Q. We store Lead Metal Scrap on our property and sell it to recyclers. Would I mark Item 12 “Notification of Hazardous Secondary Material Activity” on the 2015 biennial report as “Yes” or as “No”?
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A. Whether you need to complete Item 12 “Notification of Secondary Material Activity” of the 2015 Biennial Report (EPA Form 8700-13 A/B) depends on whether you are recycling hazardous secondary materials (HSM) in compliance with the conditional exemptions from the definition of solid waste found at 40 CFR 261.4(a)(23) (the “generator controlled” exclusion), 40 CFR 261.4(a) (24) (the “verified recycler” exclusion, or 40 CFR 261.4(a) (25) (deleted in 2015 but was for HSM exported to a foreign country and notification is still required to indicate the cessation of recycling under that exclusion). (Another exemption at 40 CFR 261.4(a)(27) would not be relevant to you, as you have described your recycling operations, as it involves remanufacturing of solvents that are HSM).
A hazardous secondary material is a secondary material (which, in other words, is a spent material, byproduct, or sludge) that, when discarded, would be identified as hazardous waste.
So if your lead metal scrap is a HSM and if you are the generator or recycler that recycles the HSM pursuant to one of the cited exemptions, mark “yes” in Item 12 and complete the notification that must be given if you check off “yes” by filling out the Addendum to the Site ID Form (one of the Biennial Report forms). You would mark “no” in Item 12 if your lead metal scrap is not a HSM that is being managed under the exemptions described above.
Note that Item 12 of the Biennial Report says: “Mark “yes” if you are notifying under 40 CFR 260.42 that you will begin managing, are still managing, or will stop managing hazardous secondary materials….”
40 CFR 260.42 states: “Facilities managing hazardous secondary materials under §§260.30, 261.4(a)(23), 261.4(a)(24), or 261.4(a)(27) must send a notification prior to operating under the regulatory provision and by March 1 of each even-numbered year thereafter to the Regional Administrator using EPA Form 8700-12….” Notification via the Biennial Report is the means of providing notification in even-numbered years.