Residual waste is nonhazardous industrial waste. It excludes certain coal mining wastes and wastes from normal farming activities. Pennsylvania businesses and industries generate at least 38 million tons of solid residual waste each year. A larger amount is generated in liquid or semi-liquid form.
Residual waste is composed of a wide variety of materials.
As the examples indicate, residual waste is highly diversified, both in type and in its potential to harm public health and the environment when improperly managed. Some residual waste components, such as food processing wastes, present relatively little risk. Others, such as some metal-containing wastes, present a high degree of risk. Residual waste does not include materials defined by law as hazardous. Nearly 400 facilities in Pennsylvania have DEP permits to process or dispose residual wastes.