- Secondary materials fed to a halogen acid furnace that exhibit a characteristic of a hazardous waste or are listed as a hazardous waste
Recycling materials encompasses the concepts of using materials specified in 40 CFR 261.2 in a manner constituting disposal, burning such material for energy recovery, reclaiming such material, or speculatively accumulating such material. This concept of recycling also includes storage or treatment of the specific material before recycling it.
If you find that the material is a solid waste, the next step is to determine if the waste meets the criteria of any of the three categories of exclusion from hazardous waste regulation. See tomorrow’s Advisor for how to find out if your waste is excluded from hazardous waste regulations.
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