United States
               Environmental
               Protection Agency
                  Solid Waste and
                  Emergency Response.
                  (5305W)
EPA530-F-97-004
  -February 1997
c/EPA
               Office of Solid Waste
Environmental
Fact Sheet
               EPA FINALIZES REGULATIONS UNDER
               RCRA FOR MILITARY MUNITIONS
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finalized regulations that clarify when conventional and
chemical military munitions become a hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA): Additionally, this rule amends existing regulations regarding emergency responses and RCRA
manifest requirements.
Background
Section 107 of the Federal Facilities
Compliance Act of 1992 requires EPA,
in consultation with the Department
of Defense (DOD) and the states to
issue a rule identifying when
conventional and chemical military
munitions become hazardous waste
under RCRA, and to provide for
protective storage and transportation
of that waste.    ^

Action
The following summarizes how this
rule will impact the military and non-
military sectors.

Military
This rule establishes the regulatory
definition of solid waste as it applies, to
three specific categories of military
munitions: (1) unused munitions; (2)
munitions being used for their in-
tended purpose; and (3) used or fired
munitions.            '.      :

The rule conditionally exempts: (1)
from RCRA Manifest Requirements
                    and Container Marking Require-
                    ments, waste non-chemical military
                    munitions that are shipped from one
                    military-owned or -operated
                    Treatment, Storage, or Disposal
                    Facility to another in accordance with
                    DOD military munitions shipping
                    controls; (2) from RCRA Subtitle C    <
                    storage regulations, waste non-
                    chemical military munitions subject to
                    the jurisdiction of the DOD Defense
                    Environmental Safety Board storage
                    standards.

                    This rule identifies four specific
                    circumstances under which an
                    unused munition is  considered to
                    be a solid waste for regulatory
                    purposes: .(1) the unused munition is
                    "abandoned by being disposed of,
                    burned, or incinerated, or treated prior
                    to disposal;" (2) the unused munition
                    is removed from storage for purposes
                    of disposal or treatment prior to      .
                    disposal; (3) the unused munition is
                    deteriorated, leaking, or damaged to
                    the point that it can no. longer be put
                    back into serviceable condition, and

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cannot be reasonably recycled or used
for other purposes; or (4) the munition
has been determined by an authorized
military official to be a solid waste.

Military munitions are not a solid
waste for regulatory purposes: (1)
when a munition is being used for its
intended purpose, which includes
when a munition is being used for the
training of military personnel; when, a
munition is being used for research,
development, testing, and evaluation;
and when a munition is destroyed
during range clearance operations at
active and inactive ranges; and (2)
when a munition that has not been
used or dis- charged, including
components thereof, is repaired,
reused, recycled, reclaimed,
disassembled, reconfigured, or
otherwise subjected to materials
recovery activities.

This rule also specifies that used or
fired munitions are solid waste
when they are removed from their
landing spot and then either:  (1)
managed off-range (i.e., when
transported off-range and stored, re-
claimed, treated, or disposed of; or (2)
disposed of (i.e., buried or landfilled)
on-range. In both cases, when the
used or fired munition is a solid waste,
it is potentially subject to regulation
as a hazardous waste. Also, munitions
that land off-range, and that are not
promptly retrieved, are statutory solid
waste.

This rule postpones final action on the
statutory status of used or fired
munitions at closed or transferred
ranges, and the regulatory status of
used or fired munitions that are
recovered and then treated on-range
at a closed or transferred range.
 Non-Military and Military
 There are three aspects of the rule
.that extend beyond waste military
 munitions and the military.  The rule
 sets forth new storage standards for
 the management of all military and
 non-military waste munitions and
 explosives.

 Secondly, the rule clarifies that
 persons responding to time-critical
 munitions and explosives emergencies
 are not subject to RCRA Generator,
 Transporter, and Permitting
 Requirements.

 Lastly, the rule exempts all generators'
 and transporters, not just the military,
 from the RCRA manifest for
 transportation of hazardous waste on
 public or private right-of-ways on or
 along the border of contiguous
 properties under the control of the
 same person, regardless of whether
 the contiguous properties are divided
 by right-of-ways.

 For More Information
 This Fact Sheet and the Final Rule
 are available on the Internet through
 EPA Public Access Server. For more
 information, contact the RCRA
 Hotline at 1-800-424-9346 or TDD 1-
 800-553-7672. The RCRA Hotline is
 open Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00
 p.m., Eastern Standard Time.

 Paper copies of this Fact Sheet and
 the Final Rule may also be obtained
 by writing: RCRA Information Center
 (RIG), U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Office of Solid Waste (5305W),
 401 M Street SW, Washington, D.C.
 20460.

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