Land Disposal of Hazardous Waste

The J 984 Federal Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA, pronounced "hiss-wa") to RCRA requires phasing-out land disposal of hazardous waste. Some of the other mandates of this law include increased enforcement authority for EPA, more stringent hazardous waste management standards, and a comprehensive underground storage tank program. 

The first component of the LDR program, the disposal prohibition, prohibits the land disposal of hazardous waste that has not been adequately treated to reduce the threat posed by such waste. The criteria that hazardous wastes must meet before being disposed of are known as treatment standards. These treatment standards can be either... 

It should be noted that early remedial actions for contaminated soil consisted primarily of excavation and removal of the contaminated soil from the site and its disposal at a landfill. SARA strongly recommends on-site treatment that permanently and significantly reduces the volume, toxicity, or mobility of hazardous substances, and utilizes cost-effective permanent solutions. The legislation prohibits land disposal of hazardous wastes unless U.S. EPA determines otherwise (as in the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments, HSWA). 

Haxo, H.E., Analysis and fingerprinting of unexposed and exposed polymeric membrane liners, in Proceedings of the Ninth Annual Research Symposium, Land Disposal of Hazardous Waste, U.S. EPA 600/8-83/108, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, OH, 1983. 

Proceedings of the Tenth Annual Research Symposium for land disposal of hazardous waste. Ft. Mitchell, Kentucky, April 3-5, 1984. Cincinnati, OH U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Municipal Environmental Research Laboratory, 124-137. Contract no. 68-03-3131. 

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. 

Griffin, R.A., Clark, R., Lee, M.C., Chian, E.S.K. (1978) Disposal and removal of polychlorinated biphenyls in soil. In Land Disposal of Hazardous Waste. David Schultz Ed., EPA-600/9-78-016, pp. 169-181. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati, Ohio. 

Jackson, D.R., Roulier, M.H., Grotta, H.M., Rust, S.W., Warner, J.S., Arthur, M.F., DeRoos, F.L. (1985) Leaching potential of 2,3,7,8-TCDD in contaminated soils. In Land Disposal of Hazardous Waste-Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Research Symposium. Cincinnati, Ohio. U.S. EPA Report-600/9-85-013. pp. 153-168. 

Permitted methods for off-site disposal of secondary waste vary from case-to-case, factoring in environmental considerations such as the potential environmental persistence of waste contaminants. Discussion of degradation rates for trace amounts of chemical agents under a variety of conditions are available in Waysbort et al. (2004), Bartelt-Hunt et al. (2006), and Columbus et al. (2006). Land disposal of hazardous waste is governed by Subtitle C of RCRA (40 CFR Parts 264/265). For landfill requirements, see 40 CFR Parts 264/265, Subpart N. 

Environmental restoration activities may be conducted under a RCRA, Part B permit when RCRA hazardous wastes are involved. The RCRA hazardous wastes are identified in 40 CFR 261 and Include characteristic" hazardous wastes as defined in subpart C and "listed" hazardous wastes as defined in subpart D. The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendment (HSWA) to RCRA includes prohibitions on land disposal of hazardous waste. Under this statute, the EPA has issued regulations (40 CFR 286) that ban the land disposal of untreated hazardous waste and has established treatment standards based on the BDAT. The way that these standards can be Involved in a CERCLA remedial action was discussed above. In addition, technical standards for environmental restoration activities conducted under a RCRA, Part B permit are given in 40 CFR 264, Including closure requirements and groundwater concentration limits (see 40 CFR 264.94). 

Gera, F. (1988). Modelling long term impacts of land disposal of hazardous waste. In Land Disposal of Hazardous Waste Engineering and Environmental Issues, ed. Gronow, J. R., Schofield, A. N., and Jain, R. K., Ellis Horwood, Chichester, West Susset, England, 103-112. 

Land Disposal of Hazardous Waste. Barkley, N.P. Hazardous Waste Engineering Research Laboratory, Office of Res. and Dev., USEPA Cincinnati, Ohio, 1985 pp. 153-168. 

As codified in 40 CFR 270.65, these RD D permits were conceived to aid in the development of safe alternatives to land disposal of hazardous waste, a primary goal of the Amendments, by expediting the permitting process to demonstrate the technical and/or economic feasibility of experimental and innovative technologies and processes. Indeed, the EPA Director of the Office of Solid Waste stated that processing RD D permits is "one of our highest... 

These Amendments set a priority for pollution prevention with respect to land disposal of hazardous waste. Industries generating hazardous waste were required to establish a hazardous-waste reduction program, as distinct from recycling. Reporting requirements have been established in order to assess the success of pollution-reduction strategies. 

Chapman, N.N. and Williams, G.M. (1988) Hazardous and radioactive waste management a case of dual standards. In Land disposal of hazardous wastes (Gronow, J.R., Schofield, A.N. and Jain, R.K.), Ellis Horwood Ltd, Chichester, U.K. pp 259-268. 

Harries, C,R. (1988) Landfill microbiology work supported at Biotal by the department of Environment In Landfill Microbiology R D workshop (Lawson, P and Alston, Y.R. eds.) Harwell Laboratory, Oxon, UK. pp 150-176. arris, R.C. (1988) Leachate migration and attenuation in the unsaturated zone of the triassic sandstones. In Land disposal of hazardous waste. (Gronow,J.R., Schofield. A.N. and Jain,R.K. eds.) John Wiley and Sons, pp 175-186. 

In the 1984 RCRA amendments. Congress required EPA to prohibit land disposal of hazardous waste unless it was processed using EPA-developed treatment standards that were protective of human health and the environment. As a result, EPA established certain prohibitions on land disposal and also established treatment standards. The net effect of these regulations is a virtual total ban on direct land disposal of hazardous waste. The detailed EPA regulations may be found at 40 CFR 261. There are provisions for special handling and treatment of certain wastes disposed of in Lab Packs. 

R. K. Ham, M. A. Anderson, R. Stanforth, and R. Stegmann, The development of a leaching test for industrial wastes, Presented at the Fourth Annual Research Symposium on Land Disposal of Hazardous Waste, San Antonio, Texas, March 6-8, 1978. 

Fig. 3.12. RCRA cap and double liner. (Land Disposal of Hazardous Waste Proceedings of 11th Annual Research Symposium, July 1985 courtesy EPA.)...

Amendment to RCRA. Land disposal of hazardous waste restricted unless this could be proved not to be a threat to public safety (i.e. shifted burden of proof from EPA to those involved in disposal). Coverage of RCRA extended to smaller generators of hazardous waste, previously exempt. 

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