1. CE 510 Hazardous Waste Engineering
Department of Civil Engineering
Southern Illinois University Carbondale
Instructor: Jemil Yesuf
Dr. L.R. Chevalier
Lecture Series 1:
Environmental Legislations and Regulations

2. Course Goals
Review the history and impact of environmental laws in the United States
Understand the terminology, nomenclature, and significance of properties of hazardous wastes and hazardous materials
Develop strategies to find information of nomenclature, transport and behavior, and toxicity for hazardous compounds
Elucidate procedures for describing, assessing, and sampling hazardous wastes at industrial facilities and contaminated sites
Predict the behavior of hazardous chemicals in surface impoundments, soils, groundwater and treatment systems
Assess the toxicity and risk associated with exposure to hazardous chemicals
Apply scientific principles and process designs of hazardous wastes management, remediation and treatment

3. Introduction to Approach
Sources
Pathways
Receptors
Industrial processes that generate hazardous waste
Types of contamination that results from their disposal

4. Introduction to Approach
Sources
Pathways
Receptors
MAIN EMPHASIS OF COURSE
Storage systems, soil, groundwater, air, water treatment systems
Quantitative problem solving
Provides the conceptual basis for understanding hazardous chemicals

5. Introduction to Approach
Sources
Pathways
Receptors
MAIN EMPHASIS OF COURSE
Partitioning
Volatilization
Abiotic and biotic transformation

6. Introduction to Approach
Sources
Pathways
Receptors
Humans and wildlife
Fundamentals of toxicology
Risk Assessment

7. Generation of HW High Standard of Living
Waste that may be persistent, toxic, flammable corrosive or explosive
COMPUTER
halogenated
solvents
AIRCRAFT
petroleum
solvents
heavy metals
PLASTICS
organic
solvents

8. Estimates of Amounts in US
30-60 million tons per year subject to federal regulations
Additional million tons per year regulated by state
These are conservative estimates – other sources predict 750 million tons per year
Even conservative estimates put the annual rate generated as 1 ton per year per person in the US

9. Definition of Hazardous Waste
Long or short-term toxicity to humans
Eco-toxicity
Flammability
Explosivity
Corrosivity

10. Pre-Regulatory Disposal Practices (prior to 1970’s)
Pesticide Rinse and Formulation Areas
Underground Storage Tanks
Pits, Ponds and Lagoons
Sanitary Landfills
Drum Storage Areas
Unlined Hazardous Waste Landfills
Midnight Dumping
Uncontrolled Incinerations
Students are responsible for reviewing

11. EPA Estimates of the Magnitude of Problem Prior to Landmark Legislation
50,000 Sites
60 million tons

12. Estimated Cost (billions of dollars)
Table 1.1 Potential Number of Hazardous Waste Sites and Associated Cleanup Costs
No. of Potential Sites
Estimated Cost (billions of dollars)
Superfund sites
60,000 50
Sites of RCRA cleanups
2,400 23
State funded cleanup sites
22,000 45
DOD sites
7,200
11-15
DOE sites
Not reported
66-110

13. Observed Releases from NPL Landfills to Water and Air
Table 1.2 Pathways of Releases of Hazardous Chemicals from National Priority List Landfills
Observed Releases from NPL Landfills to Water and Air 
Percent
Groundwater only 37
Groundwater and surface water 23
None observed 15
Surface water only 9
Groundwater, surface water, air 8
Groundwater and air 3
Surface water and air
Air only 2
48% of
US population receives drinking water from groundwater

14. Landmark Legislations
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 1976
Hazard and Solid Waste Amendment (HSWA), 1984
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA, Superfund), 1980
Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA) of 1986: from $1.8 in 1980 to $8.5 billion fund.

15. RCRA, 1976 Legislation that requires total documentation
Where waste is generated
Where waste is disposed
Has provisions for citizen actions
Significant funding cuts to EPA
Agency criticized by Congress for not carrying out mandates
Congress passed Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendment 1984 to strengthen the act

16. Primary Goals of RCRA & HSWA
Protect public health and the environment from hazardous and other solid waste through:
Hazardous waste management
Solid waste management
UST regulation
To preserve natural resources through resource recovery and conservation
Large portion of RCRA is definition of hazardous waste
Management goal of RCRA is to control HW from “cradle to grave”: Generators, transporters and TSD facilities.

17. Definition of a RCRA HW HWs are considered a subset of solid waste
Once a waste is defined as solid waste-next step is to determine if it is HW.
“a solid waste or combination of solid wastes, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics, may: 1) cause, or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible, or incapacitating reversible illness, or 2) pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, or disposed of, or otherwise managed.”

18. Exempted Waste Household waste
Agricultural waste returned to the ground
Mining overburden returned to the mine site
Utility wastes from coal combustion
Oil and gas exploration drilling waste
Wastes from the extraction and processing of ores and minerals
Cement kiln wastes
Arsenic-treated wood wastes generated by end users of such wood
Certain chromium bearing waste

19. Classification of HWs
If waste material is a solid waste and not exempt, list must be examined to assess if it is hazardous.
F list
Hazardous Waste from nonspecific sources
20 F classifications from F001-F029
Primarily from industrial processes
K List
Hazardous Waste from a specific source
87 K classifications
P + U List
Primarily commercial products
Also includes hazardous residues and spills
P list is acutely hazardous
U list is toxic

20. Class Exercise
Determine the classification (Industry and EPA Hazardous Waste Number and Hazard Code) for the following:
Waste Treatment sludge from the chemical conversion coating of aluminum
Acetone
Silver cyanide
(See Appendix A)

21. Class Exercise
Waste Treatment sludge from the chemical conversion coating of aluminum – F019 (T)
Acetone – U002 (I)
Silver cyanide – P104
NOTE: use of Hazardous Codes C, E, H, I, R, and T in tables

22. Additional Codes-Hazardous Waste Characteristics (Table 1.4)
Ignitability – D001
Corrosivity – D002
Reactivity – D003
Toxicity – D004-D043
Extraction Procedure – EP
Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure – TCLP
Prevents industry from simply diluting waste

23. Critical Path for determining if a waste is hazardous under RCRA
Solid Waste
Critical Path for determining if a waste is hazardous under RCRA
Yes
Exempt? No
Yes
F List No
Hazardous Waste
Characteristics
Yes
K List No No No
P + U List
Yes
Yes
Yes
Delisted
Hazardous
Waste
Non-hazardous
Waste No

24. Cradle-to-Grave Management
Generators
Generates over 1000 kg of HW per month
EPA form
Obtain an EPA identification number
Documents the generation of the waste
EPA form a
Mechanism for tracking the waste until it is disposed of
Form must accompany waste, and must be kept by all parties

25. CERCLA, 1980
A.k.a Superfund
Trust funded by taxes on the chemical and petroleum industries and provided to federal authority
funds and regulates cleanup of hazardous waste sites

26. Additional Aspects of CERCLA and SARA
Moves beyond cradle-to-grave management
Focused on past disposal sites
Broadened the definition of Hazardous Waste established by RCRA
Any chemical regulated under
Clean Air Act
Clean Water Act
Toxic Substance Control Act
RCRA
National Contingency Plan developed as blueprint for prioritized clean-up

27. Additional Legislature
Emergency Planning and Community Right-To-Know Act (1986)
Clean Water Act (1972)
Toxic Substance Control Act (1976)
Safe Drinking Water Act (1974)
Clean Air Act (1970)
More information about major environmental laws and regulations can be accessed at: :

28. Definitions
based on regulations, the most common working definitions of hazardous chemicals in the practice of hazardous waste management are
Hazardous waste – chemicals disposed of under RCRA
Hazardous substance – chemicals regulated under CERCLA
Hazardous materials – chemicals transported by truck, rail, air or pipeline under USDOT regulations

29. Summary of important points and concepts
Hazardous waste have been generated from essentially all industrial activities. Prior to the passage and promulgation of federal legislation in the late 1970s, hazardous waste were often disposed of improperly in pits, ponds, and lagoons, on surface soils and in landfills.
RCRA, passed in 1976, provides cradle-to-grave management of hazardous wastes, and was amended as HSWA in Hazardous waste generators, transporters, and treatment/storage/disposal facility operators have responsibilities to provide safeguards against improper hazardous waste disposal

30. Summary of important points and concepts
CERCLA, also know as Superfund, was passed in 1980 to provide a mechanism for the mitigation of chronic environmental damage, particularly the cleanup of contaminated sites. Amended in 1986, SARA
Definitions of hazardous chemicals are based on regulatory and administrative criteria. Hazardous waste are defined by RCRA, hazardous substances by CERCLA and hazardous materials by DOT regulations
The current estimate of hazardous waste generation is approximately 750 million tons per year in the US. Most of the waste is classified as corrosive, and can be treated by neutralization.

31. Summary of important points and concepts
The hazardous waste field is multidisciplinary and requires the expertise of environmental engineers, environmental chemists, microbiologists, soil scientists, toxicologists, hydrogeologists.
Hazardous waste professionals have a number of responsibilities, including site assessment, risk assessment, soil and groundwater remediation, RCRA TSD permitting, hazardous waste management, and hazardous waste treatment
Hazardous waste problems can be approached using the conceptual theme of sources, pathways and receptors.