Hazardous waste regulatory requirements

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. 

Streamlining requirements for Ni-Cd battery collection and transportation is not inconsistent with applying stringent hazardous waste regulatory controls to the facility that recycles them. 

The testing of chemicals/wastes to establish the nature of their hazard capacity/threat in accordance with regulatory requirements falls into four categories (1) reactivity, (2) ignitability/flammability, (3) corrosivity, and (4) EP toxicity. Commercial chemical products, specific wastes, and wastes from specific processes may be listed as hazardous wastes because they are known to present toxic hazards in the manner of the tests above and/or are known to present serious toxic hazards to mammals/humans. In the discussion to follow, various chemical groups will be examined primarily in the context of reactivity, ignitability, and corrosivity. 

In this book we will eoneentrate on governmental regulations as they relate to hazardous waste or other hazardous materials, how to eomply with speeifie requirements, and other best management praetiees (BMPs). We will foeus on eommereial (federal/state OSHA), DOE, and the Army Corps of Engineers operations. In addition to these requirements there may be other regulatory standards that have requirements pertinent to hazardous materials. 

The mission of the OSHA is to save lives, prevent injuries, and protect the health of employees in the workplace.25 OSHA accomplishes these goals through several regulatory requirements including the hazard communication standard (HCS) and the Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response Worker Protection Standard (HAZWOPER). 

Surampalli, Ong, Seagren, and Nuno compiled and edited a book by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) called Natural Attenuation of Hazardous Wastes.97 In addition to a discussion of the regulatory framework, this book covers major pollutants and basic scientific principles on physical, chemical, and biological processes involved in natural attenuation. It also contains an extensive review of literature, examples of applications of natural attenuation, and site characterization and monitoring requirements and procedures. 

U.S. EPA s recommendations regarding stack emission tests, which may be performed at hazardous waste combustion facilities for the purpose of supporting MACT standards and multipathway, site-specific risk assessments, where such a risk assessment has been determined to be necessary by the permit authority, can be found in the U.S. EPA document on Risk Burn Guidance for Hazardous Waste Combustion Facilities.32 The applicability of the new standards has been demonstrated in the management of hazardous waste incinerators, whose performance was shown to clearly surpass the regulatory requirements in all tested areas.33... 

Regulatory requirements for hazardous waste landfill double-liner systems are given in 40 CFR 264.3 The minimum liner system design standard generally considered to meet these requirements includes, from top to bottom4 ... 

Universal waste is a legal environmental term used in the United States. The Universal Waste Regulations in the United States streamline the collection requirements for certain hazardous wastes in the specific categories decided by the Federal and the State governments. The Universal Waste Regulations ease regulatory burdens on businesses promote proper recycling, treatment, or disposal and provide for efficient, proper, and cost-effective collection opportunities. 

A solid waste containing lead or lead compounds may be defined as a hazardous waste if it exhibits the characteristic of toxicity. The waste is said to exhibit the toxicity characteristic if the lead concentration in the extract obtained by subjecting a sample of the waste to the TCLP exceeds 5.0 mg/L. Tetraethyl and tetraethyl lead are combustible. If they are in sufficient quantity in a waste, tetraethyl lead may show an ignitability characteristic. More details on the regulatory requirements are presented in Chapter 7. 

Section 3.13 presents an example showing how a medical office manages its hazardous wastes and what the regulatory requirements are. 

HAZARDOUS WASTE GENERATOR STATUS AND REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS... 

Table 2 Guide to Determining Status and Regulatory Requirements for Hazardous Waste Management...

Obtain a federal identification (USERA-ID) number by requesting a required form (such as Notification of Hazardous Waste Activity Form) from a State regulatory agency (note the identification number is specific to the location, not the hazardous waste) ... 

If the amount of hazardous waste a medical office produces in a month is less than 25 gal (95 L), this medical office qualifies as a very small quantity generator (VSQG) in Massachusetts. As a VSQG, the medical office is required to register with the State regulatory agency, label its wastes as hazardous, and ship it with a licenced hazardous waste hauler or precious metal transporter to a licenced treatment or disposal facility. 

The fluids can be hauled by vacuum tmcks to an approved disposal site for such wastes. There are different classes of disposal sites. If regulatory agencies require that a fluid be disposed in a hazardous waste secure landfill, the cost would be very high. 

The USEPA surveys identified 17 pesticide plants using deep well injection for the disposal of wastewater [7]. One plant used incinerators to remove pesticides as well as benzene and toluene from the wastewater before disposal by deep well injection. Using deep well injection to dispose of hazardous wastes is expected to decrease in the future because of more stringent regulatory requirements and increased concerns about the long-term fate of these wastes in the injection zone. 

The staff of the Technology Clearinghouse Unit believes that a well-informed industrial sector, which is aware of the regulatory requirements, the waste reduction opportunities, and the economic benefits of waste reduction will actively seek alternatives to land disposal of hazardous wastes. 

To test the effectiveness of the CHEMFIX process as a treatment option, the solidified samples were subjected to the TCLP test and a comparison made with the TCLP results on a raw sample. This test was designed to determine the mobility of contaminants present in liquid, solid and multiphasic wastes. If the TCLP extract from a representative sample contained any of the listed contaminants above the regulatory levels it would be considered a hazardous waste and should adhere to the strict disposal requirements. )... 

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