What is the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)?

This blog entry provides an overview of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act as it has to do with EPA authority and compliance. Q&As include:

1. What is the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act? 

2. What’s the difference between the EPA and the RCRA?

3. What is the definition of a RCRA hazardous waste?

4. Are state environmental regulations the same as EPA regulations?

5. Do individual states and the RCRA agree about what constitutes a hazardous waste?

6. How else do EPA authority and compliance rules vary from state to state? 

7. Where can you get help understanding RCRA requirements?

1. What is the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act?

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is the primary law governing the disposal of solid and hazardous waste in the United States (see source). It authorizes the EPA to develop “regulations, guidance, and policies” for controlling hazardous waste from “cradle-to-grave,” including its generation, transportation, treatment, storage, and hazardous waste disposal (see source).

2. What’s the difference between the EPA and the RCRA?

Effectively nothing. The initialism “RCRA” is often used interchangeably with “EPA.” The difference—albeit picayune—is that “RCRA” refers to “congressional intent” (aka, “the spirit of the law”) while EPA regulations accommodate that intent via explicit, legally enforceable requirements for waste management.

Those regulations—by the way— are conveniently available for your consideration as Parts 239 through 282 of Part 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Should that be too opaque for your bedtime leisure reading, you can visit the RCRA Tools and Resources webpage to find RCRA guidance and policy directives.

However, if you need advice interpreting RCRA or EPA or whatever-you-call-them regulations, unless you’re conversant in environmental law, it’s crucial that you get expert advice rather than go it alone.

3. What is the definition of a RCRA hazardous waste?

A waste is deemed RCRA hazardous if it falls into one of three categories:

1. Listed wastes. There are more than 500 substances deemed harmful to human health and/or the environment if proper waste management is not carried out. They are published in the Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR Part 261) across four separate lists. Ergo, “listed waste.” 

2. Acutely hazardous wastes. These are listed wastes that are so dangerous as to be fatal even in low doses (E.g., arsenic).

3. Characteristic wastes. If a waste doesn’t appear on an EPA list, it might nonetheless be considered hazardous for one or more of its “characteristics.” These are:

• • Ignitability—it catches fire under certain conditions. E.g., certain paints, paint cleaners, degreasers, or solvents. 

  • Corrosiveness—it’s a significant acid or base. E.g., rust removers, certain cleaning fluids, or battery acid.

  • Reactivity—it tends to explode or release toxic fumes if heated, mixed with water, or pressurized. E.g., certain cyanides or sulfide-bearing wastes. 

  • Toxicity—it’s harmful or fatal if ingested or absorbed or leaches into the soil or ground water when disposed of on land. E.g. wastes containing cadmium, lead, or mercury.

4. Are state environmental regulations the same as EPA regulations?

That would be nice. However, individual states have the power to adopt regulations that are more stringent than EPA authority and compliance rules—and it’s not unusual for them to do so. This is because the RCRA directs the EPA to delegate primary responsibility for implementing federal hazardous waste regulations to the states.

Per the RCRA, states must meet this responsibility with programs that are consistent with EPA authority and compliance rules—and at least equally stringent. Thereby, the face of the RCRA is likely that of your state—not the federal government—so your regulatory burden is probably in excess of what you might read in the aforementioned Part 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

5. Do individual states and the RCRA agree about what constitutes hazardous waste?

Individual states can differ from EPA authority and compliance rules about what constitutes hazardous waste, as well as how professionals should handle it. 

Examples include industry-specific waste in a state where that industry is common; unique military waste in a state with a large military facility; or where the federal government allows certain waste to be placed in landfills, but some states do not. 

Also, different states might have different regulations about “lethality” or “severe toxicity” characteristics when determining if something is hazardous waste; or they might add to the characteristics already in place per the RCRA.

For example, a state might tighten the “corrosivity” characteristic by stipulating that otherwise benign materials require hazardous waste handling if they produce pH levels above a certain point when mixed with water (see source).   

Or individual states might make the “toxicity” characteristic stricter by adding to the list of identified contaminants, specifying maximum allowable concentrations, or creating an entirely new category of contaminants (unregulated elsewhere) that are locally deemed as “persistent and bioaccumulative toxins” (see source).

6. How else do EPA authority and compliance rules vary from state to state? 

Remember that per the RCRA, any combination of otherwise benign waste that includes a listed waste requires hazardous waste management and disposal specific to the “listed” hazardous waste. 

A major exception is mixtures where the constituent hazardous waste is only “listed” because of its ignitability, corrosivity, or reactivity—but no longer exhibits any of these characteristics. But beware: there are individual states that disallow this exception. Get expert advice to find out if your state or locality is one of them. 

Other differences abound, including but not limited to the following:

• Some states require annual as opposed to biennial hazardous waste management reports. 

• Notification of “regulated waste activity” might require state-specific paperwork in lieu of federal forms (see source).

• Time intervals between required accumulations might be tighter. 

• Central accumulation areas might be required for “unpermitted” hazmat generators, where the EPA requires them only for “permitted” generators.

7. Where can you get help understanding RCRA requirements?

While understanding EPA authority and compliance requirements is necessary for successful hazardous waste management, it is not sufficient. States can impose regulations that are more restrictive and severe than their RCRA counterparts, and they often do. 

Running afoul of such local requirements can be expensive, litigious, and time-consuming. So as in all things concerning hazardous waste disposal. 

And thank you for reading our blog!