Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Y
Defined as
Solid or
Hazardous?
Solid
waste?
N
N
Not RCRA
hazardous waste
Y
Y
N
Y
Listed
waste?
Delisted?
N
RCRA hazardous
waste
FIGURE 3.2 Questions in determining a hazardous waste.
(a) Is the Material a Solid Waste?
According to 40 CFR 261.2, a material must first be a solid waste before it is
classified as a hazardous waste. A solid waste is a waste that is discarded by being
either abandoned, inherently waste-like, a certain military munitions, or recycled.
They are described in detail as follows:
Abandoned waste. A material is considered abandoned if it is disposed
of, burned, or incinerated; or if it is accumulated, stored, or treated before
or in lieu of being abandoned.
Inherently waste-like waste. Some materials are considered to be inher-
ently waste-like for they are posing such a threat to human health and the
environment that they are always taken account of as solid waste. Inher-
ently waste-like waste consists of hazardous waste numbers F020-F023,
F026, and F028 when they are recycled in any manner.
Military munitions. Some ammunition products and components gener-
ated from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) or U.S. Armed Services
for national defense and security are defined as military munitions. Unused
or defective munitions are solid wastes when (1) disposed of, burned,
incinerated, or treated prior to disposal; (2) nonrecyclable or unusable; or
(3) used munitions if collected for storage, recycling, treatment, or dis-
posal.
Recycled waste. Materials that are recycled are a special subset of solid
waste. The definition is that, if a material is used or reused, reclaimed, or
used in a manner constituting disposal, burned for energy recovery, or
accumulated speculatively, it is recycled waste. 4 Some materials are no
longer solid wastes when recycled, while others are solid waste subject
to less-stringent regulatory controls. RCRA does not exempt all recycled
materials from the definition of solid waste, for some types of recycling
also pose threats to human health and the environment. The procedures
of how to determine a recycled waste to be solid waste are summarized
in Figure 3.3.
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