Strategy:  Change the regulatory status of a listed hazardous waste to non-hazardous.

Candidates:  Ash, Refractory, Spent Lime, Spent Carbon, Scrubber Water, Baghouse Dust, Wastewater, Wastewater Treatment Sludges, Process Residue, etc.

Potential Cost Savings:  $50,000 to Greater than $1,000,000 per Year.

Facilities generate wastes that are often classified as hazardous under the regulations implementing the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (hereafter, RCRA). The management of hazardous waste remains subject to stringent and costly regulations from the point of generation through the ultimate point of disposal. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (hereafter, EPA) has a streamlined hazardous waste delisting petition process that has allowed facilities to greatly reduce their regulatory and financial burdens by reclassifying hazardous waste as non-hazardous waste, even in cases where the waste is derived from waste streams that carry multiple waste codes.

The RCRA regulations contain provisions that allow the petitioning of the Agency to exclude or “delist” a hazardous waste from the universe of regulated hazardous wastes. By delisting a hazardous waste, RCRA regulated facilities benefit by minimizing their waste management cost, liability, and regulatory burden.

To delist a hazardous waste, the facility must demonstrate to the Agency that the waste does not meet the criteria for which it was listed as hazardous, exhibit any characteristics of hazardous waste, or exhibit any other factor that could cause it to be hazardous. This demonstration must be supported by waste analysis data that accurately characterizes the physical and chemical composition of the waste. The Agency will review the delisting petition to determine if future management of the waste has the potential to threaten human health or the environment.