Previous Week's EHS Reg Question & Answer
by Paul Martin and John Slemmer
Last updated on January 21, 2005
Scroll down to view past weeks' questions and answers.
| These brief synopses of the EHS regulations are intended to provide a weekly review of a currently relevant topic of interest to environmental, health & safety managers. If you have a question or subject that you would like addressed, please contact us describing it to us.: | 
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- Additional descriptions in Item I. are not considered to be in association with the basic description.
SUBJECT:
Nickel-Cadmium Batteries and Phase IV Requirements
QUESTION:
The Phase IV rule of the Land Disposal Restrictions (LDR) became effective on August 24, 1998, and required among other things, the application of underlying hazardous constituents (UHCs) for the metal codes D004 through D011. Does this mean that nickel-cadmium batteries characterized as D006 hazardous waste must now meet the UHC standards found at 40 CFR 268.48?
ANSWER:
Per 40 CFR 268.40, "Applicability of Treatment Standards", and the Table, "Treatment Standards for Hazardous Wastes", nickel-cadmium batteries are a specific subcategory for D006 hazardous wastes. The current Phase IV treatment standard for non-wastewater nickel-cadmium batteries is thermal recovery of metals via industrial furnaces, i.e., RTHRM. Treatment standards for UHCs do not apply. Then per the above table prior to the Phase IV rule the treatment standard was also RTHRM and UHCs did not apply. Therefore the Phase IV rule did not change the LDR treatment standards for nickel- cadmium batteries.
A review of both tables for generic D006 wastes that are not in the nickel-cadmium battery subcategory indicates that Phase IV made significant changes. The treatment standard for nonwastewater non-nickel-cadmium battery wastes prior to Phase IV was 1.0 mg/l TCLP. Following Phase IV the treatment standard was reduced to 0.11 mg/l TCLP and treatment standards for UHCs became applicable.
SUMMARY:
- LDR treatment standards for D006 nickel-cadmium batteries have not changed with the promulgation of the Phase IV rule;
- The LDR treatment standard remains recovery of metals via industrial furnaces, i.e. RTHRM;
- LDR treatment standards for D006 nonwastewaters not in the nickel-cadmium battery subcategory have changed due to the Phase IV rule from 1.0 mg/l TCLP to 0.11 mg/l TCLP and meet applicable UHC treatment standards.
Answer:
Per 40 CFR 262.11, "Hazardous Waste Determination", a person who generates a solid waste must determine if that waste is a hazardous waste using the following method:
- Is the waste excluded from regulation;
- Is the waste a listed hazardous waste;
- For purposes of LDR compliance, or if the waste is not listed, is the waste a characteristic waste, and;
- If the waste is determined to be hazardous refer to, among other Parts, Part 268 for possible land disposal restrictions.
Per the above method only materials that meet the definition of a hazardous waste are subject to the land disposal restrictions. Since the customer's waste passed the TCLP test for characteristic mercury the material is a nonhazardous waste and therefore not subject to any LDR standards. Nothing in RCRA would preclude this material from direct landfill in a hazardous or nonhazardous landfill.
40 CFR 262.11 Hazardous waste determination.
A person who generates a solid waste, as defined in 40 CFR 261.2, must determine if that waste is a hazardous waste using the following method:
(a) He should first determine if the waste is excluded from regulation under 40 CFR 261.4.
(b) He must then determine if the waste is listed as a hazardous waste in Subpart D of 40 CFR Part 261.
NOTE: Even if the waste is listed, the generator still has an opportunity under 40 CFR 260.22 to demonstrate to the Administrator that the waste from his particular facility or operation is not a hazardous waste.
(c) For purposes of compliance with 40 CFR part 268, or if the waste is not listed in subpart D of 40 CFR part 261, the generator must then determine whether the waste is identified in subpart C of 40 CFR part 261 by either:
(1) Testing the waste according to the methods set forth in Subpart C of 40 CFR Part 261, or according to an equivalent method approved by the Administrator under 40 CFR 260.21; or
(2) Applying knowledge of the hazard characteristic of the waste in light of the materials or the processes used.
(d) If the waste is determined to be hazardous, the generator must refer to parts 261, 264, 265, 266, 268, and 273 of this chapter for possible exclusions or restrictions pertaining to management of the specific waste.
[45 FR 33142, May 19, 1980, as amended at 45 FR 76624, Nov. 19, 1980; 51 FR 40637, Nov. 7, 1986; 55 FR 22684, June 1, 1990; 56 FR 3877, Jan. 31, 1991; 60 FR 25492, May 11, 1995]
| Subject: | EPA Withdrawal of Cyanide and Sulfide Reactivity Guidance |
| Question:
| A previous One Page Training basically stated that sulfide bearing wastes were considered reactive hazardous wastes if total amenable sulfides exceeded 500 mg/kg. This numerical standard was based upon an EPA memo dated July 12, 1985. Is this guidance still valid or has the EPA issued new information concerning sulfide and cyanide bearing wastes and the definition of reactivity? |
Answer:
| Yes, they have. An EPA memo dated April 21, 1998, states that EPA is withdrawing the July 12, 1985 guidance concerning reactive sulfides and cyanides. The withdrawal is based upon concerns about the effectiveness of this guidance in evaluating the hazards posed by sulfide- and cyanide-bearing wastes. Prior to this withdrawal a material was considered a reactive hazardous waste if it contained 500 mg/kg of total amenable sulfides or 250 mg/kg of total amenable cyanides. The July 1985 guidance also provided a laboratory test method for evaluating these wastes and that test method was incorporated into Chapter 7 of SW-846, the Agency's overall guidance document for testing wastes. The April 21, 1998, memo effectively withdraws the July 1985 guidance and states that a formal announcement of the withdrawal will be published in the Federal Register as soon as feasible. The April 1998 memo basically states that until revised guidance is developed the RCRA language for reactive wastes at 40 CFR 261.23(a)(5) applies. Of course, this language is famously ambiguous. The narrative of this regulation specifies that human health and the environment must not be endangered by evolved toxic gases when these wastes are exposed to pH conditions between 2 and 12.5. If so, the wastes is a reactive hazardous waste with the EPA waste code of D003.The memo goes on to state: "We understand that withdrawal of the guidance today means that waste generators that have relied on this guidance in the past will, in the near term, have somewhat greater uncertainty about determining the regulatory status of their cyanide- and sulfide-bearing wastes. However, the Agency believes that generators of sulfide- and cyanide-bearing wastes can recognize the acute toxicity of sulfides and cyanides without relying on the test in the guidance. Where wastes with high concentrations of soluble sulfides and cyanides are being managed, generators have relied on their knowledge of the waste to classify them as D003. The Agency expects that generators should continue to classify their high concentration sulfide- and cyanide-bearing wastes as hazardous based upon the narrative standard." |
| Summary:
|
|
- In the mean time, generators must review 40 CFR 261.23(a)(5) and use generator's knowledge to determine if their sulfide- or cyanide-bearing waste are D003 reactive hazardous wastes.
40 CFR 261.23 Characteristic of reactivity.
(a) A solid waste exhibits the characteristic of reactivity if a representative sample of the waste has any of the following properties:
(1) It is normally unstable and readily undergoes violent change without detonating.
(2) It reacts violently with water.
(3) It forms potentially explosive mixtures with water.
(4) When mixed with water, it generates toxic gases, vapors or fumes in a quantity sufficient to present a danger to human health or the environment.
(5) It is a cyanide or sulfide bearing waste which, when exposed to pH conditions between 2 and 12.5, can generate toxic gases, vapors or fumes in a quantity sufficient to present a danger to human health or the environment.(6) It is capable of detonation or explosive reaction if it is subjected to a strong initiating source or if heated under confinement.
(7) It is readily capable of detonation or explosive decomposition or reaction at standard temperature and pressure.
(8) It is a forbidden explosive as defined in 49 CFR 173.51, or a Class A explosive as defined in 49 CFR 173.53 or a Class B explosive as defined in 49 CFR 173.88.
(b) A solid waste that exhibits the characteristic of reactivity has the EPA Hazardous Waste Number of D003.
[45 FR 33119, May 19, 1980, as amended at 55 FR 22684, June 1, 1990]
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