RCRA.pdf

RCRA Orientation

Manual

THIS MANUAL WAS DEVELOPED BY:

THE U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

OFFICE OF SOLID WASTE/COMMUNICATIONS, INFORMATION,

AND RESOURCES MANAGEMENT DIVISION

1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.

WASHINGTON, DC 20460

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword ................................................................................................................................................ i

Chapter I: Introduction to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ..................................... I-1

Chapter II: Managing Solid Waste — RCRA Subtitle D .............................................................. II-1

Chapter III: Managing Hazardous Waste — RCRA Subtitle C ..................................................... III-1

Hazardous Waste Identification ................................................................................................. III-3

Hazardous Waste Recycling and Universal Wastes ................................................................. III-31

Regulations Governing Hazardous Waste Generators ............................................................. III-41

Regulations Governing Hazardous Waste Transporters .......................................................... III-51

Regulations Governing Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities ...................................... III-55

Land Disposal Restrictions ...................................................................................................... III-91

Hazardous Waste Combustion ............................................................................................... III-101

Permitting of Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facilities ................................................... III-111

Corrective Action to Clean Up Hazardous Waste Contamination ......................................... III-123

Enforcement of Hazardous Waste Regulations ..................................................................... III-129

Authorizing States to Implement RCRA ............................................................................... III-139

Chapter IV: Moving Forward: Materials Management and Resource Conservation .................... IV-1

Chapter V: Miscellaneous Statutory Provisions ............................................................................. V-1

Federal Procurement Requirements ............................................................................................ V-3

Medical Waste Regulations ......................................................................................................... V-9

Chapter VI: Other Environmental Statutes .................................................................................... VI-1

Legislative Framework for Addressing Hazardous Waste Problems ........................................ VI-3

CERCLA — The Hazardous Waste Cleanup Program.............................................................. VI-9

Chapter VII: Public Participation ................................................................................................... VII-1

Appendix A: Hazardous Waste Manifest ......................................................................................... A-1

Appendix B: Land Disposal Restrictions Notification Requirements ............................................. B-1

Appendix C: Glossary ...................................................................................................................... C-1

Appendix D: Acronyms and Abbreviations ..................................................................................... D-1

Appendix E: OSW Organization Chart ............................................................................................. E-1

Appendix F: Environmental Contacts ............................................................................................... F-1 iii iv

FOREWORD

This manual supersedes the 2006 RCRA

Orientation Manual. The Manual has proven to be a popular and valuable resource for anyone working with EPA’s solid and hazardous waste management program. Since the manual’s initial publication in

1990, the RCRA program has evolved dramatically.

As a result of changes in the dynamics of solid and hazardous waste management, as well as changes in the regulatory expectations and demands of government, public, and private entities, the RCRA program has been modified through new regulations, policies, Agency-wide initiatives, and Congressional mandates. The Manual’s revision reflects the progress that has been made in the program and documents its changes.

At this time, the RCRA Subtitle C hazardous waste regulatory framework is completely in place, and almost all states are implementing large portions of the program. EPA has achieved significant progress in establishing provisions to fully protect both ground water and air resources. Under Subtitle

D, the establishment of municipal solid waste landfill criteria ensures adequate protection of human health and the environment from solid waste disposal practices. In addition, the Agency has significantly expanded initiatives to reduce the amount of waste generated and to make waste management more efficient.

Information about RCRA’s past, present, and future are contained in two other documents. For a look ahead, Beyond RCRA: Waste and Materials

Management in the Year 2020 identifies trends that affect the future of waste management and resource conservation and also suggests general strategies for building the future RCRA program. For a look back at past successes, the report 25 Years of RCRA:

Building on Our Past to Protect Our Future commemorates RCRA’s 25th Anniversary in October

2001 and highlights the accomplishments of RCRA’s protective framework to date. In addition, RCRA:

Reducing Risk from Waste provides an overview of

RCRA including: the history of RCRA, the role of

EPA and the states, the regulated community, and municipal and industrial waste issues.

i ii

I-1

Overview............................................................... I-1

RCRA: What It Is .................................................. I-2

- The Act .............................................................. I-2

- Regulations ....................................................... I-3

- Guidance and Policy ......................................... I-4

RCRA: How It Works ........................................... I-4

- Subtitle D — Solid Waste .................................. I-4

- Subtitle C — Hazardous Waste ......................... I-4

Who Is Involved in RCRA? ................................... I-5

RCRA Today ......................................................... I-5

- Looking to the Future ........................................ I-5

- Conserving Natural Resources ......................... I-6

- Preventing Future Waste Problems .................. I-7

- Cleaning up Problems from Past Practices ....... I-7

Outline of the Manual ........................................... I-7

Summary .............................................................. I-7

OVERVIEW

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

(RCRA), an amendment to the Solid Waste Disposal

Act, was enacted in 1976 to address the huge volumes of municipal and industrial solid waste generated nationwide.

The goals set by RCRA are:

• To protect human health and the environment from the potential hazards of waste disposal

• To conserve energy and natural resources

CHAPTER I

IINTRODUCTION TO THE RESOURCEI

CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY ACT

• To reduce the amount of waste generated

• To ensure that wastes are managed in an environmentally sound manner.

RCRA also regulates underground storage tanks (USTs) that store petroleum or certain chemical products under Subtitle I. Requirements exist for the design and operation of these tanks and the development of systems to prevent accidental spills. Examples of facilities using these tanks include petroleum refineries, chemical plants, and commercial gas stations.

The Medical Waste Tracking Act of 1988 was a

2-year demonstration program that expired in June

1991. It created a Subtitle J program designed to track medical waste from generation to disposal. At present, no federal EPA tracking regulations are in effect for medical waste, but many states have adopted their own programs.

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (known as

Superfund or CERCLA) is a related statute that deals with cleaning up inactive and abandoned hazardous waste sites. RCRA, on the other hand, deals with materials that are currently destined for disposal or recycling.

Chapter I: Introduction to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

I-2

RCRA: WHAT IT IS

The term RCRA is often used interchangeably to refer to the law, regulations, and EPA policy and guidance. The law describes the waste management program mandated by Congress that gave EPA authority to develop the RCRA program. EPA regulations carry out the Congressional intent by providing explicit, legally enforceable requirements for waste management. These regulations can be found in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations

(CFR), Parts 239 through 282. EPA guidance documents and policy directives clarify issues related to the implementation of the regulations.

These three elements are the primary parts of the

RCRA program.

����� The Act

The Act provides, in broad terms, general guidelines for the waste management program envisioned by Congress (e.g., EPA is directed to develop and promulgate criteria for identifying hazardous waste).

The Act also provides the EPA

Administrator (or his or her representative) with the necessary authority to develop these broad standards into specific requirements that implement the law.

What we commonly know as RCRA, or the Act, is actually a combination of the first federal solid waste statutes and all subsequent amendments (see

Figure I-1). In 1965, Congress enacted the Solid

Waste Disposal Act, the first statute that specifically focused on improving solid waste disposal methods.

The Solid Waste Disposal Act established economic incentives for states to develop planning, training, research, and demonstration projects for the management of solid waste. The Act was amended in 1976 by RCRA, which substantially remodeled the nation’s solid waste management system and laid out the basic framework of the current hazardous waste management program.

The Act, which has been amended several times since 1976, continues to evolve as

Congress alters it to reflect changing waste management needs.

The Act was amended significantly on

November 8, 1984, by the Hazardous and

Solid Waste

Amendments (HSWA), which expanded the scope and requirements of RCRA. HSWA was created largely in response to citizen concerns that existing methods of hazardous waste disposal, particularly land disposal, were not safe. Because of their significance and differences in their implementation, HSWA provisions are emphasized throughout this manual. Congress also revised

RCRA in 1992 by passing the Federal Facilities

Compliance Act, which strengthened the authority to enforce RCRA at federal facilities. In addition, the

Land Disposal Program Flexibility Act of 1996 amended RCRA to provide regulatory flexibility for the land disposal of certain wastes.

Today, the Act consists of 10 subtitles (see

Figure I-2). Subtitles A, B, E, F, G, H, I, and J outline general provisions; authorities of the EPA

Administrator; duties of the Secretary of Commerce;

federal responsibilities; miscellaneous provisions;

research, development, demonstration, and information requirements; underground storage tanks; and medical waste tracking. Other subtitles lay out the framework for the two major programs that comprise RCRA: Subtitle C (the hazardous waste management program) and Subtitle D (the solid waste program).

The text of the Act can be found at www.epa.gov/lawsregs/laws.

THE ACT

The law that describes the kind of waste management program that Congress wants to establish. The Act also provides the Administrator of

EPA (or his or her designee) with the authority to implement the program.

Figure I-1: The Evolution of Significant RCRA

Legislation

SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL

ACT OF 1965

RESOURCE

CONSERVATION AND

RECOVERY ACT OF 1976

HAZARDOUS AND SOLID

WASTE AMENDMENTS

OF 1984

FEDERAL FACILITIES

COMPLIANCE ACT OF 1992

LAND DISPOSAL PROGRAM

FLEXIBILITY ACT OF 1996

Introduction to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

I-3

����� Regulations

The Act includes a Congressional mandate directing EPA to develop a comprehensive set of regulations. Regulations, or rulemakings, are issued by an agency, such as EPA, that translate the general mandate of a statute into a set of requirements for the Agency and the regulated community.

Regulations are developed by EPA in an open and public manner according to an established process.

When a regulation is formally proposed, it is published in an official government document called the Federal

Register to notify the public of EPA’s intent to create new regulations or modify existing ones. EPA provides the public, which includes the potentially regulated community, with an opportunity to submit comments. Following an established comment period, EPA may revise the proposed rule based on both an internal review process and public comments.

The final regulation is published, or promulgated, in the Federal Register. Included with the regulation is discussion of the Agency’s rationale for the regulatory approach, known as preamble language. Final regulations are compiled annually and incorporated in the Code of Federal

Regulations (CFR) according to a highly structured format based on the topic of the regulation. This latter process is called codification, and each CFR title corresponds to a different regulatory authority. For example, EPA’s regulations are in Title 40 of the CFR. The codified RCRA regulations can be found in Title 40 of the

CFR, Parts 239-282. These regulations are often cited as

40 CFR, with the part listed afterward (e.g., 40 CFR Part

264), or the part and section

(e.g., 40 CFR §264.10).

Although this relationship between an Act and the regulations is the norm, the relationship between

HSWA and its regulations differs slightly. Congress, through HSWA, not only provided EPA with a general mandate to promulgate regulations, but also placed explicit instructions in the Statute to develop certain regulations. Many of these requirements are so specific that EPA incorporated them directly into the regulations. HSWA is all the more significant because of the ambitious schedules that Congress established for implementation of the Act’s provisions. Another unique aspect of HSWA is that it established hammer provisions, or statutory requirements that would go into effect automatically

(with the force of regulations) if EPA failed to issue regulations by certain dates.

The interpretation of statutory language does not end with the codification of regulations. EPA further clarifies the requirements of the Act and its regulations through guidance documents and policy.

Figure I-2: Outline of the Act

Subtitle Provisions

A General Provisions

B Office of Solid Waste; Authorities of the

Administrator and Interagency Coordinating

Committee

C Hazardous Waste Management

D State or Regional Solid Waste Plans

E Duties of the Secretary of Commerce in Resource and Recovery

F Federal Responsibilities

G Miscellaneous Provisions

H Research, Development, Demonstration, and

Information

I Regulation of Underground Storage Tanks

J Standards for the Tracking and Management of Medical Waste

REGULATIONS

Legal mechanisms that establish standards or impose requirements as mandated by the Act. RCRA regulations are promulgated by EPA, published in the Federal

Register, and codified in the

Code of Federal Regulations.

Protection of Environment

PARTS 260 TO 299

Revised as of July 1, 1996

I-4

The RCRA regulations can be found at www.epa.gov/epacfr40/chapt-I.info.

����� Guidance and Policy

Guidance documents are issued by EPA primarily to provide direction for implementing and complying with regulations. They are essentially

“how to” documents. For example, the regulations in 40 CFR Part 270 detail what is required in a permit application for a hazardous waste management facility, while the guidance for this

Part suggests how to evaluate a permit application to ensure that all information has been included. Guidance documents also elaborate on the Agency’s interpretation of the requirements of the Act.

Policy statements, on the other hand, specify operating procedures that should generally be followed. They are mechanisms used by EPA program offices to outline the manner in which the

RCRA programs are implemented. For example, EPA’s Office of

Solid Waste (OSW) may issue a policy outlining what actions should generally be taken to achieve RCRA corrective action cleanup goals. In many cases, policy statements are addressed to the staff working on implementation, but they may also be addressed to the regulated community.

RCRA: HOW IT WORKS

To provide an overall perspective of how RCRA works, each waste program is briefly summarized here. Later, the Subtitle D (solid waste) program is discussed before the Subtitle C (hazardous waste) program. Although this is alphabetically out of order, the structure is designed for better understanding by the reader.

����� Subtitle D — Solid Waste

RCRA Subtitle D focuses on state and local governments as the primary planning, regulating, and implementing entities for the management of nonhazardous solid waste, such as household garbage and nonhazardous industrial solid waste.

EPA provides these state and local agencies with information, guidance, policy, and regulations through workshops and publications to help states and the regulated community make better decisions in dealing with waste issues, to reap the environmental and economic benefits of source reduction and recycling of solid wastes, and to require upgrading or closure of all environmentally unsound disposal units. In order to promote the use of safer units for solid waste disposal, EPA developed federal criteria for the proper design and operation of municipal solid waste landfills

(MSWLFs) and other solid waste disposal facilities.

Many states have adopted these criteria into their state solid waste programs.

����� Subtitle C — Hazardous Waste

RCRA Subtitle C establishes a federal program to manage hazardous wastes from cradle to grave.

The objective of the Subtitle C program is to ensure that hazardous waste is handled in a manner that protects human health and the environment. To this end, there are Subtitle C regulations for the generation, transportation, and treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous wastes. In practical terms, this means regulating a large number of hazardous waste handlers. As of 2005, EPA had on record approximately 500 treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs); 18,000 transporters; and 15,000 large quantity generators (LQGs).

The Subtitle C program has resulted in perhaps the most comprehensive regulations EPA has ever developed. The regulations first identify the criteria to determine which solid wastes are hazardous, and then establish various requirements for the three categories of hazardous waste handlers: generators, transporters, and TSDFs. In addition, the Subtitle C

GUIDANCE = How To

Documents developed and issued by EPA to provide instructions on how to implement the requirements of either the Act or regulations.

POLICY = Should Do

Statements developed by EPA outlining a position on a topic or giving instructions on how a procedure should be conducted.

I-5 regulations set technical standards for the design and safe operation of TSDFs. These standards are designed to minimize the release of hazardous waste into the environment. Furthermore, the regulations for TSDFs serve as the basis for developing and issuing the permits required by the Act for each facility. Permits are essential to making the Subtitle

C regulatory program work, since it is through the permitting process that EPA or a state applies the technical standards to TSDFs.

One of the primary differences between Subtitle

C and Subtitle D is the type of waste each regulates.

Subtitle C regulates only hazardous waste, a subset of solid waste, whereas Subtitle D primarily regulates nonhazardous solid waste.

WHO IS INVOLVED IN RCRA?

The RCRA program involves many people and organizations, all with varying roles. Congress and the President set overall national direction for the

RCRA program through amendments to the Act.

EPA, through its Office of Solid Waste and

Emergency Response (OSWER), translates this direction into operating programs by developing regulations, guidance, and policy.

Site-specific implementation of the RCRA program is the responsibility of the EPA regions and states. Hazardous and solid waste programs have mechanisms through which states can exercise key program responsibilities. Initial federal responsibilities vary among the different programs.

Under Subtitle D, EPA established minimum criteria for MSWLFs and required each state to gain approval for their MSWLF permitting program through an approval process that ensures that the state’s program meets minimum federal criteria.

Most of the Subtitle D solid waste program is overseen by the states, and compliance is assured through state-issued permits.

State involvement in the Subtitle C program is similar to involvement in the Subtitle D program.

Under Subtitle C, in the authorization process, EPA reviews a state’s hazardous waste program and, if it is at least as stringent as the federal program, grants the state authority to implement its own program in lieu of the federal program. These states are known as authorized states.

The regulated community that must understand and comply with RCRA and its regulations is a large, diverse group. It includes not only facilities typically thought of as hazardous waste generators, such as industrial manufacturers, but also government agencies and small businesses, such as a local dry cleaner generating small amounts of hazardous solvents, or a gas station with underground petroleum tanks.

Lastly, the general public plays a key role in

RCRA by providing input and comments during almost every stage of the program’s development and implementation, through rulemaking participation and comments on TSDF permits.

RCRA TODAY

Ensuring responsible waste management practices is a far-reaching and challenging undertaking that engages EPA Headquarters and regions, state agencies, tribes, and local governments, as well as everyone who generates waste. EPA has largely focused on building the hazardous and municipal solid waste programs and fostering a strong societal commitment to recycling and pollution prevention. Since the enactment of

RCRA, EPA has built a comprehensive cradle-to-grave regulatory program for hazardous waste management; authorized forty-eight states to implement RCRA; set national baseline standards for municipal solid waste landfills; identified priority pollutants on which to focus hazardous waste reduction efforts; worked in successful partnerships to reduce waste, promote recycling, and build markets for recycled-content products; and provided education and technical assistance.

����� Looking to the Future

In the future, EPA will maintain and build on the effective hazardous and municipal waste programs already in place. At the same time, EPA must increase efforts in resource conservation, sustainability, and safe materials management. Safe waste management and cleanup remain the critical

I-6 foundation to protect human health and the environment. EPA now relies on a largely complete regulatory structure for hazardous and municipal waste and proven implementation programs to ensure safe management. EPA will assess potential threats from wastes and address critical program improvements in the most effective manner, either through regulatory changes, cooperative voluntary efforts, or other means.

Striving for sustainability and materials management are long-term challenges. EPA will look beyond the traditional definition of waste to determine how programs fits into, and can benefit from, a life cycle approach to ensure that chemicals and materials are managed protectively, in all stages of use and discard. In addition, waste issues must be considered beyond the nation’s boundaries to maximize environmental results and achieve sustainability and safe materials management. A top priority is to reduce the generation of industrial and municipal waste and to conserve resources while reducing environmental impacts. Through the

Resource Conservation Challenge (RCC), EPA is undertaking a broad spectrum of efforts to encourage waste minimization, pollution prevention, energy recovery, and recycling. Where necessary, this may require refining the current regulatory system.

However, the scope of EPA’s regulatory work is narrower and relies more on improving compliance with the existing regulations. There are only two remaining rulemakings to complete the hazardous waste regulatory structure and 1984 statutory mandates. Other regulatory activities are primarily targeted to simplify and add flexibility and facilitate resource conservation and pollution prevention.

EPA believes a key to success for RCRA and for improving the corrective action program will be building new partnerships and coalitions with government agencies, businesses, interest groups, and the public. While

EPA has made great strides in working in true partnership with the states, more remains to be done. The goal of faster, more efficient cleanups will continue, and new corrective action goals will focus on the activities that precede completion of final corrective action, remedy selection, and construction. Encouraging facilities to achieve corrective action goals helps move the program toward success and provides increased protection against exposure to contaminants that have been released from corrective action facilities.

����� Conserving Natural Resources

EPA will continue to help society reduce the amount and toxicity of wastes that facilities generate and promote safe recycling and energy recovery. A successful materials management approach will assess risks and ensure that harmful chemicals do not enter the environment throughout the life cycle of material handling. Resources that simply become waste are not available for future generations, and extraction and harvesting of resources can have long-term environmental impacts. Despite protective waste management programs, toxic chemicals can still find their way into the environment throughout the life cycle of materials.

Persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals released into the environment can present long-term risks to human health and the environment, even in small quantities. The challenge is to mobilize industries, state and local agencies, communities, and the public through collaborative efforts and by harnessing regulatory incentives to minimize threats to human health and the environment. The RCC will be the main vehicle by which EPA works to meet this challenge. The main objectives for conserving natural resources are reducing priority chemicals, stimulating product stewardship and recycling, fostering the transition to materials management, forming partnerships, promoting recycling and safe energy recovery from waste, and engaging consumers and under-served communities.

I-7

����� Preventing Future Waste Problems

EPA will sustain and enhance effective state programs for hazardous, municipal, and industrial waste management and EPA regional implementation to ensure protective management tailored to the full spectrum of wastes that facilities generate. The large universe of waste generators and treatment, storage, and disposal facilities (TSDFs) subject to hazardous and solid waste requirements presents a substantial challenge. EPA intends to identify unaddressed significant risks from current and new wastes and waste management practices and incorporate flexibility, and ensure that all wastes are managed protectively without unnecessary costs.

The main objectives for preventing future waste problems are setting national goals for hazardous waste management facilities, supporting state implementation of hazardous and solid waste programs, building tribal capacity, maintaining and updating the federal regulatory programs, assisting industries to comply and move beyond compliance, engaging stakeholders, and improving waste and materials management.

����� Cleaning up Problems from Past

Practices

EPA will continue to facilitate protective, practical completion of cleanups at hazardous waste

TSDFs and help develop and/or strengthen state and tribal waste cleanup programs. These cleanups present a challenge because several thousand RCRA facilities have potentially released hazardous waste to the environment. In addition, cleanup may be costly and can take considerable time. EPA hopes to achieve timely cleanups at high priority facilities and create an environment in which all stakeholders can work together using a variety of tools and cleanup programs. The main objectives for cleaning up problems from past practices are controlling human exposures and groundwater releases, promoting mechanisms for flexible cleanups, supporting a “one cleanup program” framework, promoting revitalization and reuse, and supporting the tribal open dump cleanup and prevention program.

OUTLINE OF THE MANUAL

The remainder of this manual details the three

RCRA programs briefly discussed in this introduction. The manual also describes two other components of RCRA: the federal procurement and medical waste tracking programs. In addition, the manual discusses the interrelationships between

RCRA’s Subtitle C program and other environmental statutes, as well as RCRA’s public participation provisions. To supplement this technical description of the RCRA regulatory program, the manual also contains appendices that present important RCRA forms and paperwork requirements, a glossary (for the reader’s convenience, the terms that appear in this glossary have been bolded throughout the text), a list of acronyms and abbreviations, an OSW organization chart, useful environmental contacts, and a keyword index.

SUMMARY

RCRA was passed in 1976, as an amendment to the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, to ensure that solid wastes are managed in an environmentally sound manner. The goals of RCRA have changed over time as EPA has implemented the program.

The current goals are:

• To protect human health and the environment from the potential hazards of waste disposal

• To conserve energy and natural resources

• To reduce the amount of waste generated

• To ensure that wastes are managed in an environmentally sound manner

• Prevent future problems caused by irresponsible waste management

• Clean up releases of hazardous waste in a timely, flexible, and protective manner.

I-8

To achieve these goals, EPA will rely heavily on three programs:

• The current regulatory framework already in place

• Collaborative partnerships with stakeholders, such as those developed under the Resource

Conservation Challenge

• The RCRA corrective action program.

There are several components of RCRA:

• Act – The law that describes the kind of waste management program that Congress wants to establish. The Act also provides the

Administrator of EPA (or his or her designee) with the authority to implement the Act.

• Regulations – The legal mechanism that establishes standards or imposes requirements as mandated by the Act. RCRA regulations are promulgated by EPA, published in the Federal

Register, and codified in the CFR.

• Guidance – Documents developed and issued by

EPA to provide instructions on how to implement requirements of either the Act or regulations.

• Policy – Statements developed by EPA outlining a position on a topic or giving instructions on how a procedure should be conducted.

RCRA continues to change with amendments to the Statute. HSWA, in particular, significantly expanded both the scope and detailed requirements of the Act, especially in the context of the land disposal of hazardous wastes. Congress, EPA, states, regulated entities, and the general public are involved in developing and implementing the RCRA program.

EPA continues to improve the RCRA program by using measurable results to identify and promote new initiatives, such as encouraging waste minimization, improving the federal/state partnership in the hazardous waste program, and aiding state and local governments in reaping the environmental and economic benefits of source reduction and recycling.

II-1

In this chapter…

Overview............................................................ II-1

Definition of Solid Waste ................................... II-2

Municipal Solid Waste ....................................... II-2

- Source Reduction .......................................... II-3

- Recycling ....................................................... II-4

- Combustion .................................................... II-4

- Landfilling ....................................................... II-5

Industrial Waste ................................................. II-5

- Source Reduction .......................................... II-6

- Recycling ....................................................... II-6

- Treatment ....................................................... II-7

- Landfilling ....................................................... II-8

- Guide for Industrial Waste Management ....... II-8

Criteria for Solid Waste Disposal Facilities ........ II-9

- Technical Criteria for Solid Waste Disposal

Facilities ......................................................... II-9

- Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity

Generator Waste Disposal Facilities ............ II-10

- Technical Criteria for Municipal Solid Waste

Landfills ........................................................ II-10

- Bioreactor Landfills ....................................... II-11

Assistance to Native American Tribes ............. II-12

Other Solid Waste Management Initiatives ..... II-12

- Jobs Through Recycling .............................. II-12

- Pay-As-You-Throw (PAYT) ........................... II-13

- Full Cost Accounting for Municipal Solid

Waste ........................................................... II-13

- Construction and Demolition Materials ........ II-13

- Industrial Ecology ........................................ II-14

Summary ......................................................... II-14

Additional Resources ...................................... II-14

OVERVIEW

Congress enacted the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965 to address the growing quantity of solid waste generated in the United States and to ensure its proper management. Subsequent amendments to the Solid Waste Disposal Act, such as RCRA, have substantially increased the federal government’s involvement in solid waste management.

During the 1980s, solid waste management issues rose to new heights of public concern in many areas of the United States because of increasing solid waste generation, shrinking disposal capacity, rising disposal costs, and public opposition to the siting of new disposal facilities.

These solid waste management challenges continue today, as many communities are struggling to develop cost-effective, environmentally protective solutions. The growing amount of waste generated has made it increasingly important for solid waste management officials to develop strategies to manage wastes safely and cost-effectively.

CHAPTER II

MANAGING NONHAZARDOUS SOLID WASTE

WHAT IS SOLID WASTE?

• Garbage

• Refuse

• Sludges from waste treatment plants, water supply treatment plants, or pollution control facilities

• Industrial wastes

• Other discarded materials, including solid, semisolid, liquid, or contained gaseous materials resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, agricultural, and community activities.

Chapter II: Managing Nonhazardous Solid Waste

II-2

RCRA encourages environmentally sound solid waste management practices that maximize the reuse of recoverable material and foster resource recovery.

Under RCRA, EPA regulates hazardous solid wastes and may authorize states to do so. Nonhazardous solid waste is predominately regulated by state and local governments. EPA has, however, promulgated some regulations pertaining to nonhazardous solid waste, largely addressing how disposal facilities should be designed and operated. Aside from regulation of hazardous wastes, EPA’s primary role in solid waste management includes setting national goals, providing leadership and technical assistance, and developing guidance and educational materials.

The Agency has played a major role in this program by providing tools and information through policy and guidance to empower local governments, business, industry, federal agencies, and individuals to make better decisions in dealing with solid waste issues. The Agency strives to motivate behavioral change in solid waste management through both regulatory and nonregulatory approaches.

This chapter presents an outline of the RCRA nonhazardous solid waste program. In doing so, it defines the terms solid waste and municipal solid waste, and it describes the role EPA plays in assisting waste officials in dealing with solid waste management problems. The remainder of this chapter will use the term “solid waste” to mean only nonhazardous solid waste, excluding hazardous waste regulated under RCRA Subtitle C. The chapter will provide an overview of the criteria that

EPA has developed for solid waste landfills and will introduce some Agency initiatives designed to promote proper and efficient solid waste management.

DEFINITION OF SOLID WASTE

RCRA defines the term solid waste as:

• Garbage (e.g., milk cartons and coffee grounds)

• Refuse (e.g., metal scrap, wall board, and empty containers)

• Sludges from waste treatment plants, water supply treatment plants, or pollution control facilities (e.g., scrubber slags)

• Industrial wastes (e.g., manufacturing process wastewaters and nonwastewater sludges and solids)

• Other discarded materials, including solid, semisolid, liquid, or contained gaseous materials resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, agricultural, and community activities (e.g., boiler slags).

The definition of solid waste is not limited to wastes that are physically solid. Many solid wastes are liquid, while others are semisolid or gaseous.

The term solid waste, as defined by the Statute, is very broad, including not only the traditional nonhazardous solid wastes, such as municipal garbage and industrial wastes, but also hazardous wastes. Hazardous waste, a subset of solid waste, is regulated under RCRA Subtitle C. (Hazardous waste is fully discussed in Chapter III.) For purposes of regulating hazardous wastes, EPA established by regulation a separate definition of solid waste. This definition is discussed in Chapter

III and pertains only to hazardous waste regulations.

MUNICIPAL SOLID WASTE

Municipal solid waste is a subset of solid waste and is defined as durable goods (e.g., appliances, tires, batteries), nondurable goods (e.g., newspapers, books, magazines), containers and packaging, food wastes, yard trimmings, and miscellaneous organic wastes from residential, commercial, and industrial nonprocess sources (see Figure II-1).

Figure II-I: Products Generated in MSW by

Weight, 2006 (total weight - 251 million tons)

Nondurable Goods 25.5%

64.2 million tons

Containers and

Packaging 31.7%

79.6 million tons

Yard Trimmings 12.9%

32.4 million tons

Other 1.5%

3.7 million tons

Food Waste 12.4%

31.3 million tons

Durable Goods 16.0%

40.2 million tons

Managing Nonhazardous Solid Waste

II-3

Municipal solid waste generation has grown steadily over the past 46 years from 88 million tons per year (2.7 pounds per person per day) in 1960, to

251 million tons per year (4.6 pounds per person per day) in 2006. While generation of waste has grown steadily, recycling has also greatly increased. In

1960, only about 7 percent of municipal solid waste was recycled. By 2006, this figure had increased to

32.5 percent.

To address the increasing quantities of municipal solid waste, EPA recommends that communities adopt “integrated waste management” systems tailored to meet their needs. The term “integrated waste management” refers to the complementary use of a variety of waste management practices to safely and effectively handle the municipal solid waste stream. An integrated waste management system will contain some or all of the following elements:

source reduction, recycling (including composting), waste combustion, and/or landfilling. In designing systems, EPA encourages communities to consider these components in a hierarchical sequence. The hierarchy favors source reduction to reduce both the volume and toxicity of waste and to increase the useful life of manufactured products. The next preferred tier in the hierarchy is recycling, which includes composting of yard and food wastes.

Source reduction and recycling are preferred over the third tier of the hierarchy, which consists of combustion and/or landfilling, because they divert waste from the third tier and they have positive impacts on both the environment and economy. The goal of

EPA’s approach is to use a combination of all these methods to safely and effectively manage municipal solid waste.

EPA recommends that communities tailor their systems from the four components in the three tiers to meet their specific needs, looking first to source reduction, and second to recycling as preferences to combustion and/or landfilling (see Figure II-2).

����� Source Reduction

Rather than managing waste after it is generated, source reduction changes the way products are made and used in order to decrease waste generation. Source reduction, also called waste prevention, is defined as the design, manufacture, and use of products in a way that reduces the quantity and toxicity of waste produced when the products reach the end of their useful lives. The ultimate goal of source reduction is to decrease the amount and the toxicity of waste generated.

Businesses, households, and all levels of government can play an active role in source reduction.

Businesses can manufacture products with packaging that is reduced in both volume and toxicity. They also can reduce waste by altering their business practices (e.g., reusing packaging for shipping, making double-sided copies, maintaining equipment to extend its useful life, using reusable envelopes). Community residents can help reduce waste by leaving grass clippings on the lawn or composting them with other yard trimmings in their backyards, instead of bagging such materials for eventual disposal. Consumers play a crucial role in an effective source reduction program by purchasing products having reduced packaging or that contain reduced amounts of toxic constituents. This

Figure II-2: The Solid Waste Management Hierarchy

Recycling

Source Reduction

Combustion

Landfilling

INTEGRATED

SOLID WASTE

MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM

Source reduction, landfilling, recycling, and combustion are all pieces of the solid waste management puzzle. Source reduction and recycling are preferred elements of the system.

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purchasing subsequently increases the demand for products with these attributes.

����� Recycling

Municipal solid waste recycling refers to the separation and collection of wastes, their subsequent transformation or remanufacture into usable or marketable products or materials, and the purchase of products made from recyclable materials. In

2006, 32.5 percent (82.0 million tons) of the municipal solid waste generated in the United States was recycled (see Figure II-3). Solid waste recycling:

• Preserves raw materials and natural resources

• Reduces the amount of waste that requires disposal

• Reduces energy use and associated pollution

• Provides business and job opportunities

• Reduces pollution associated with use of virgin materials.

Solid waste recycling also reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. For example, using the Waste

Reduction Model (WARM), it can be calculated that the GHG savings of recycling 1 short ton of aluminum instead of landfilling it would be 3.71 metric tons of carbon equivalent (MTCE).

Communities can offer a wide range of recycling programs to their businesses and residents, such as drop-off centers, curbside collection, and centralized composting of yard and food wastes.

Composting processes are designed to optimize the natural decomposition or decay of organic matter, such as leaves and food. Compost is a humus-like material that can be added to soils to increase soil fertility, aeration, and nutrient retention.

Composting can serve as a key component of municipal solid waste recycling activities, considering that food and yard wastes accounted for

25.0 percent of the total amount of municipal solid waste generated in 2006. Some communities are implementing large-scale composting programs in an effort to conserve landfill capacity.

For recycling to be successful, the recovered material must be reprocessed or remanufactured and the resulting products bought and used by consumers. Recycling programs will become more effective as markets increase for products made from recycled material. The federal government has developed several initiatives in order to bolster the use of recycled products. EPA’s federal procurement guidelines, authorized by RCRA Subtitle F, are designed to bolster the market for products manufactured from recycled materials. The procurement program uses government purchasing to spur recycling and markets for recovered materials. (This program is fully discussed in

Chapter V).

����� Combustion

Confined and controlled burning, known as combustion, can not only decrease the volume of solid waste destined for landfills, but can also recover energy from the waste-burning process.

Modern waste-to-energy facilities use energy recovered from combustion of solid waste to produce steam and electricity. In 2006, combustion facilities handled 12.5 percent (31.4 million tons) of the municipal solid waste generated (see Figure II-

3). Used in conjunction with source reduction and recycling, combustion can recover energy and materials and greatly reduce the volume of wastes entering landfills.

Figure II-3: Management of MSW in the U.S., 2006

(total weight = 251 million tons)

Land disposal 55.0%

138.1 million tonsRecycling (including composting) 32.5%

81.8 million tons

Combustion 12.5%

31.4 million tons

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����� Landfilling

Landfilling of solid waste still remains the most widely used waste management method. Americans landfilled approximately 55.0 percent (138.1 million tons) of municipal solid waste in 2006 (see Figure

II-3). Many communities are having difficulties siting new landfills, largely as a result of increased citizen concerns about the potential risks and aesthetics associated with having a landfill in their neighborhood. To reduce risks to health and the environment, EPA developed minimum criteria that solid waste landfills must meet.

INDUSTRIAL WASTE

Industrial waste is also a subset of solid waste and is defined as solid waste generated by manufacturing or industrial processes that is not a hazardous waste regulated under Subtitle C of

RCRA. Such waste may include, but is not limited to, waste resulting from the following manufacturing processes: electric power generation; fertilizer or agricultural chemicals; food and related products or by-products; inorganic chemicals; iron and steel manufacturing; leather and leather products;

nonferrous metals manufacturing or foundries;

organic chemicals; plastics and resins manufacturing; pulp and paper industry; rubber and miscellaneous plastic products; stone, glass, clay, and concrete products; textile manufacturing;

transportation equipment; and water treatment.

Industrial waste does not include mining waste or oil and gas production waste.

Each year in the United States, approximately

60,000 industrial facilities generate and dispose of approximately 7.6 billion tons of industrial solid waste. Most of these wastes are in the form of wastewaters (97%). EPA has, in partnership with state and tribal representatives and a focus group of industry and public interest stakeholders, developed a set of recommendations and tools to assist facility managers, state and tribal regulators, and the interested public in better addressing the management of land-disposed, nonhazardous industrial wastes.

Similarly to municipal solid waste, EPA recommends considering pollution prevention options when designing an industrial waste management system. Pollution prevention will reduce waste disposal needs and can minimize impacts across all environmental media. Pollution prevention can also reduce the volume and toxicity of waste. Lastly, pollution prevention can ease some of the burdens, risks, and liabilities of waste management. As with municipal solid waste, EPA recommends a hierarchical approach to industrial waste management: first, prevent or reduce waste at the point of generation (source reduction); second, recycle or reuse waste materials; third, treat waste;

and finally, dispose of remaining waste in an environmentally protective manner (see Figure II-4).

There are many benefits of pollution prevention activities, including protecting human health and the environment, cost savings, simpler design and operating conditions, improved worker safety, lower liability, higher product quality, and improved community relations.

When implementing pollution prevention, industrial facilities should consider a combination of options that best fits the facility and its products.

There are a number of steps common to implementing any facility-wide pollution prevention effort. An essential starting point is to make a clear

Waste Management Hierarchy

Source Reduction

Recycling/ Reuse

If NO

If NO

Disposal

Treatment

Figure II-4: Waste Management Hierarchy

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commitment to identifying and taking advantage of pollution prevention opportunities. Facilities should seek the participation of interested partners, develop a policy statement committing the industrial…