Hazardous waste RCRA definition

Thermal treatment is used to destroy, break down, or aid in the desorption of contaminants in gases, vapors, Hquids, sludges, and soHds. There are a variety of thermal processes that destroy contaminants, most of which are classified as incineration. Incineration HteraHy means to become ash (from Medieval Latin, incinerare in or into ashes). With respect to the incineration of hazardous wastes regulated in the United States, however, there is a strict legal definition of what constitutes an incinerator. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) definition of incinerator at 40 CFR 260.10 is... 

Hazardous Wastes The U.S. EPA has defined hazardous waste in RCRA regulations, CFR Parts 260 and 261. A waste may be hazardous if it exhibits one or more of the following characteristics (1) ignitability, (2) corrosivity, (3) reactivity, and (4) toxicity. A detailed definition of these terms was first published in the Federal Register on May 19, 1980, pages 33, 121-122. A waste may be hazardous if listed in Appendix Wll. 

Standard for gauging flammability. The most common systems for designating flammability are the Department of Transportation (DOT) definitions, the National Fire Protection Association s (NFPA) system, and the Environmental Protection Agency s (EPA) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act s (RCRA) definition of ignitable wastes, all of which use flashpoint in their schemes. The NFPA diamond, which comprises the backbone of the NFPA Hazard Signal System, uses a four-quadrant diamond to display the... 

Wastes must be an RCRA hazardous waste in order to be subject to the LDR program. In other words, unless a waste meets the definition of a solid and hazardous waste, its disposal is not regulated under the LDR program. Once a generator identifies its waste as hazardous (either listed, characteristic, or both), the waste is assigned a waste code. When U.S. EPA establishes a treatment standard for the waste code, the waste will then become restricted (i.e., subject to the LDR requirements). RCRA requires that U.S. EPA establish treatment standards for hazardous wastes within six months of promulgating a new listing or characteristic. Until U.S. EPA establishes a treatment standard for a waste, this newly identified or newly listed waste (i.e., waste for which U.S. EPA is yet to establish a treatment... 

Proper identification of a hazardous waste can be a difficult and confusing task, as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations establish a complex definition of the term hazardous waste. To help make sense of what is and is not a hazardous waste, this chapter presents the steps involved in the process of identifying, or characterizing, a hazardous waste. 

Hazardous waste identification begins with an obvious point in order for any material to be a hazardous waste, it must first be a waste. However, deciding whether an item is or is not a waste is not always easy. For example, a material (like an aluminum can) that one person discards could seem valuable to another person who recycles that material. U.S. EPA therefore developed a set of regulations to assist in determining whether a material is a waste. RCRA uses the term solid waste in place of the common term waste. Under RCRA, the term solid waste means any waste, whether it is a solid, semisolid, or liquid. The first section of the RCRA hazardous waste identification regulations focuses on the definition of solid waste. For this chapter, you need only understand in general terms the role that the definition of solid waste plays in the RCRA hazardous waste identification process. 

Materials that are recycled are a special subset of the solid waste universe. When recycled, some materials are not solid wastes, and therefore not hazardous wastes, but others are solid and hazardous waste, but are subject to less-stringent regulatory controls. The level of regulation that applies to recycled materials depends on the material and the type of recycling (Figure 13.2). Because some types of recycling pose threats to human health and the environment, RCRA does not exempt all recycled materials from the definition of solid waste. As a result, the manner in which a material is recycled will determine whether or not the material is a solid waste, and therefore whether it is... 

A material cannot be a hazardous waste if it does not meet the definition of a solid waste. Thus, wastes that are excluded from the definition of solid waste are not subject to the RCRA Subtitle C hazardous waste regulation. There are 20 exclusions from the definition of solid waste ... 

The hazardous waste listings, the hazardous waste characteristics, and the mixture and derived-from rules are all essential parts of the definition of hazardous waste, but these key elements are all described in different sections of the RCRA regulations. Only one regulatory section unites all four elements to establish the formal definition of hazardous waste. This section is entitled Definition of Hazardous Waste, which states that all solid wastes exhibiting one of the four hazardous characteristics are hazardous wastes. This section also states that all solid wastes listed on one of the four hazardous waste lists are hazardous wastes. Finally, this section explains in detail the mixture and derived-from rules and the regulatory exemptions from these rules. Thus, although the section is entitled Definition of Hazardous Waste, it serves primarily as a guide to the mixture and derived-from rules. 

Potential environmental hazards from wastewater sludges are associated with trace constituents (e.g., chlorinated organic compounds) that partition from the effluent into the sludge. It should be noted, however, that recent trends away from elemental chlorine bleaching have reduced these hazards. A continuing concern is the very high pH (>12.5) of most residual wastes. When these wastes are disposed of in an aqueous form, they may meet the RCRA definition of a corrosive hazardous waste.24... 

There are four lists of hazardous wastes in the regulations wastes from nonspecific sources (F list), wastes from specific sources (K list), acutely toxic wastes (P list), and toxic wastes (U list) there are also the four characteristics mentioned before ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and extraction procedure toxicity. Certain waste materials are excluded from regulation under the RCRA. The various definitions and situations that allow waste to be exempted can be confusing and difficult to interpret. One such case is the interpretation of the mixture and derived-from rules. According to the mixture rule, mixtures of solid waste and listed hazardous wastes are, by definition, considered hazardous. Similarly, the derived-from rule defines solid waste resulting from the management of hazardous waste to be hazardous (40 CFR 261.3a and 40 CFR 261.1c). 

Pesticides are very much a part of the definition of hazardous wastes (Table 11). In fact, the toxicity characteristic of hazardous waste as defined by RCRA (referred to as extraction procedure or EP toxicity) is based on threshold concentrations of eight metals and six pesticides in an extract of the waste (Table II-A). Sixteen of the specific hazardous waste streams listed by... 

The system for classification and disposal of hazardous chemical waste developed by EPA under RCRA does not apply to all wastes that contain hazardous chemicals. For example, wastes that contain dioxins, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), or asbestos are regulated under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). In addition, the current definition of hazardous waste in 40 CFR Part 261 specifically excludes many wastes that contain hazardous chemicals from regulation under RCRA, including certain wastes produced by extraction, beneficiation, and processing of various ores and minerals or exploration, development, and use of energy resources. Thus, the waste classification system is not comprehensive, because many potentially important wastes that contain hazardous chemicals are excluded, and it is not based primarily on considerations of risks posed by wastes, because the exclusions are based on the source of the waste rather than the potential risk. 

The definition of solid waste in RCRA specifically excludes source, special nuclear, and byproduct materials as defined in AEA. Therefore, radioactive constituents of wastes that arise from operations of the nuclear fuel cycle are excluded from regulation as hazardous waste under RCRA. 

Given the definition of solid waste described above, Section 1004(5) of RCRA (1976) then defines hazardous waste as follows ... 

This definition is further amplified by Section 3001(a) of RCRA (1976), which specifies that EPA shall develop and promulgate criteria for identifying the characteristics of hazardous waste and for listing hazardous waste, taking into account its toxicity, persistence, and degradability in nature, potential for accumulation in tissue, and other related factors such as flammability, corrosiveness, and other hazardous characteristics. 

Issues of dual regulation also arise in management and disposal of waste that contains NAEM and waste classified as hazardous under RCRA. This type of waste is subject to dual regulation essentially because the definition of hazardous waste developed by EPA under RCRA (EPA, 1980b) does not include NARM waste (Section 4.2.1.2). Waste that contains NARM can be regulated under RCRA only if it is specifically included in the definition of hazardous waste, even though the exemption of radioactive materials defined in AEA from regulation under RCRA does not apply to NARM. 

Hazardous chemical waste is defined in RCRA regulations as a solid waste that exhibits the characteristic of ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity, or is a specifically listed waste. The definition of hazardous waste specifically excludes radioactive material (source, special nuclear, or byproduct material) defined in AEA. 

In many respects, the system for classifying and managing hazardous chemical waste under RCRA makes no distinction between highly hazardous waste and virtually innocuous waste that contains very low levels of hazardous substances. Furthermore, many wastes that contain hazardous chemicals, as well as radionuclides not regulated under AEA, are excluded from the definition of hazardous waste based on the source of the waste, even though the excluded wastes can be just as hazardous as other wastes that are deemed hazardous under RCRA. 

CALIFORNIA (1999). California Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Toxic Substances Control. Risk-Based Criteria for Non-RCRA Hazardous Waste A Report to the National Research Council Introducing Proposed Changes to the Definition of Hazardous Waste in the California Code of Regulations, draft report. 

Another type of an action level is a regulatory definition of hazardous waste that allows identifying hazardous materials and determining the waste disposal alternatives. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which is the law for disposal of solid and hazardous wastes, regulates hazardous waste in its Subtitle C. The RCRA, promulgated in 1976 and amended in 1984, today primarily focuses on regulating the operation of hazardous waste sites and on land disposal activities. 

---