Solid and hazardous waste recycling

Scope

Hazardous wastes are still dangerous even if they are reused, recycled, or reclaimed. If done properly, recycling in its many forms can avoid environmental hazards and conserve resources.

Regulatory citations

• 40 CFR 243 to 258 — Solid waste regulations
• 40 CFR 260 — Hazardous waste management system: General
• 40 CFR 261 — Identification and listing of hazardous waste
• 40 CFR 266 — Standards for the management of specific hazardous wastes and specific types of hazardous waste management facilities
• 40 CFR 273 — Standards for universal waste management
• 40 CFR 279 — Standards for the management of used oil

Key definitions

• Burning for energy recovery: Recycling that involves burning a hazardous waste for its fuel value.
• Hazardous waste: A solid waste that is not excluded from regulation as a hazardous waste that also exhibits a hazardous characteristic (ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity) or is listed in the regulations at 40 CFR 261 Subpart D.
• Industrial solid waste: The solid waste generated by industrial processes and manufacturing.
• RCRA: The Solid Waste Disposal Act as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
• Sham recycling: Recycling that is not legitimate recycling (e.g., accumulated without the intention of being recycled).
• Solid waste: Garbage, refuse, sludges, and other discarded solid materials, including solid waste materials resulting from industrial, commercial, and agricultural operations, and 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. Unless specifically noted otherwise, the term “solid waste” as used in these guidelines shall not include mining, agricultural, and industrial solid wastes; hazardous wastes; sludges; construction and demolition wastes; and infectious wastes.
• 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 s any material which is:
  • Abandoned, as explained in paragraph (b) of this section; or
  • Recycled, as explained in paragraph (c) of this section; or
  • Considered inherently waste-like, as explained in paragraph (d) of this section; or
  • A military munition identified as a solid waste in 266.202.
• Use constituting disposal means recycling that involves the direct placement of wastes or products containing wastes on land.

Summary of requirements

RCRA solid and hazardous waste recyclingIdentify your waste to determine if the waste may be recycled and what level of regulation applies to it. How a material is regulated under EPA’s solid and hazardous waste rules depends on what type of material it is and how it is managed.Determine how the material will be recycled. Under RCRA, recycled material may fall under one of the following three categories:

1. Exempt from the hazardous waste regulations. In order to be managed as a hazardous waste, a material must first be a solid waste under RCRA. EPA says the following wastes are not solid wastes when recycled:
   • Waste used as an ingredient.
   • Waste used as a product substitute.
   • Wastes directly returned to the production process.
   • Other, specifically excluded wastes in 40 CFR 261.4.
2. Subject to alternative controls when recycled. These recycled materials must be managed as solid wastes, but not as hazardous wastes:
   • Agricultural waste
   • Spent chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants
   • Used oil filters
   • Used oil distillation bottoms
3. The following materials may be managed under other waste regulatory programs under RCRA when recycled properly:
   • Universal waste
   • Used oil
   • Recycled materials used in a manner constituting disposal
   • Materials utilized for precious metal recovery
   • Spend lead-acid batteries being reclaimed
   • Hazardous waste burned in boilers and industrial furnaces

• Contributes valuable ingredients to a product or intermediate;
• Replaces a catalyst or carrier in the recycling process;
• Is recovered or regenerated by the recycling process; or
• Is used as an effective substitute for a commercial product.

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 most 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

• 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