In the U.S., the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the generation, transport, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. The next time you can’t sleep, check out 40 CFR 261 through 265 to see the actual rules. The table below summarizes the rules for facilities who generate hazardous waste. The rules are complicated because they are different for three different categories of facilities based on the amount of hazardous waste they produce. It’s reasonable for the rules for facilities that treat and dispose of hazardous waste be complicated – that is a high-risk activity and these facilities know the rules because that is their whole business model. But many facilities who simply generate hazardous waste and send it to a waste management company do not have the capacity to study byzantine environmental regulations; for that reason, I think three layers of complexity for generator requirements is excessive.
| Very Small Quantity Generators | Small Quantity Generators | Large Quantity Generators | |
| HW Generation (Kg per Month) | <100 <1 for acute HW | Between 100 and 1,000 <1 for acute HW | >1,000 >1 for acute HW |
| On-Site Accumulation Limit (kg) | 1,000 | 6,000 | No limit |
| Storage Time Limit (Days) | No limit | 180 (or 270 if the waste must be transported more than 200 miles) | 90 |
| Manifest Requirement for Shipping HW | None (may ship HW on a Bill of Lading) | Formal manifest and EPA ID number required | Formal manifest and EPA ID number required |
| Disposal Options | Permitted TSDF or a designated facility authorized to handle hazardous waste | Permitted TSDF or recycler | Permitted TSDF or recycler |
| Recordkeeping | Must document and track waste generation and management practices. | Must keep records of hazardous waste manifests, annual reports, and any waste analysis performed. | Must keep records of hazardous waste manifests, annual reports, any waste analysis performed, biennial reports, and personnel training records. |
| Emergency Planning | None | Required to have a designated emergency coordinator, post emergency contact information, and maintain basic emergency response procedures. | Written contingency plan, a designated emergency coordinator, and employee training on hazardous waste management and emergency response. |
The reason for the differences between generator categories is to reduce the burden on the smaller facilities, while maintaining lots of stringent requirements for the larger facilities that are more likely to impact human health and the environment. Most of the environmental damage cases dealing with hazardous waste generators are from illegal disposal of large volumes of hazardous waste or disasters (e.g., natural disasters, fires, or major equipment failures). It was not uncommon in the early days of environmental regulation to find abandoned facilities full of drums of hazardous waste, but that sort of issue is much less common today. Recognizing that illegal waste disposal and disasters are the main issues to address, it seems unnecessarily complicated to have three categories of generators. This creates a lot of confusion for the generators, and especially the small businesses. For example, as an inspector, someone who was confused about their legal obligations would ask me what they were required to do with their hazardous waste, and first we would have to calculate the generation rates of all their hazardous waste streams before I could actually answer their question. Wouldn’t it make sense to just have one set of rules for most hazardous waste generators that are making more than one drum of waste per month, and exempt everyone else from most of the rules? These are the rules that I would propose:
- Ship hazardous waste to a permitted TSDF or recycler every 180 days (or 270 days if it is transported more than 200 miles), using a Formal Manifest and EPA ID.
- Maintain signed manifests, annual reports, waste analysis records, biennial reports, and personnel training records (including emergency response training).
- Keep a written contingency plan with a designated emergency coordinator.
Any facility generating less than 1,000 kg of hazardous waste or 1 kg of acute hazardous waste per month would only have to meet three basic standards:
- Show that they are generating less than the threshold amount.
- Dispose of their hazardous waste at least once per year.
- Ship hazardous waste on a bill of lading to any facility authorized to manage it.
I think this would be radically simpler for everyone without inviting any new significant environmental harm. I also think these are the kind of small and simple steps that we can take to simplify our regulations, so that we don’t become overwhelmed by the scope of the challenge. Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.