Category: Hazardous Waste Management

6 Tips for SQGs for Inspecting Hazardous Waste Tanks

SQGs are those that generate more than 100 kilograms (kg) but less than 1,000 kg of hazardous waste, including no more than 1 kg of acutely hazardous waste a month. Note: 1 kg = 2.2 pounds (lb) 100 kg = 220 lb 1,000 kg = 2,200 lb While SQGs accumulating hazardous waste in tanks are […]

10 Tips for LQGs for Inspecting Hazardous Waste Tanks

LQGs are those that generate either 1,000 kilograms (kg) or more of hazardous waste or more than 1 kg of acutely hazardous waste a month. Note: 1 kg = 2.2 pounds (lb) 100 kg = 220 lb 1,000 kg = 2,200 lb What’s a Tank? Although the answer may seem fairly obvious, there has been […]

Do You Know the Training Requirements for Hazardous Waste Manifests?

According to the EPA, anyone who ships hazardous wastes off-site needs to comply with both EPA’s training requirements for generators and the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (DOT) requirements for training hazardous materials employees. The generator’s certification language on the manifest is essentially the same certification language that the DOT refers to as the “shipper’s certification.” […]

Problems You May Encounter with e-Manifests

Note: A hazardous waste manifest is the shipping paper for hazardous waste. The paper manifest travels with the hazardous waste from the point of generation, through transportation, to the final treatment, storage, and disposal facility (TSDF). Each party in the chain of shipping, including the generator, signs and keeps a manifest copy, creating a “cradle-to-grave” […]

5 Steps for Managing Solvent-Contaminated Wipes

So, if you’ve decided that the best option for managing your solvent-contaminated wipes is to see if you can get them exempt from EPA’s definition of solid and/or hazardous waste by complying with either the rule’s solid waste exclusion or therule’s hazardous waste exclusion, you need to know the steps to take to satisfy the […]

Wash, Dry, or Toss? Best Options for Your Solvent-Contaminated Wipes

So, should you wash, dry, or toss your solvent-contaminated rags? How About Dry? We can tell you right away, don’t hang your solvent-contaminated wipes out to dry. Let’s take that one off the table. Never mind the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) violations you would be facing, you will also have great big headaches […]

Calculating Your Monthly Hazardous Waste Generation

Counting Hazardous Waste You know you generate hazardous waste at your facility and you want to keep your disposal costs down. Well, then, you have to keep down the amount of hazardous waste you have on-site each month. If you are a large quantity generator (LQG), your responsibilities and costs will be greater than if […]

Four Tips for Choosing a Recycler for Your Hazardous Waste Secondary Materials

As a generator of HSM, you ultimately decide whether the material is safely managed. The decision to send your HSMs to an off-site recycling business should be followed by a careful review of the qualifications of available recyclers. Improper management can increase liability of the originating company (remember RCRA’s “cradle-to-grave” mandate). Environmental managers investigating recycling […]

Four Factors for Recycling Hazardous Waste Secondary Materials Without Shame—I mean Sham

New Definition of ‘Sham Recycling’ Sham recycling refers to claims by a hazardous waste generator that the waste is being recycled when it is in fact being discarded. A new definition at 40 CFR 261.2(g) codifies EPA’s concept of sham recycling: “A hazardous secondary material found to be sham recycled is considered discarded and a […]

What’s in Store for Hazardous Waste Generators?

In the June 11, 2014, Federal Register (FR), the EPA published an Information Collection Request (updated in the October 14, 2014, FR) asking for public comment concerning the hazardous waste generator rules under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Specifically, the Agency asked that the comments address the following components of the generator rules: […]