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14 Treatment, Storage, and

Disposal Facility Requirements

E’en from the tomb the voice of nature cries,
E’en in our ashes live their wonted fires.
Thomas Gray (1716–1771),
Elegy

14.1 INTRODUCTION
The generation and transportation aspects of hazardous waste management have been discussed to
this point. In the final phase of the cradle-to-grave management protocol under RCRA, hazardous
wastes will ultimately be treated and disposed. Treatment, storage, and disposal (TSD) technologies
embrace many diverse systems. Additionally, the technologies are constantly changing and improv-
ing. With this in mind, the regulatory requirements for TSD facilities (TSDFs)are much more exten-
sive as compared with those for generators and transporters. In this chapter, the regulatory
requirements under RCRA for TSDFs will be discussed in some detail. In subsequent chapters, spe-
cific practices for hazardous waste destruction and disposal are presented.
RCRA requires a Part B permit for the treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous waste at a
facility. The relevant terms are defined in 40 CFR 270.2 as follows:
Treatment: Any method, technique, or process, including neutralization, designed to change the
physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste so as to neutral-
ize such wastes, or so as to recover energy or material resources from the waste, or so as to render
such waste as nonhazardous, or less hazardous; safer to transport, store, or dispose of; or amenable
for recovery, amenable for storage, or reduced in volume.
Storage: The holding of hazardous waste for a temporary period, at the end of which the haz-
ardous waste is treated, disposed, or stored elsewhere.
Disposal: The discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any haz-
ardous waste into or on any land or water so that such hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may
enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including groundwater.
According to the U.S. EPA (2001), land disposal accounted for 69% of the management meth-
ods for hazardous wastes (not including wastewaters). The quantities managed by the land disposal
method include (U.S. EPA, 2001):
Deepwell or Underground injection 16.0 million tons
Landfill 1.4 million tons
Surface impoundment 705 thousand tons
Land treatment, application and farming 30 thousand tons
Thermal treatment accounted for 11% of the national nonwastewater management total.
Thermal treatment methods include:
Energy recovery 1.5 million tons
Incineration 1.5 million tons

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