Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

1. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Purpose To minimize the present and future threat to human health and the environment by regulating the handling of hazardous waste Compliance Required of any party that generates, transports, stores, or disposes of solid and hazardous waste Implementation The program is implemented by the EPA States With EPA approval, some states implement and manage solid and hazardous waste management programs in lieu of the federal RCRA program

2. Cradle-to-Grave • A term used to describe the intent of the RCRA to control hazardous wastes from their creation (cradle) to their disposal (grave)

3. Solid Waste • Broadly defined in the RCRA as any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous materials resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural activities, and from community activities • The definition does not include solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, or source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended

4. Hazardous Waste • “. . . a solid waste, or combination of solid wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may: • Cause, or significantly contribute to, an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible illness; or • Pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed”

5. Hazardous Waste (cont.) • The EPA has exempted, among other materials • household waste • agricultural wastes returned to the soil as fertilizer • mining overburden returned to the mine site • utility wastes from coal combustion • oil and natural gas exploration drilling waste • wastes from the extraction, beneficiation, and processing of ores and minerals, including coal • cement kiln dust wastes • arsenic-treated wood wastes generated by end users of such wood • some chromium-bearing wastes

6. EPA Lists • Lists developed by the EPA assigning a number to various types of specific hazardous wastes • F list • Contains hazardous wastes from nonspecific sources (a source not particular to a specific industry or manufacturing process) • K list • Contains hazardous wastes from specific sources (a particular type of industry or manufacturing process) • P list • Contains commercial chemical products that, when discarded, are deemed acutely hazardous • U list • Contains commercial chemical waste products that are toxic and, therefore, hazardous when discarded • Delisting • When the waste generated by the treatment of a hazardous waste does not exhibit any of the characteristics for which the untreated waste was deemed hazardous, the residue waste may be delisted by the EPA • Effect of delisting • to remove many of the requirements placed on the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, or disposal of the delisted waste

7. Characteristics of Hazardous Waste • Ignitability • “[C]apable during handling of starting a fire or exacerbating a fire once started” [40 C.F.R. 261.21] • Corrosivity • May escape the container because its capable of corroding it; wastes at either the high or low end of the pH scale (high on the acid scale or high on the base scale) • Reactivity • Shows signs of being extremely unstable and the characteristic of reacting violently or exploding during handling or management • Toxicity • Under mismanagement conditions, likely to leach hazardous concentrations of certain toxic constituents into groundwater

8. Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) • The method by which the toxicity of a material is analyzed • In a laboratory, the material being tested is mixed with an acetic acid solution for a specific period of time • The acetic solution is then checked for certain heavy metals and organic compounds • If the compounds or heavy metals are detected in the solution in quantities greater than the limits prescribed in the RCRA, the material will be considered a hazardous waste due to its toxicity

9. Mixture Rule • A rule holding that any nonhazardous waste that is mixed with a hazardous waste becomes a part of the hazardous waste due to the fact that such mixing has occurred • Whenever this happens, the mixture is deemed to be a hazardous waste unless it is given an exemption

10. Mixture Rule (cont.) • Exemptions • apply only when the mixture in question results from the usual waste management process or production • granted if • a mixture of hazardous and solid waste does not exhibit the same hazardous waste characteristic as the portion of the waste mixture deemed “hazardous” due to its exhibiting that characteristic • a mixture contains wastewater and its hazardous constituents are regulated under the CWA • a mixture consists of some discarded chemical product resulting from extremely minor losses during manufacturing operations • When the mixture of wastes results from intentional dilution, the mixing may constitute treatment and may not qualify for an exemption

11. Derived-From Rule • Residue from the treatment of listed hazardous wastes is considered hazardous waste regardless of whether the resulting residue is, in fact, hazardous • The residue from characteristic hazardous wastes is considered hazardous only when the residue exhibits a hazardous waste characteristic • Exemptions

12. Contained-In Rule • Material that is contaminated with hazardous waste is also regulated as hazardous waste • Types of material that often fall into this rule • Water • Soil • Debris

13. Recycling and Reclamation • Types of recycling and reclamation activities regulated by the RCRA • Recycling that constitutes land disposal • Burning (incineration) to recover energy • Reclamation • Speculative accumulation • Materials that are considered solid wastes when they are recycled • Spent materials • Listed and characteristic sludges • Listed and characteristic by-products • Commercial chemical products • Scrap metal