Solid waste

Scope

“Solid waste” is garbage or refuse, certain sludges, and discarded materials from industrial, commercial, mining, or farming operations. Household wastes, including household hazardous wastes, are regulated as solid waste. Note that solid wastes are not necessary physically “solid,” as they can also take liquid, semi-solid, or gaseous form.

Regulatory citations

• 40 CFR 243 — Guidelines For The Storage And Collection Of Residential, Commercial, And Institutional Solid Waste
• 40 CFR 257 — Criteria for Classification of Solid Waste Disposal Facilities and Practices
• 40 CFR 258 — Criteria for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills
• 40 CFR 260 — Hazardous Waste Management System: General
• 40 CFR 261 — Identification and Listing of Hazardous Waste
• 40 CFR 261.2 — Definition of Solid Waste

Key definitions

• Bulky waste: Large items of solid waste such as household appliances, furniture, large auto parts, trees, branches, stumps, and other oversize wastes whose large size precludes or complicates their handling by normal solid wastes collection, processing, or disposal methods.
• Commercial solid waste: All types of solid wastes generated by stores, offices, restaurants, warehouses, and other non-manufacturing activities, excluding residential and industrial wastes.
• Generation: The act or process of producing solid waste.
• Industrial solid waste: The solid waste generated by industrial processes and manufacturing.
• Institutional solid waste: Solid wastes generated by educational, health care, correctional, and other institutional facilities.
• Municipal solid waste landfill (MSWLF) unit: A discrete area of land or an excavation that receives household waste, and that is not a land application unit, surface impoundment, injection well, or waste pile. A MSWLF unit also may receive other types of RCRA Subtitle D wastes, such as commercial solid waste, nonhazardous sludge, very small quantity generator waste and industrial solid waste. Such a landfill may be publicly or privately owned. A MSWLF unit may be a new MSWLF unit, an existing MSWLF unit or a lateral expansion. A construction and demolition landfill that receives residential lead-based paint waste and does not receive any other household waste is not a MSWLF unit.
• RCRA: The Solid Waste Disposal Act as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
• Sludge: The accumulated semiliquid suspension of settled solids deposited from wastewaters or other fluids in tanks or basins. It does not include solids or dissolved material in domestic sewage or other significant pollutants in water resources, such as silt, dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or other common water pollutants.
• Solid waste: Under the solid waste regulations at 40 CFR 243, solid waste means garbage, refuse, sludges, and other discarded solid materials, including solid waste materials resulting from industrial, commercial, and agricultural operations, as well as from community activities, but does not include solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage or other significant pollutants in water resources, such as silt, dissolved or suspended solids in industrial wastewater effluents, dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or other common water pollutants.
• Solid waste under RCRA at 261.2: Any discarded material that is not excluded under 261.4(a) or that is not excluded by a variance granted under 260.30 and 260.31 or that is not excluded by a non-waste determination under 260.30 and 260.34. A discarded material is any material which is:
  • Abandoned, as explained in paragraph (b) of 261.2; or
  • Recycled, as explained in paragraph (c) of 261.2; or
  • Considered inherently waste-like, as explained in paragraph (d) of 261.2; or
  • A military munition identified as a solid waste in 266.202.
• Use constituting disposal: Recycling that involves the direct placement of wastes or products containing wastes on land.
• Vector: A carrier that is capable of transmitting a pathogen from one organism to another.

Summary of requirements

First and foremost, facilities must identify their waste to determine if the waste may be recycled and what level of regulation applies to its management and disposal. If the material is determined to be a listed or characteristic hazardous waste, it must be managed in accordance with the facility’s hazardous waste generator category and all applicable laws found in 40 CFR 260 through 273.

For nonhazardous solid waste:

• All solid wastes (or materials which have been separated for the purpose of recycling) must be stored in appropriate containers and in such a manner that they do not constitute a fire, health, or safety hazard or provide food or harborage for vectors, and shall be contained or bundled so as not to result in spillage.
• Collection systems shall be operated in such a manner as to protect the health and safety of personnel associated with the operation.
• Solid wastes (or materials which have been separated for the purpose of recycling) shall be collected with frequency sufficient to inhibit the propagation or attraction of vectors and the creation of nuisances.
• The owner or operator of a municipal solid waste landfill (MSWLF) unit must comply with any applicable federal rules, laws, regulations, or other requirements. These may include permitting, recordkeeping, and design requirements as well as location restrictions.

For municipal solid waste recycling:

• Check with your state, county, or municipality for the recycling regulations that apply to you. You may be able to collect all your recyclables in one container, also called single stream recycling, or you may have to separate out different kinds of materials (e.g., keep glass separate from plastic and paper).
• Items that many recycling facilities accept include:
  • Glass food and beverage containers
  • Paper products
  • Plastic bottles, jugs, and other food-type containers
  • Aluminum and other metal bottles and cans
  • Empty aerosol cans
• Items many recycling facilities will not accept include:
  • Plastic wrap or bags
  • Styrofoam
  • Aluminum foil
  • Empty paint cans
  • Tissue paper
  • Window glass
  • Drinking glasses
  • Needles and sharps
  • Cords, chains, garden hoses
  • Food-contaminated materials
  • Used clothing, towels, bedding