1. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
Purpose
To minimize the present and future threat to human health and the environment by regulating the handling of hazardous waste
Compliance
Required of any party that generates, transports, stores, or disposes of solid and hazardous waste
Implementation
The program is implemented by the EPA
States
With EPA approval, some states implement and manage solid and hazardous waste management programs in lieu of the federal RCRA program

2. Cradle-to-Grave
A term used to describe the intent of the RCRA to control hazardous wastes from their creation (cradle) to their disposal (grave)

3. Solid Waste
Broadly defined in the RCRA as any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous materials resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural activities, and from community activities
The definition does not include solid or dissolved materials in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under section 402 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, or source, special nuclear, or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended

4. Hazardous Waste
“. . . a solid waste, or combination of solid wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may:
Cause, or significantly contribute to, an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible illness; or
Pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed”

5. Hazardous Waste (cont.)
The EPA has exempted, among other materials
household waste
agricultural wastes returned to the soil as fertilizer
mining overburden returned to the mine site
utility wastes from coal combustion
oil and natural gas exploration drilling waste
wastes from the extraction, beneficiation, and processing of ores and minerals, including coal
cement kiln dust wastes
arsenic-treated wood wastes generated by end users of such wood
some chromium-bearing wastes

6. EPA Lists
Lists developed by the EPA assigning a number to various types of specific hazardous wastes
F list
Contains hazardous wastes from nonspecific sources (a source not particular to a specific industry or manufacturing process)
K list
Contains hazardous wastes from specific sources (a particular type of industry or manufacturing process)
P list
Contains commercial chemical products that, when discarded, are deemed acutely hazardous
U list
Contains commercial chemical waste products that are toxic and, therefore, hazardous when discarded
Delisting
When the waste generated by the treatment of a hazardous waste does not exhibit any of the characteristics for which the untreated waste was deemed hazardous, the residue waste may be delisted by the EPA
Effect of delisting
to remove many of the requirements placed on the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, or disposal of the delisted waste

7. Characteristics of Hazardous Waste
Ignitability
“[C]apable during handling of starting a fire or exacerbating a fire once started” [40 C.F.R ]
Corrosivity
May escape the container because its capable of corroding it; wastes at either the high or low end of the pH scale (high on the acid scale or high on the base scale)
Reactivity
Shows signs of being extremely unstable and the characteristic of reacting violently or exploding during handling or management
Toxicity
Under mismanagement conditions, likely to leach hazardous concentrations of certain toxic constituents into groundwater

8. Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP)
The method by which the toxicity of a material is analyzed
In a laboratory, the material being tested is mixed with an acetic acid solution for a specific period of time
The acetic solution is then checked for certain heavy metals and organic compounds
If the compounds or heavy metals are detected in the solution in quantities greater than the limits prescribed in the RCRA, the material will be considered a hazardous waste due to its toxicity

9. Mixture Rule
A rule holding that any nonhazardous waste that is mixed with a hazardous waste becomes a part of the hazardous waste due to the fact that such mixing has occurred
Whenever this happens, the mixture is deemed to be a hazardous waste unless it is given an exemption

10. Mixture Rule (cont.) Exemptions
apply only when the mixture in question results from the usual waste management process or production
granted if
a mixture of hazardous and solid waste does not exhibit the same hazardous waste characteristic as the portion of the waste mixture deemed “hazardous” due to its exhibiting that characteristic
a mixture contains wastewater and its hazardous constituents are regulated under the CWA
a mixture consists of some discarded chemical product resulting from extremely minor losses during manufacturing operations
When the mixture of wastes results from intentional dilution, the mixing may constitute treatment and may not qualify for an exemption

11. Derived-From Rule
Residue from the treatment of listed hazardous wastes is considered hazardous waste regardless of whether the resulting residue is, in fact, hazardous
The residue from characteristic hazardous wastes is considered hazardous only when the residue exhibits a hazardous waste characteristic
Exemptions

12. Contained-In Rule
Material that is contaminated with hazardous waste is also regulated as hazardous waste
Types of material that often fall into this rule
Water
Soil
Debris

13. Recycling and Reclamation
Types of recycling and reclamation activities regulated by the RCRA
Recycling that constitutes land disposal
Burning (incineration) to recover energy
Reclamation
Speculative accumulation
Materials that are considered solid wastes when they are recycled
Spent materials
Listed and characteristic sludges
Listed and characteristic by-products
Commercial chemical products
Scrap metal