Waste management

Scope

All hazardous waste generators must work to manage their waste according to the regulations that apply to their generator category and in a way that minimizes leaks and spills.

Regulatory citations

• 40 CFR 261.7
• 40 CFR 262.14
• 40 CFR 262.16
• 40 CFR 262.17
• 40 CFR 262 Subpart M

Key definitions

• Acute hazardous waste: Any hazardous waste with a “P” waste code (or certain “F” waste codes). These wastes are subject to stringent accumulation and management requirements.
• Abandoned: “Thrown away,” or a material that is disposed of, burned, or incinerated.
• Characteristic waste: Waste that is considered hazardous under RCRA because it exhibits any of four different properties: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity.
• Combustion: The controlled burning in an enclosed area as a means of treating or disposing of hazardous waste.
• Cradle to grave: The time period from the initial generation of hazardous waste to its ultimate disposal.
• Derived-from rule: The rule that regulates residues from the treatment of listed hazardous wastes.
• Dilution prohibition: Generators are prohibited from adding soil or water to waste in order to reduce the concentrations of hazardous constituents instead of treatment by the appropriate treatment standards under the Land Disposal Restrictions.
• Disposal: The discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid or hazardous waste on or in the land or water.
• Elementary neutralization unit: Containers, tanks, tank systems, transportation vehicles, or vessels which neutralize wastes that are hazardous only for exhibiting the characteristic of corrosivity.
• Generator: Any person, by site, whose act first creates or produces a hazardous waste or used oil, or first brings such materials into RCRA regulation.
• Hazardous waste: Waste with properties that make it dangerous or capable of having a harmful effect on human health and the environment. Under RCRA, hazardous wastes are specifically defined as wastes that meet a particular listing description or that exhibit a characteristic of hazardous waste.
• Hazardous waste number: The “waste code” that EPA assigns to each waste (e.g., D002 is the waste number assigned to waste that is characteristic for corrosivity, P042 is assigned to waste Epinephrine).
• Inherently waste-like: A material, such as dioxin-containing wastes, that is always considered a solid waste because of its intrinsic threat to human health and the environment.
• Land disposal: Placement in a landfill, surface impoundment, waste pile, injection well, land treatment facility, etc. for disposal purposes.
• Land Disposal Restrictions (LDR): The prohibitions on the land disposal of hazardous waste that has not been adequately treated to reduce the threat posed by such waste.
• Large Quantity Generators (LQGs): Facilities that generate more than 1,000 kg of hazardous waste per calendar month, or more than 1 kg of acutely hazardous waste per calendar month.
• Large Quantity Handlers of Universal Waste (LQHUWs): Facilities that accumulate a total of 5000 kg or more of universal waste at any one time.
• Leachate: Any liquid, including any suspended components in the liquid, that has percolated through or drained from waste.
• Listed wastes: Wastes that are considered hazardous under RCRA because they meet specific listing descriptions. These lists are found in 40 CFR 261, Subpart D.
• Military munitions: Ammunition products and components produced for or used by the military for national defense and security.
• Mixture rule: The rule that is intended to ensure the regulation of mixtures of listed wastes with nonhazardous solid wastes.
• RCRA: The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, which is the nation’s solid and hazardous waste management law.
• Small Quantity Generator (SQG): A facility that generates between 100 kg and 1,000 kg of hazardous waste per calendar month.
• Solid waste: Any garbage, refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material, resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations and from community activities. For the purposes of hazardous waste regulation, a solid waste is a material that is discarded by being:
  • Abandoned,
  • Inherently waste-like,
  • A certain waste military munition, or
  • Recycled.
• Spent materials: Materials that have been used and can no longer serve the purpose for which they were produced without processing.
• Toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TLCP): A lab procedure designed to predict whether a particular waste is likely to leach chemicals into ground water at dangerous levels.
• Treatment: Any method, technique, or process designed to physically, chemically, or biologically change the nature of a hazardous waste.
• Treatment standards: The Land Disposal Restrictions (LDR) criteria in 40 CFR 268 that hazardous waste must meet before it is disposed.
• Use constituting disposal: The direct placement of wastes or waste-derived products (e.g., asphalt with petroleum refining wastes as an ingredient) on the land.
• Very Small Quantity Generator (VSQG): A generator who never accumulates more than 2,200 pounds of hazardous waste or 2.2 pounds of acute hazardous waste at any one time. Formerly known as Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator (CESQG).
• WAP: Waste Analysis Plan, which is a required document for treating waste onsite.

Summary of requirements

• Follow the regulations that apply to your generator category (VSQGs, SQGs, and LQGs).
• Mark and label containers of hazardous waste with the words “Hazardous Waste,” the accumulation start date, and an indication of the hazards of the waste.
• Move excess waste from the Satellite Accumulation Area to the Central Accumulation Area or off-site within 3 days.
• Carefully store waste to avoid releases to avoid endangering facility personnel, the environment, or the community.
• Follow the additional storage requirements for ignitable and reactive waste.
• Do not mix incompatible wastes or store them next to each other.
• Provide security for waste accumulation areas.
• Ensure waste containers are in good condition.
• Label tanks correctly and provide secondary containment.
• Conduct weekly inspections of safety equipment and waste accumulation areas.