Page 404 - Materials Chemistry, Second Edition

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Identification of Hazardous Waste 375
Part 264 presents the requirements that apply to facilities that treat, store, or dispose of haz-
ardous waste. It contains general standards by which all hazardous waste treatment, storage, and
disposal facilities must be operated as well as specific requirements for surface impoundments,
waste piles, landfills, incinerators, land treatment facilities, and facilities with containers and tank
systems used for storing or processing hazardous waste.
Part 265 establishes minimum standards that apply to facilities that treat, store, or dispose of
hazardous waste and have interim status. Part 265 regulations apply to facilities that were operating
before the RCRA regulations were finalized and have not yet received a final permit to operate their
facility or have closed but are under EPA orders to correct some problems on-site. This part also
contains the requirements for training, preparedness and prevention, and contingency planning.
Part 266 contains standards for the management of specific hazardous wastes and specific types
of hazardous waste management facilities. This part includes regulations that apply to recyclable
materials, hazardous waste burned for energy recovery, recyclable materials utilized for precious
metal recovery, and spent lead-acid batteries being reclaimed.
Part 268 identifies hazardous wastes that are restricted from land disposal and defines those cir-
cumstances under which a restricted waste may continue to be land disposed.
Part 270 covers basic EPA permitting requirements for hazardous waste management facilities
such as the information to be included in the permit application, monitoring and reporting require-
ments, and the conditions under which permits can be transferred or modified.
Part 271 specifies the minimum requirements with which a state must comply to receive author-
ization to administer and enforce its own hazardous waste management program in lieu of the fed-
eral programs.
Part 273 includes the management system for hazardous wastes batteries, pesticides, and ther-
mostats. This program is referred to as the Universal Waste Program. These regulations cover the
standards for universal waste handlers, transporters, and destination facilities.
Part 279 establishes minimum management standards that apply to used oil generators, collec-
tion centers, aggregation points, transporters, transfer facilities, processors, re-refiners, burners, and
marketers of used oil fuel. This part also places limitations on the use of used oil as a dust sup-
pressant and on the disposal of used oil.

11.3 SUBTITLE C: THE HAZARDOUS WASTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAM

11.3.1 DEFINITION OF A SOLID WASTE
Before a regulatory agency and a potential generator (i.e., a facility) address the issue of whether
or not a specified waste is hazardous, they must first determine whether or not the waste is a solid
waste. According to 40 CFR 261.2, a solid waste is any discarded material that is not excluded
from the regulations. Going further into the definition, a discarded material is any material which
is abandoned, recycled, “inherently waste-like,” or military munitions identified as a solid waste
in 40 CFR 266.202.
An abandoned material is one which is (1) disposed of; (2) burned or incinerated; or (3) accu-
mulated, stored, or treated (but not recycled) by being disposed or burned.
Materials are solid wastes if they are recycled, accumulated, stored, or treated before recycling.
This includes being: (1) used or placed on the land in a manner that constitutes disposal; (2) burned
for energy recovery; (3) reclaimed; or (4) accumulated speculatively.
Some of the major types of materials that are recycled include (40 CFR 261.2):

● Spent material. These are materials that have been used and as a result of contamination
can no longer serve the purpose for which it was produced without processing.
● Sludges. Solid, semisolid, or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial, or indus-
trial wastewater treatment plant; water supply treatment; or air pollution control facility.