Hazardous industrial waste exemptions from

In addition to these exemptions, there are three types of units that are conditionally exempt from the regulations. These are metal recovery furnaces, precious metal recovery units, and certain other special industrial units. In order to claim these exemptions, owners/operators must provide a onetime written notice claiming the exemption, conduct sampling, and analysis, and maintain records to demonstrate compliance with all applicable requirements. Any waste management prior to burning in this type of unit, and any resulting residues, are subject to applicable hazardous waste regulation. 

Given the qualitative definitions of the three waste classes, the boundaries of the waste classes would be quantified based on explicit descriptions of how the definitions are related to risk. The boundaries would be expressed in terms of limits on amounts (concentrations) of individual hazardous substances, with specified rules for how to classify waste that contains mixtures of hazardous substances, such as the sum-of-fractions rule for mixtures of substances that induce stochastic effects. Specifically, waste would be classified as exempt if the risk that arises from disposal in a municipal/industrial landfill for nonhazardous waste does not exceed negligible (de minimis) levels. Use of a negligible risk to quantify limits on concentrations of hazardous substances in exempt waste is appropriate because the waste would be managed in all respects as if it were nonhazardous. Nonexempt waste would be classified as low-hazard if the risk that arises from disposal in a dedicated near-surface facility for hazardous wastes does not exceed acceptable (barely tolerable) levels. An essential condition of the definitions of exempt and low-hazard waste is that an acceptable (barely tolerable) risk must be substantially greater than a negligible risk. Waste would be classified as high-hazard if it would pose an unacceptable (de manifestis) risk when placed in a dedicated near-surface facility for hazardous wastes. 

For just these reasons, several OECD member nations (such as Canada, Sweden and the U.S.) have created exemptions from otherwise applicable hazardous waste regulatory requirements to encourage recycling. In these nations, extensive industry-led efforts are underway to facilitate easy collection and transportation. 

Hazardous wastes from specific sources - Unless the laboratory is a pilot operation simulating an industrial process, it is unhkely that most research laboratories would fell within this category. Note however, that hazardous chemicals used in a pilot plant operation normally would not be exempt from the regulatory provisions of SARA Title HI, discussed in Section IX.B of this chapter. 

In the mid-1980s, issues regarding toxic metal and or-ganie emissions from eombustion of hazardous wastes in boilers and other proeess furnaces as well as incinerators became of concern to the EPA. Boilers and industrial furnaces burning hazardous waste were initially exempt from the RCRA incinerator requirements. Under RCRA, these units are considered to be resource recovery units, which do not fall under the definition of incinerators. In 1991, the final rales governing the... 

RCRA is the solid and hazardous waste law that regulates the generation, storage, transport, and ultimate disposal of municipal, industrial, and other wastes. Although most wastes generated from oil and gas exploration and production activities are exempted from RCRA as special wastes, certain activities do not qualify for the exemption. In addition, states may not recognize the exemption and will require worksites to comply with state solid and hazardous waste laws. 

Thus, NCRP intends that exempt waste could be used or disposed of in any manner allowed by laws and regulations addressing disposition of nonhazardous materials. However, waste that would be exempt for purposes of disposal would not necessarily be exempt for purposes of beneficial use as well. Exemption of materials that contain hazardous substances to allow beneficial use also should be based on considerations of health risks to the public. However, limits on the amounts of hazardous substances that could be present in exempt materials intended for a particular beneficial use could be substantially lower than the limits for disposal as exempt waste, due to differences in exposure scenarios for the two dispositions, and disposal may be the only allowable disposition of some exempt materials based on considerations of risk. In addition, exempt materials may consist of trash, rubble, and residues from industrial processes that have no beneficial uses and must be managed as waste. 

NCRP recommends that risks to hypothetical individuals at waste disposal sites should be evaluated in classifying waste, as described in the following section, and that the risk to an individual that arises from disposal of any hazardous substance be expressed in the form of a dimensionless risk index (RI). The risk index for the ith hazardous substance (Rid is defined in terms of the risk that arises from disposal of that substance relative to a specified allowable risk for an assumed type of disposal system (e.g., municipal/industrial landfill for disposal of exempt waste) as ... 

USEPA. (2002). Exemption of Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Wastes from Federal Hazardous Waste Regulations. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC (epa.gov/osw/nonhaz/industrial/special/oil/oil-gas.pdf). 

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