Manifesting State-specific Hazardous Waste for Interstate Shipments
Shipping hazardous waste between states can be more complex than it seems. Under Section 3006 of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), each state is authorized to oversee its own hazardous waste management regulatory program, as long as the state’s rules are at least as stringent as the Federal regulations. While most states simply adopt the Federal hazardous waste management rules, a handful of states set additional stricter standards. For example, California regulates some materials as a hazardous waste that the Federal regulations exclude; and Cal/EPA’s list of toxicity constituents is much longer than the Federal list in 40 CFR.
Differences like these make interstate shipments of hazardous waste problematic, especially when it comes to documenting your shipment on the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest, EPA Form 8700-22. This Manifest must accompany nearly all shipments of hazardous waste in the U.S. But what if a waste is hazardous in your state but not in the destination state, or vice versa? Is a Manifest required or not?
Example 1 – Shipping Regulated State-specific Waste Out of State
Let us consider a generator in California using cobalt to create magnetic metal alloys. The manufacturing process generates a by-product containing 100 ppm of cobalt. Because California regulates cobalt as a toxicity hazard at 80 ppm or above, a Manifest is required to ship this waste within the state. However, most states follow the Federal EPA rules, which do not regulate cobalt as a toxicity hazard at any concentration level. So if the generator chooses to ship the waste to another state, for example Utah, where cobalt is not regulated as hazardous, is a Manifest still required? The short answer is yes. To determine whether a Hazardous Waste Manifest is required for this shipment of cobalt-contaminated waste, the generator must check the hazardous waste regulations for his or her own state, as well as the requirements in the destination state and the Federal regulations. The California regulations state that “a generator who offers for transportation hazardous waste for disposal shall prepare a Manifest.” [22 CCR 66262.21(c)] Because cobalt is regulated as a hazardous waste in California, the generator must prepare a Manifest—regardless of which state the waste is being shipped to.
After fulfilling all current State requirements, the generator must check the destination state’s rules to ensure those regulations are met as well. Depending on which states are involved, the specific actions the generator must take will vary.
Shipping your waste to another state can have distinct advantages. However, it is critical to check the hazardous waste regulations in your state, the regulations of the receiving state, and any applicable Federal 40 CFR rules, to ensure your shipment is accepted.
Lion Members can review their states’ unique hazardous waste regulatory variations now with LionCasts at Lion.com! To view the LionCast for your state now, log in here and select “LionCasts” from the Members menu at the top of the page. Not a Lion Member? You can learn more about the benefits of Lion Memberships here.
Editor’s Note: Correction as of 10/2/2013 – An earlier version of this article stated that California does not recognize the exclusion for scrap metal recycling in its State DTSC regulations. This is incorrect; California does recognize the scrap metal recycling exclusion, which can be found at 22 CCR 66260.10 and 66261.6(a)(3)(B).
Tags: hazardous, hazmat shipping, manifests, RCRA, state rules, waste
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