Available Now: 2023 Schedule of Hazmat & RCRA Training
Search

Do I Need a RCRA Permit to Neutralize a Waste?

Posted on 7/21/2021 by Roseanne Bottone

Settle an argument: An industrial facility generates many drums of corrosive hazardous waste (D002).

The facility’s Environmental Manager suggests neutralizing the waste before shipping it off site. The waste won’t be a hazardous waste or a DOT hazardous material once it’s neutralized, cutting disposal and shipping costs significantly.

In response to the suggestion, the Manager gets two pieces of conflicting information from her team:

Colleague A says:
"Neutralization is a form of hazardous waste treatment. We need a RCRA permit to treat hazardous waste.”

Colleague B says:
“The RCRA hazardous waste rules allow us to neutralize the waste without a permit.”

Who’s right? Does a generator need a RCRA permit to perform elementary neutralization?

Is Neutralization a Form of Treatment Under RCRA?

Elementary neutralization is a process by which an acid or base is added to a waste to render it chemical neutral, and it is a form of hazardous waste treatment. In fact, neutralization is explicitly named in the regulatory definition of treatment, which reads:

Treatment means a method, technique, or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste so as to:
  • Neutralize the waste,
  • Recover energy or material resources from the waste,
  • Make the waste safer to transport, store, or dispose of,
  • Make the waste more amendable for recovery or storage, or
  • Reduce the volume of hazardous waste.
        (40 CFR 260.10)

Colleague A is correct that Part 270 of RCRA generally requires a facility to obtain a permit before treating hazardous waste, but there are exceptions—including one that covers elementary neutralization (40 CFR 270.1(c)(2)(v)).

May Generators Neutralize Waste On Site? 

When certain conditions are met, the RCRA regulations allow generators to neutralize a hazardous waste. The waste treatment process must be performed in an elementary neutralization unit that is:
  • Used to neutralize hazardous waste that is corrosive only; and 
  • Is a tank, tank system, container, transport vehicle, or vessel.
So the facility in our example may neutralize their D002 hazardous waste without obtaining a RCRA permit. Generators should keep in mind that neutralization can produce a hot, volatile reaction and should be performed only by properly trained personnel.

RCRA does not require the facility to neutralize the waste immediately, but they must do so within the accumulation time allowed by regulation (i.e., 90 or 180 days). In the meantime, the waste must be managed in compliance with all the standard container management rules, including dating and marking containers, keeping containers closed, and weekly inspections.

Elementary Neutralization and RCRA Generator Status

We mentioned two reasons why a facility would neutralize corrosive hazardous waste–to lower transportation costs and to render the waste non-hazardous.

Here’s a third reason: Hazardous waste managed immediately upon generation in elementary neutralization units is excepted from counting toward the facility’s generator status/category (40 CFR 262.13(c)(2)). That could mean a change from large to small quantity generator, or from small to very small quantity generator—a move that could unburden the site from compliance with some of the strict, detailed management standards in 40 CFR Part 262.

More about RCRA permits:  
Do We Need a RCRA Permit to Store Hazardous Waste?


 

Tags: hazardous waste management, hazardous waste treatment, RCRA

Find a Post

Compliance Archives

Lion - Quotes

The instructor was great, explaining complex topics in terms that were easily understandable and answering questions clearly and thoroughly.

Brittany Holm

Lab Supervisor

Amazing instructor; real-life examples. Lion training gets better every year!

Frank Papandrea

Environmental Manager

Having the tutorial buttons for additional information was extremely beneficial.

Sharon Ziemek

EHS Manager

I chose Lion's online webinar because it is simple, effective, and easily accessible.

Jeremy Bost

Environmental Health & Safety Technician

Much better than my previous class with another company. The Lion instructor made sense, kept me awake and made me laugh!

Marti Severs

Enterprise Safety Manager

Lion does a great job summarizing and communicating complicated EH&S-related regulations.

Michele Irmen

Sr. Environmental Engineer

This is a very informative training compared to others. It covers everything I expect to learn and even a lot of new things.

Quatama Jackson

Waste Management Professional

Excellent course. Very interactive. Explanations are great whether you get the questions wrong or right.

Gregory Thompson

Environmental, Health & Safety Regional Manager

The instructor was very dedicated to providing a quality experience. She did her best to make sure students were really comprehending the information.

Stephanie Venn

Inventory Control Specialist

These are the best commercial course references I have seen (10+ years). Great job!

Ed Grzybowski

EHS & Facility Engineer

Download Our Latest Whitepaper

Spot and correct 4 of the most common universal waste errors before they result in a notice of violation during a Federal or state inspection.

Latest Whitepaper

By submitting your phone number, you agree to receive recurring marketing and training text messages. Consent to receive text messages is not required for any purchases. Text STOP at any time to cancel. Message and data rates may apply. View our Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.