What’s Not a Solid or Hazardous Waste

Certain materials are excluded from the definition of solid waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). If a material is not a solid waste, it cannot be a hazardous waste. In other words; for a material to be a hazardous waste it must first meet the definition of a solid waste.

The following materials are deemed not to be solid wastes and, therefore, are not hazardous wastes:

• Domestic sewage and mixtures of domestic sewage and other wastes that pass through a sewer system to a Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW) facility for treatment. EPA interprets this exclusion to also apply to waste mixtures that pass through a Federally Owned Treatment Works (FOTW) facility.
• Industrial wastewater discharges that are point source discharges subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act (CWA). This exclusion only applies at the discharge point where the wastes are first subject to CWA regulation. Many industrial facilities that treat wastewater on-site use this point source discharge exclusion.
• Irrigation return flows.

• Source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act (i.e., radioactive wastes). Note that only the radioactive components of the waste are excluded. If nonradioactive components of the waste make it a RCRA hazardous waste, it is regulated by both RCRA and the Atomic Energy Act.
• Materials subject to in-situmining techniques that are not removed from the ground as part of the extraction process.
• Pulping liquors (i.e., black liquor) that are reclaimed in a pulping liquor recovery furnace and then reused in the pulping process, unless it is accumulated speculatively.
• Spent sulfuric acid used to produce virgin sulfuric acid, unless it is accumulated speculatively.
• Secondary materials that are reclaimed and returned to the original process or processes in which they were generated and are reused in that production process. This exclusion has limitations stipulating storage only in tanks, closed processes, accumulation for no more than 12 months, no incineration or other controlled flame combustion reclamation, no fuel production, and no use in a manner constituting disposal. This exclusion is known as the “closed-loop recycling exclusion.”
• Reclaimed spent wood preserving solutions and wastewaters containing spent preservative that are reused for their original intended purpose, provided that certain conditions are met including: reuse of the wastewaters and solutions on-site at waterborne plants in the production process for their original intended use; prior to reuse, management of the wastewaters, and solutions to prevent release to land or groundwater; prior to reuse, units used to manage the wastewaters or solutions can be visually determined to prevent releases to land or groundwater; prior to reuse, drip pads used to comply with the standards set forth at 40 CFR 265.440 et seq.; prior to operating under this exclusion, the plant owner or operator submits a one-time notification to the EPA regional administrator (or the appropriate state director) in accordance with 40 CFR 261.4(a)(9)(iii)(E).
• The following coke by-product wastes: EPA Hazardous Waste Nos. K060, K087, K141, K142, K143, K144, K145, K147, and K148, and any wastes from the coke by-products process that are hazardous only because they exhibit the toxicity characteristic specified in 40 CFR 261.24 when recycled in accordance with 40 CFR 261.4(a)(10).
• Non-wastewater waste splash condenser dross residue from the treatment of K061 waste in high-temperature metals recovery units, provided the residue, if shipped, is in drums and not land disposed before recovery.
• Oil-bearing hazardous secondary materials (e.g., sludges, by-products, or spent materials) that are generated at a petroleum refinery (SIC Code 2911) and inserted into the petroleum refining process, or recovered oil, provided the material is not managed on the land or accumulated speculatively before placement in the refinery process. Recovered oil does not include oil-bearing hazardous waste listed in 40 CFR 261 before the oil is recovered nor does it include used oil as defined in 40 CFR 279.
• Excluded scrap metal being recycled (e.g., processed scrap metal, unprocessed home scrap metal, and unprocessed prompt scrap metal).
• Shredded circuit boards being recycled, provided they are stored in containers sufficient to prevent release to the environment, and are free of mercury switches, mercury relays, nickel-cadmium batteries, and lithium batteries.
• Condensates derived from the overhead gases from kraft mill steam strippers that are used to comply with 40 CFR 63.446(e). This exemption applies only to combustion at the mill generating the condensates.
• Spent materials as defined in 40 CFR 261.1 (other than listed hazardous wastes) generated within the primary mineral processing industry from which minerals, acids, cyanide, water, or other values are recovered by mineral processing or by beneficiation, provided that certain conditions are met, including: the spent material is legitimately recycled to recover minerals, acids, cyanide, water, or other values; the spent material is not accumulated speculatively; the spent material is stored in tanks, containers, or buildings meeting conditions specified in 40 CFR 261.4(a)(17)(iii), or on pads meeting the standards specified in 40 CFR 261.4(a)(17)(iv); the plant owner or operator submits a notification to the EPA regional administrator (or the appropriate state director) in accordance with 40 CFR 261.4(a)(17)(v).
• Comparable fuels or comparable syngas fuels that meet the requirements of 40 CFR 261.38.
• Petrochemical recovered oil from an associated organic chemical manufacturing facility, where the oil is to be inserted into the petroleum refining process (SIC Code 2911) along with normal petroleum refinery process streams, provided certain conditions are met.
• Spent caustic solutions from petroleum refining liquid treating processes used as a feedstock to produce cresylic or naphthenic acid unless the material is placed on the land or accumulated speculatively.
• Hazardous secondary materials used to make zinc fertilizers, provided numerous conditions are met.
• Zinc fertilizers made from hazardous wastes, or hazardous secondary materials that are excluded under the previous exemption, provided numerous conditions are met.
• Used, broken, or intact CRTs, or glass removed from CRTs, provided certain conditions are met.
• Hazardous secondary material generated and reclaimed within the United States and managed in land-based units (i.e., an area in which these materials are placed in or on the land before recycling), provided certain conditions specified in 40 CFR 261.4(a)(23) are met.
• Non-wastewater waste splash condenser dross residue from the treatment of K061 waste in high-temperature metals recovery units, provided the residue, if shipped, is in drums and not land disposed before recovery.
• Oil-bearing hazardous secondary materials (e.g., sludges, by-products, or spent materials) that are generated at a petroleum refinery (SIC Code 2911) and inserted into the petroleum refining process, or recovered oil, provided the material is not managed on the land or accumulated speculatively before placement in the refinery process. Recovered oil does not include oil-bearing hazardous waste listed in 40 CFR 261 before the oil is recovered nor does it include used oil as defined in 40 CFR 279.

For more information or assistance with your Environmental and Health & Safety regulatory compliance needs, contact Ralph Carito at Total Environmental & safety, LLC (Total) at rcarito@TotalEnviron.com or 908-442-8599.