Category: Hazardous and Solid Waste
UST Release Reporting: How to Know What to Do and When
Immediately After Release If you suspect that a release may have occurred, you must immediately notify your state or local implementing agency. If the tank is in territory controlled by Native Americans, you must contact the EPA regional UST program office. Quick action on your part can minimize the extent of environmental damage and the […]
Universal Waste Lamp Training: Storage, Handling, and Labeling
Examples of lamps that have a hazardous component include: Fluorescent tubes and bulbs and high-intensity discharge lamps Neon and mercury vapor lamps High-pressure sodium and metal halide lamps Despairing ever getting your employees trained? It isn’t easy to fit it in—schedule-wise or budget-wise—but now there’s the Environmental Compliance Library from Employee Training Center. Train all […]
Recharge Your Universal Waste Battery Training
Handling Batteries Safely Although containment for “dry” batteries would seem simple, improper or “rough” handling can damage the casing and cause leakage of the contents. Teach your workers to know how to ensure that the casing of each individual battery cell is not breached and remains intact and closed. They should know to report any […]
What to Expect in the World of Waste for 2012
In November 2011, EPA closed public comment on a rule concerning the disposal of coal combustion residuals from electricity-producing facilities, first proposed in 2010. EPA is considering two possible options for the management of coal ash. Under the first proposal, EPA would list these residuals as special wastes subject to regulation under Subtitle C of […]
Universal Wastes: How Long Can You Keep Them and How Are They Tracked?
Both small and large quantity handlers of universal waste must comply with an accumulation time limit of 1 year for storing universal wastes. A permit is not required. The accumulation period is measured from the time the waste is either generated (the date it becomes a waste) or received from another universal waste handler. Universal […]
Getting a Handle on Handling Universal Wastes
The goal of EPA‘s universal waste rule (40 CFR 273) is to reduce the amount of hazardous waste items in the municipal solid waste wastestream and encourage recycling and proper disposal of certain common or widely generated hazardous wastes. Wastes regulated under the universal waste rules include: Batteries Pesticides Thermostats Fluorescent and high-intensity discharge lamps […]
Compliance Tip: Delisting Your Waste
So, for example, a waste generated at your facility may meet a listing description even though the process uses raw materials different from those EPA assumed were used when listing the waste—as such, the waste may not contain the contaminants for which it was listed. Similarly, after treatment of a listed waste, the residues may […]
Yucca Mountain and Disposing Nuclear Waste
By law the U.S. DOE was required to develop a permanent geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, and begin accepting waste for disposal on January 31, 1998. But after decades of investigations, design, engineering, and testing at a cost of $14 billion, the Yucca Mountain option appears to have died under overwhelming negative response from […]
What to Do with Your UST After a Flood
Also, in less catastrophic conditions, a UST system that has been prepared for the risks posed by surface-level floodwater or rising groundwater can be brought back online relatively quickly. If the UST has been in a flood, the following actions, depending on site-specific conditions, are recommended: Do not assume everything is OK because water didn’t […]