S.K. Ong
CE 529 Hazardous Waste Management
Identification of Wastes
Examples of How Solid Wastes Are Identified
1. Benzene from a storage tank spills on the ground and the owner decides not to clean up the
What is the status of the spilled benzene?
spill.
2. A facility uses chlorinated fluorocarbons as a solvent to clean circuit boards. After cleaning the
boards, the solvent can no longer be used to clean circuit boards because of contamination.
However, a nearby electroplating facility can use the chlorofluorocarbon solvent to clean metal parts
in the electroplating process. What is the status of the solvent after cleaning the circuit boards?
3. Sulfuric acid from metal finishing operations is used to produce fertilizer that is sold to the general
public. What is the status of the acid?
Examples of Listed Wastes
1. Potato starch has been treated with formaldehyde as a preservative. Formaldehyde is identified
as hazardous waste U122. Is the potato starch, when discarded also a listed hazardous waste
designated as U122?
2. An airplane is used to spray pesticides over farm fields. The pesticide if discarded is a U-waste
(U060). At the end of the day, the plane is washed to remove pesticide from the plane exterior
and the washwater is collected. Is this washwater also considered to be U060?
3. A mercury thermometer manufacturer periodically determines that a batch of mercury that was
used to produce thermometers did not meet specifications, causing the thermometers to be
inaccurate. The manufacturer reclaims the mercury by putting it through a purification process,
and reuses the mercury to produce new thermometers. What is the EPA ID number for
discarded chemical products of mercury? What is the status of the mercury being reclaimed?
4. If the manufacturer produces a batch of inaccurate thermometers and decides that they must be
discarded? Are the thermometers a listed waste?
Examples of "Derived from" and "Mixture" rule
1. For example 3 above (listed wastes). Assume that the reclamation of the mercury produces some
residue with some mercury in it which is eventually discarded. Is the residue a listed
waste?
2. A wastewater stream contains a mixture of water and spent acetone solvent (F003). How is this
mixture regulated?
3. A generator produces a waste in powder form that exhibits the toxicity characteristics for heavy
metals. The waste is stored in an accumulation tank pursuant to 262.34. When the tank is partially
full, the generator pours in sand and makes a homogeneous mixture that no longer exhibits the
toxicity characteristics. How is the waste regulated?
4. A company uses methylene chloride to remove varnish from pieces of furniture. The varnish is
stripped off in clumps and is collected in a container with the methylene chloride. The clumps
of varnish are removed from the methylene chloride which is reused. This process is repeated
until the methylene chloride is spent and discarded. Are the clumps of varnish regulated when
disposed of?