Hazardous wastes, identification

Hazardous waste identification To facilitate the proper identification and classification of hazardous waste, RCRA begins with hazardous waste identification procedures. 

The hazardous waste identification process (as discussed in Chapter 1) describes how to determine whether a material is a solid and hazardous waste. How a material is regulated under RCRA (i.e., whether or not it is a solid and potentially a hazardous waste) when it is recycled depends on what type of material it is and what type of recycling is occurring. If the recycled material is not a solid waste, then it is not a hazardous waste and is not subject to RCRA Subtitle C requirements. However, if the material qualifies as a solid and hazardous waste, it is subject to RCRA Subtitle C jurisdiction. 

This chapter will introduce the entire hazardous waste identification process, but will focus particularly on the final steps and the characteristics and properties of hazardous wastes. After reading this chapter, one will be able to understand the hazardous waste identification process and the definition of hazardous waste, and be familiar with the following concepts ... 

Proper hazardous waste identification is essential to the success of the hazardous waste management program. The RCRA regulations require that any person who produces or generates a waste must determine if that waste is hazardous. For this purpose, the RCRA includes the following steps in the hazardous waste identification process2 ... 

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. 

The final steps in the hazardous waste identification process determine whether a waste poses a sufficient chemical or physical hazard to merit regulation. These steps in the hazardous waste identification process involve evaluating the waste in light of the regulatory definition of hazardous waste. The remainder of this chapter explains the definition, characteristics, and properties of hazardous wastes. 

The waste typically exhibits one of the four characteristics of hazardous waste described in the hazardous waste identification regulations (ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity). 

Source U.S. EPA, Introduction to Hazardous Waste Identification (40 CFR, Part 261), Report U.S. EPA 530-K-05-012, U.S. EPA, Washington, DC, September 2005. a If o-, m-, and p-cresols cannot be individually measured, the regulatory level for total cresols is used. 

So far, this chapter has introduced the fundamentals of the hazardous waste identification process and an overview of the hazardous waste listings and characteristics. One should now be able to explain in general terms which solid wastes are hazardous wastes. What remains to be explained is when these hazardous wastes cease being regulated as hazardous wastes. The regulations governing this issue are commonly known as the mixture and derived-from rules. 

There are five regulatory exemptions from the derived-from rule. The first of these derived-from rule exemptions applies to materials that are reclaimed from hazardous wastes and used beneficially. Many listed and characteristic hazardous wastes can be recycled to make new products or be processed to recover useable materials with economic value. Such products derived from recycled hazardous wastes are no longer solid wastes. Using the hazardous waste identification process discussed at the beginning of this chapter, if the materials are not solid wastes, then whether they are derived from listed wastes or whether they exhibit hazardous characteristics is irrelevant. A U.S. EPA module10 explains which residues derived from hazardous wastes cease to be wastes and qualify for this exemption. 

The hazardous waste identification process is subject to critical review, and adjusted accordingly to reflect technology changes and new information. The hazardous waste listings are particularly dynamic as U.S. EPA conducts further research to incorporate new listings. The following is a brief discussion of several developments to hazardous waste identification. 

U.S. EPA proposed to significantly impact the RCRA hazardous waste identification process through a rulemaking effort called the Hazardous Waste Identification Rules (H WIR). The first rule, HWIR-media, was finalized on November 30,1998, and addressed contaminated media.16 The second rule, HWIR-waste, was finalized on May 16, 2001, and modified the mixture and derived-from rules, as well as the contained-in policy for listed wastes.5 Both the HWIR-media rule and the HWIR-waste rule attempt to increase flexibility in the hazardous waste identification system by providing a regulatory mechanism for certain hazardous wastes with low concentrations of hazardous constituents to exit the RCRA Subtitle C universe. 

Kollig, H.P. Environmental fate constants for organic chemicals under consideration for EPA s hazardous waste identification projects. Office of Research and Development, U.S. EPA Report 600/R-93/132, 1993, 172 p. 

EPA. 1980c. U. S. Environmental Proteetion Ageney. Hazardous waste identification and listing final and interim rules. Federal Register 45 33084-33133. 

The hazardous waste identification regulations that define the characteristics of toxicity, ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and the tests for these characteristics, differ from state to state. In addition, concentration limits may be set out by a state for selected persistent and bioaccumulative toxic substances that commonly occur in hazardous substances. For example, the California Hazardous Waste Control Act requires the California State Department of Health Services (CDHS) to develop and adopt by regulation criteria and guidelines for the identification of hazardous wastes and extremely hazardous wastes. 

Biotechnology can be applied in different fields of hazardous waste management (Table 4) hazardous waste identification by biotechnological tests of toxicity and pathogenicity prevention of hazardous waste production using biotechnological analogs of products hazardous... 

Kollig, H.P., J.J. Ellington, S.W. Karickhoff, B.E. Kitchens, H.P. Kollig, J.M. Long, E.J. Weber, and N.L. Wolfe. 1993. Environmental Fate Constants for Organic Chemicals Under Consideration for EPA s Hazardous Waste Identification Projects. EPA/600/R-93/132. 

EPA (1995c). U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 40 CFR Part 261— Hazardous waste management system Identification and listing of hazardous waste Hazardous waste identification rule (HWIR), Proposed rule, 60 FR 66344 (U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington). 

---