Debate over - EPA won't change definition of corrosive waste
EPA will not change the current definition of “corrosive waste.” That’s the final determination announced in the June 15, 2021, Federal Register. Already in 2016, EPA told petitioners that it did not plan to change the criteria for corrosivity. But now, it’s official: You can continue to use the same criteria to determine if your waste is corrosive.
Petitioners wanted EPA to make two changes to the current corrosivity characteristic regulation:
- Revise the regulatory threshold for defining alkaline waste as corrosive from the current value of pH 12.5 to pH 11.5, and
- Expand the scope of the corrosivity definition under hazardous waste laws to include non-aqueous wastes in addition to the currently regulated aqueous wastes.
“Corrosivity” is one of four characteristics that can determine if a solid waste is a hazardous waste, so the definition has important regulatory and financial implications for waste generators.
Lowering the pH value of corrosive wastes and including non-aqueous waste in the definition of corrosive waste would cause more wastes to be considered hazardous wastes. Specifically, expanding the definition would cause corrosive dusts, such as those created in the 2001 World Trade Center disaster, to be included in the definition of corrosivity.
EPA concluded that available information does not support changing the corrosivity characteristic regulations.