Toxic waste, definition

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). 

Table I lists the EPA contaminants and the criteria that EPA has established to constitute a hazardous toxic waste. Table 2 shows the concentrations of the inorganic contaminants in the extract from the phosphogypsum samples. All of the organic compounds listed by EPA as hazardous toxic waste.s were tested by the standard EPA procedure none were detected. These included endrin, lindane, methoxychlor, toxaphene, 2,4-D silvex, and 2,4,5-TP silvex. All of the metals listed in Table I were found to be present in the extract at concentrations lower than allowed by EPA (as shown in Table 2). Therefore, by EPA definition phosphogypsum is not a hazardous toxic waste material. This confirms earlier research conclusions 71 that the leaching of trace elements from phosphogypsum is not significant in introducing hazardous toxic waste materials into the environment.

A State Party shall treat old chemical weapons that have been confirmed by the Technical Secretariat as meeting the definition in Article II, paragraph 5 (a), as toxic waste. It shall inform the Technical Secretariat of the steps being taken to destroy or otherwise dispose of such old chemical weapons as toxic waste in accordance with its national legislation. 

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. 

HAZARDOUS WASTE An Unofficial class of industrial wastes which have to be disposed of with particular care. In the UK the closest definition is for special wastes . Certain toxic organic wastes, such as PCBs, have to be burned in high-temperature incinerators. 

Comparable fuels. In order to promote the recycling of materials with high fuel values, certain materials that are burned as fuels are excluded from the definition of solid waste, provided that they meet certain specifications (i.e., are of a certain degree of purity). This is to ensure that the material does not exceed certain levels of toxic constituents and physical properties that might impede burning. Materials that meet this specification are considered comparable to pure or virgin fuels. 

Petrochemical recovered oil. Organic chemical manufacturing facilities sometimes recover oil from their organic chemical industry operations. U.S. EPA excluded petrochemical recovered oil from the definition of solid waste when the facility inserts the material into the petroleum-refining process of an associated or adjacent petroleum refinery. Only petrochemical recovered oil that is hazardous because it exhibits the characteristic of ignitability or exhibits the toxicity characteristic for benzene (or both) is eligible for the exclusion. 

Arsenically treated wood. Discarded arsenically treated wood or wood products that are hazardous only because they exhibit certain toxic characteristics (e.g., contain harmful concentrations of metal or pesticide constituents), are excluded from the definition of hazardous waste. Once such treated wood is used, it may be disposed of by the user (commercial or residential) without being subject to hazardous waste regulation. This exclusion is based on the fact that the use of such wood products on the land is similar to the common disposal method, which is landfilling. This exclusion applies only to end-users and not to manufacturers. 

A waste is toxic under 40 CFR Part 261 if the extract from a sample of the waste exceeds specified limits for any one of eight elements and five pesticides (arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, silver, endrin, methoxychlor, toxaphene, 2,4-D and 2,4,5-TP Silvex using extraction procedure (EP) toxicity test methods. Note that this narrow definition of toxicity relates to whether a waste is defined as hazardous for regulatory purposes in the context of this chapter, toxicity has a broader meaning because most deep-well-injected wastes have properties that can be toxic to living organisms. 

By a strict definition, these electrical and electronic wastes are hazardous. Fluorescent lamps contain mercury, and almost all fluorescents fail the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) toxicity test for hazardous wastes. Fluorescent lamp ballasts manufactured in the mid-1980s contain polychorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a carcinogen most of these ballasts are still in service. Batteries can contain any of a number of hazardous materials, including cadmium (nickel-cadmium... 

This statutory definition of solid waste is pursuant to the regulations of the EPA insofar as a solid waste is a hazardous waste if it exhibits any one of four specific characteristics ignitability, reactivity, corrosivity, and toxicity. 

In snmmary, many of the specific chemicals in petroleum are hazardous because of their chemical reactivity, fire hazard, toxicity, and other properties. In fact, a simple definition of a hazardons chemical (or hazardous waste) is that it is a chemical substance (or chemical waste) that has been inadvertently released, discarded, abandoned, neglected, or designated as a waste material and has the potential to be detrimental to the environment. Alternatively, a hazardons chemical may be a chemical that may interact with other (chemical) snbstances to give a prodnct that is hazardous to the environment. Whatever the case, methods of analysis mnst be available to determine the nnrture of the released chemical (waste) and from the data predict the potential hazard to the environment. 

Both Congress and EPA have a number of studies and efforts underway which may ultimately impact disposal of pesticide waste. Among these are reevaluation of the small generator exclusion limit, expansion of Extraction Procedure toxicity characteristic to include additional organic chemicals, revamping of Section 261. 33 (commercial chemical products which are hazardous waste when discarded or intended to be discarded) to both bring mixtures of active ingredients under the definition and also to establish concentration thresholds for the wastes, and a prohibition on land disposal of certain wastes. At this time I would like to briefly touch on each of these areas. 

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... 

AQUATECH Systems is a state-of-the-art bipolar membrane separation technology which exemplifies "pollution prevention" technology rather than "end of the pipe" regulation compliance. Consistent with SARA s definition of treatment, AQUATECH Systems is a technology "that in whole or in part will result in a permanent and significant decrease in the toxicity, morbidity or volume" of a hazardous waste material. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

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