U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery

Considerable design effort has been invested in the improvement of incineration systems. D.A. Tillman fEbasco Environmental) and associates report that "Rotary kilns have become the incinerators of choice for eliminating hazardous wastes in accordance with the U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Superfund, and related legislation. ... 

A solid waste as defined by the U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act may be solid, liquid, or semi-solid in form. 

Nontoxic nonflammable products may be safely vented to reduce the cylinder pressure to atmospheric pressure prior to recycling. Nontoxic flammable products should be fully expended through normal use before disposal. Unused flammable substances may be considered hazardous wastes under the U.S. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The supplier should be contacted to obtain the proper procedure for rendering the cylinder recyclable. Only knowledgeable persons familiar with all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations should perform the actual disposal procedure. 

Transportation and Disposal. Only highly alkaline forms of soluble sihcates are regulated by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) as hazardous materials for transportation. When discarded, these ate classified as hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Typical members of this class are sodium sihcate solutions having sihca-to-alkah ratios of less than 1.6 and sodium sihcate powders with ratios of less than 1.0. In the recommended treatment and disposal method, the soluble sihcates are neutralized with aqueous acid (6 Af or equivalent), and the resulting sihca gel is disposed of according to local, state, and federal regulations. The neutral hquid, a salt solution, can be flushed iato sewer systems (86). 

Mineral Oil Hydraulic Fluids. Disposal of used mineral oil hydraulic fluids is regulated as used oil under the Solid Waste Disposal Act as amended by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and as amended by the Used Oil Recycling Act (42 U.S.C. 6901, 6905, 6935, 6937-6939, and 6074, see 40 CFR parts 260, 261, 266, 271, and 279). Used mineral oil hydraulic fluids to be recycled are not listed as hazardous wastes and can be burned for energy recovery or recycled. In general, the newer mineral oil hydraulic fluids (including water-in-oil emulsion fluids) do not contain known chemicals or other materials that are listed in 40 CFR 261 (RCRA) and can be burned for energy recovery or recycled. However, this may not apply to some of the older hydraulic fluids, particularly those containing PCBs. 

Federal Register, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 42 US Code s/s 6901 et seq. 1976, U.S. Government, Public Laws, available at www.access.gpo.gov/uscode/title42/chapter82. html, January 2004. 

U.S. EPA, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)—Orientation Manual, U. S. EPA, report EPA530-R-02-016, Washington, DC, January 2003. 

In the U.S., three pieces of federal legislation that were passed from 1969 to 1980, and the implementing rules and regulations that followed, initiated a series of fundamental changes in the management of waste and byproduct materials. They presently affect the way in which regulatory agencies address waste and byproduct material use. These acts include the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA, 1969), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA, 1976, 1980), and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liabilities Act (CERCLA) or Superfund (1980). 

For practitioners of in situ technologies, note that U.S. EPA has issued a policy statement that reinjection of contaminated groundwater is allowed under Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)35 36 as long as certain conditions are met. This policy is intended to apply to remedies involving in situ bioremediation and other forms of in situ treatment. Under this policy, groundwater may be reinjected if it is treated aboveground prior to reinjection. Treatment may be by a pump-and-treat system or by the addition of amendments meant to facilitate subsurface treatment. Also, the treatment must be intended to substantially reduce hazardous constituents in the groundwater (either before or after reinjection) the cleanup must be protective of human health and the environment and the injection must be part of a response action intended to clean up the environment.37... 

A chemical waste is considered hazardous if it exhibits one or more of the following characteristics ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity. Under the authority of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a hazardous substance has one or more of the foregoing characteristics. 

The U.S. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 required careful analysis of the consequences of any federally funded project. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 established guidelines for handling, transport, and hauling of hazardous materials, such as required in cleanup of soil contaminants. The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 established, for the hrst time, strict mles on legal liability for soil contamination. CERCLA stimulated identihcation and cleanup of thousands of contaminated land sites, and consequently raised awareness of property buyers and sellers to make soil contamination a focal issue of land use and management practices (US-EPA 2007c). 

The Army s closure objective is to render the JACADS facility clean according to Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) criteria and avoid a permit requirement for postclosure care under RCRA (U.S. Army, 2000a). 

The JACADS closure activities will involve the dismantling and destruction of that portion of the facility that cannot be decontaminated to meet the 5R cleanliness standard. An area decommissioning matrix delineates the areas that will be decontaminated and dismantled, decontaminated and abandoned in place, or solely abandoned in place (U.S. Army, 2000c). The remaining systems, structures, and components (SSCs) that are left in place must meet the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) criteria for decontamination as well as the Army standard of 5R. Areas that were kept free of any agent or hazardous materials will be sampled to demonstrate their cleanliness in accordance with the final closure sampling and analysis plan. 

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