EPA Adds to List of Categorical Non-waste Fuels

In the Federal Register today, US EPA posted a Final Rule to add three non-hazardous secondary materials to its list of categorical non-waste fuels found at 40 CFR 241.4(a).

The new entries to the list of categorical non-waste fuels are:

• Construction and demolition wood processed from construction and demolition debris according to best management practices;
• Paper recycling residuals generated from the recycling of recovered paper, paperboard, and corrugated containers and combusted by paper recycling mills whose boilers are designed to burn solid fuel; and
• Creosote-treated railroad ties that are processed and then combusted in certain units.

First finalized in 2011 and updated in 2013, the Non-Hazardous Secondary Materials (NHSM) Rule establishes standards and procedures for identifying whether non-hazardous secondary materials are solid wastes when used as fuels or ingredients in combustion units. 

Making a solid waste determination is a critical step to managing hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act—to be a hazardous waste, a material must first be a solid waste. When RCRA solid wastes are burned in a combustion unit, the unit must meet Clean Air Act Section 129 emissions standards. When a material that is not a solid waste is burned in combustion unit, the unit must meet Clean Air Act Section 112 emissions standards.


By categorically identifying these three materials as “not solid waste” by adding them to the list at 40 CFR 241.4(a), EPA will save generators from having to make solid waste determinations for these added materials in order to identify the Clean Air Act standards that apply. 

The new hazardous waste rule is effective March 9, 2016.

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