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Citation: 45 Fed. Reg. 33096 1980 

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Federal Register / Vol. 45, No. 98 / Monday, May 19, 1980 / Rules and Regulations

whenever it exhibits one or more of the

characteristics. As a practical matter,

this means that persons handling solid

wastes must determine whether they

meet the characteristics whenever the

management of the solid wastes would

potentially be subject to EPA's Part 262

through 265 regulations.

The following examples illustrate how

this provision would operate in practice:

* The ABC Company stores waste

acid on-site in cofitainers prior to

transport off-site for disposal. The

company must determine whether the

acid meets Subpart C characteristics,

when it is poured into the containers.

o The DEF Company pipes waste acid

into a tank, where it is neutralized by

adding lime. The company must

determine whether the acid meets

Subpart C characteristics when it enters

the neutralization tank. The

neutralization operation is a treatment

process.

The GHI Company pipes waste acid

into a tank truck for transport to an offsite treatment facility. The company

must determine whether the acid meets

Subpa;t C characteristics when it enters

the tank truck.

* The JKL Company produces a

wastewater which is piped into a

surface impoundment, for the purposes

of treatment prior to point-source

discharge into surface waters. During

treatment a sludge forms. This sludge is

periodically dredged from the

impoundment and disposed of. The

company must determine (1] whether

the wastewater meets Subpart C

characteristics when it enters the

impoundment and (2] whether the

sludge meets Subpart C characteristics

when it begins to accumulate on the

bottom of the impoundment.

In drafting paragraph (b), EPA has

attempted to cover the most common

types of waste generation and,

management scenarios. The Agency

recognizes, however, that some

companies may generate and handle

wastes-in ways not contemplated by

EPA and for which a strict application of

paragraph (b) would make no sense. We

would appreciate having those instances

brought to our attention so that we can

decide whether additional rulenraking or

issuing guidance is appropriate for

dealing with these situations.

3. When Does a Hazardous Waste

Cease to be.a Hazardous Waste? . Paragraphs (c) and (d) of this section

explain when a hazardous waste ceases

to be a hazardous waste and therefore is

no longer subject to Subtitle C

requirements. These are new provisions.

which have been added both in

response to comment and as a logical

outgrowth of paragraph (b).

Paragraph (c) provides that a

hazardous waste remains a hazardous

waste unless and until (1) it does not

exhibit any of the characteristics o

identified in Subpart C and (2) where

the waste is listed in Subpart D (or is a

mixture containing a waste listed in

Subpart D), the waste (or each of its

constitutent listed wastes) is also

excluded from paragraph (c) under the

rulemaking procedures outlined in

§ § 260.20 and 260.22. As a -practical

matter, this meang-that facilities which

store, dispose of or treat hazardous

waste must be considered hazardous

waste management facilities for as long

as they continue to contain hazardous

waste and that any wastes re'moved

from such facilities-including spills,

dis'charges or leaks-must be managed

as hazardous wastes.

EPA believes this is a very reasonable

and rational rule. Wastes are typically

stored for relatively short periods of

time. Although solids in the waste-may

settle and the volume of the waste may

be reduced by evaporation during this

period, major chemical or biological

changes affecting the hazardous

character of the waste are unlikely to

occur. Hazardous wastes which are

disposed of in a landfill are more likely

to undergo change (principally through

leaching and anaerobic degradation),

but pnly very slowly and over a long

period of time.

Hazardous wastes placed in treatment

facilities (including incinerators, surface.

impourldments and land treatment

facilities) will, by definition, change

character. However, treatment does not

necessarily "render tal waste

nonhazardous" (Section 1004(34)). It

may only make it "amenable for

recovery, amenable for storage or

reduced in volume"; or it may only

eliminate one of several hazardous

properties. Moreover, even in those

cases where treatment does ultimately

render a waste "nonhazardous", the

waste will generally have been

hazardous during part or all of the

treatment process.

Paragraph (c) establishes a similar

rule with respect to solid wastes'

generated by storage, disposal and

treatment-including leachate and

treatment residues such as sludges and

incinerator ash. Here, too, it is

reasonable to assume that these wastes,

which are derived from hazardous

wastes, are themselves hazardous.

Leachate is produced by the

percolation of liquid through-wastes; it

typically contains solubilized heavy

metals and organic materials and is

virtually always highly toxic. Treatment

residues, by definition, contain waste

constituents which' were removed during

treatment or which were not completely

destroyed by treatment. Sludges from

wastewater treatment typically contain

concentrated amounts of the toxic

substances which were in the

wastewater. Ash from the incineration

of hazardous wastes often contains

heavy metals and, if combustion is not

complete, undestroyed toxic organic

materials.

This is the best regulatory approach

we can devise at this time for dealing

with solid wastes generated by

hazardous waste management facilities,

We are not now in a position to

prescribe waste-specific treatment

standards which would identify those

processes which do and do not render

wastes or treatment residues

nonhazardous. To list treatment

residues on case-by-case basis would be

an enormous job, and one ivhich we

think, given the reasons outlined above,

is unnecessary.

This approach obviously is not

without deficiencies. For example, one

effect of treating wastes containing

synthetic organic materials may be to

create new hazardous constituents in

the waste or treatment residue. This

regulation obviously does not deal with

those new constituents. It also does not

cover run-off from hazardous waste

facilities on the theory that the water in

precipitation run-off in many cases may

not have had sufficient contact with the

waste to solubilize waste constituents.

(Of course if collected, run-off would be

a solid waste and, if it exhibited any of

the characteristics, would have to be

managed as a hazardous waste). For

purposes of future rulemaking, we would

be interested in any suggestions the

public has for dealing with these issues.

D. Section 261.4 (Exclusions)

EPA's proposed Section 3001

regulations identified a number of

wastes which would not be subject to

Subtitle C requirements because they

were either excluded from the statutory

definition of solid waste (§ 250.11(a)(7)),

not intended by Congress to be

regulated under Subtitle C (§ 250.10(d)(2) (i) and (ii)), or subject to regulation

under other EPA statutes

(§ 250.10(d)(2)(iii)).

EPA received a number of comments

on these proposed exclusions. Some

commenters simply urged EPA to clarify

which wastes were covered by each of

the exclusions. Others challenged EPA's

justification for some of its proposed

exclusions. Still others contended that

additional wastes should be exempted

from regulation based on legislative

history or an alleged lack of

demonstrated harm to human health or

the environment.

33096

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