Hazardous Waste Recycling Regulations

Free HCS/HazCom 2012 Standards Guide

Written by Steve Hudgik February 2013

When a material is recycled, its classification as a solid waste, and potentially as a regulated hazardous waste, depends on two factors:

1. The type of material that is being recycled.
2. The type of recycling.

The EPA has tailored the level of regulation to be in alignment with the actual hazard of the recycling process. As a result recycled hazardous waste may:

• Not be subject to RCRA hazardous waste regulation. This is divided into three subcategories:
• Recycled materials specifically excluded from the definition of solid waste.
• Recycled materials that are solid wastes but not hazardous wastes.
• Solid and hazardous wastes not subject to hazardous waste regulation when recycled.
• Be subject to alternative regulatory controls.
• Be subject to full hazardous waste regulation.

The waste generator is responsible for determining if their waste is exempt, subject to reduced requirements, or subject to full regulation.

Most recycled hazardous wastes are subject to full hazardous waste regulation. This means that handlers of these recyclable materials are subject to the same regulations as handlers who are managing hazardous wastes prior to disposal.

Materials Not Subject to RCRA Hazardous Waste Regulation

Some materials are excluded from the definition of solid waste, and some solid wastes are excluded from the definition of hazardous waste. In addition, some materials defined as hazardous waste are exempt from regulation when recycled, or may be covered by alternative standards.

Hazardous Waste Recycling Regulations:

Materials Excluded From The Definition Of Solid Waste

The following materials, when recycled, are excluded from the definition of solid waste. This means they are not subject to RCRA Subtitle C hazardous waste regulation, unless they are accumulated speculatively:

• Pulping Liquors, also known as black liquor, is as material reclaimed in a kraft recovery furnace and then reused in the pulping process.
• Condensates from Kraft Mill Steam Strippers. These are condensates derived from the overhead gases from kraft mill steam strippers used to comply with 40 CFR 63.446(e). This exemption applies only to combustion at the mill that generated the condensates.
• Spent Sulfuric Acid. This is spent sulfuric acid that was used to produce virgin sulfuric acid.
• Closed-Loop Recycling. This covers secondary materials that are reclaimed and returned to the process that generated them. This describes a closed loop system, and it is not regulated if the following are true:
• reclamation does not involve controlled flame combustion.
• the secondary materials are not accumulated for over twelve months.
• the reclaimed material is not used to produce a fuel.
• the reclaimed materials is not used to produce products that are used in a manner constituting disposal.
• Spent Wood Preservatives. This exemption also covers waste water containing spent preservatives. They are exempt provided that:
• the reclaimed materials are reused for their original purpose.
• the facility satisfies the following five conditions
• The waste waters and spent wood preserving solutions are reused on-site for their original intended purpose in the production process.
• Prior to reuse, the waste waters and spent wood preserving solutions are managed such as to prevent their release to either land or groundwater.
• Equipment used to recycle waste waters or spent wood preserving solutions can be verified as preventing releases.
• Any drip pad used to recycle waste waters, or spent wood preserving solutions, must comply with the standards in part 265, subpart W.
• Prior to starting recycling the plant owner or operator prepares a one-time notification stating that the plant intends to claim this exclusion.
• Coke By-Product Wastes. This covers some coke production by-products that are recycled to coke ovens, or to the tar recovery process as a feedstock to produce coal tar, or mixed with coal tar prior to the tar's sale or refining. This exclusion is contingent on there being no land disposal of the wastes from the point they are generated to the point they are recycled.
• Splash Condenser Dross Residue. This is non-waste water splash condenser dross residue from the treatment of K061 in high temperature metals recovery units, provided, if shipped, it is shipped in drums and not deposited on the land before recovery.
• Hazardous Oil-Bearing Secondary Materials and Recovered Oil from Petroleum Refining Operations when these are recycled back to the petroleum refining process, unless the material is placed on the land.
• Processed Scrap Metal. This exclusion includes scrap metal, processed scrap metal, unprocessed home scrap metal, and unprocessed prompt scrap metal that is being recycled.
• Shredded Circuit Boards provided they are stored in containers that will prevent any release to the environment prior to recovery. They also must not have mercury switches, mercury relays, nickel-cadmium batteries or lithium batteries.
• Comparable Fuels or comparable syngas fuels, that meet the requirements of 40 CFR 261.38.
• Mineral Processing Spent Materials. These are spent materials (other than certain specified hazardous wastes) generated within the primary mineral processing industry from which minerals, acids, cyanide, water, or other materials are recovered by mineral processing or by beneficiation..
• Petrochemical Recovered Oil from an associated organic chemical manufacturing facility, where the oil is to be recycled back to the petroleum refining process, provided that the oil is hazardous only because it exhibits the characteristic of ignitability, or in the case of benzene toxicity.
• Spent Caustic Solutions from Petroleum Refining liquid treating processes used as a feedstock to produce cresylic or naphthenic acid.
• Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs), includes used, intact or broken cathode ray tubes (CRTs), and glass removed from CRTs.
• Hazardous Secondary Materials
• used to make zinc fertilizers, and zinc fertilizers made from recycled hazardous secondary materials.
• generated and reclaimed under the control of the generator.
• transferred off-site for reclamation.

Hazardous Waste Recycling Regulations:

Solid Waste Recycled Materials That Are Not Hazardous Wastes

The following materials, when recycled, are excluded from the definition of hazardous waste and are therefore not subject to RCRA hazardous waste regulation:

• Agricultural Waste - Solid wastes resulting from growing and harvesting agricultural crops or raising animals, including animal manures, which are returned to the soils as fertilizer.
• Spent Chlorofluorocarbon Refrigerants - Used chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants reclaimed for future use, that comes from heat transfer equipment such as:
• mobile air conditioning systems
• mobile refrigeration systems
• industrial air conditioning
• industrial refrigeration systems
• Used Oil Filters - Non-terne plated used oil filters that are not mixed with other wastes, if the oil filters have been gravity hot-drained.
• Used Oil Distillation Bottoms - Used oil re-refining distillation bottoms that are used as feedstock to manufacture asphalt products.

Hazardous Waste Recycling Regulations:

Solid And Hazardous Wastes That Are Not Regulated When Recycled

The following materials are hazardous wastes, but they are not subject to regulation when recycled:

• Industrial ethyl alcohol
• Scrap metal
• Waste-derived fuels from refining processes
• Two types of petroleum refinery wastes
• Unrefined hazardous waste fuel, produced at a petroleum refinery from oil-bearing hazardous wastes, that is introduced into the refining process after the distillation step, or reintroduced into a process that does not include distillation.
• Oil that is recovered from hazardous waste at a petroleum refinery and burned as a fuel.

Hazardous Waste Recycling Regulations:

Materials Subject to Alternative Standards

Several types of materials are subject to alternative waste management standards for collection or recycling:

• Universal Waste regulations include batteries, pesticides, lamps (e.g., fluorescent bulbs), and mercury-containing equipment such as thermostats.
• Used Oil includes petroleum-based or synthetic oil that has been used. 
• Recyclable Materials Used in a Manner Constituting Disposal. What this means is that the recyclable material has been placed on the land. An example would be asphalt that includes petroleum-refining wastes as an ingredient. To be placed on the land, waste-derived products must:
• be made for the general public's use
• have undergone a chemical reaction so as to be inseparable by physical means
• meet applicable land disposal restrictions treatment standards.
• Materials Utilized for Precious Metal Recovery. This is the recycling and recovery of precious metals such as  gold, silver, platinum, palladium, iridium, osmium, rhodium and ruthenium from hazardous waste.
• Spent Lead-Acid Batteries Being Reclaimed. Persons who generate, transport, regenerate, collect, and store spent lead-acid batteries prior to reclamation, but do not perform the actual reclamation, are not subject to hazardous waste regulation.
• Hazardous Waste Burned in Boilers and Industrial Furnaces. The process of recycling hazardous waste by burning it for energy recovery may pose significant air emission hazards. Therefore, EPA established specific operating standards for units burning hazardous wastes for energy recovery.