United States Solid Waste and EPA530-F-98-007
Environmental Protection Emergency Response www.epa.gov/osw
Agency (5305W) May 1998
Office of Solid Waste
xvEPA Environmental
Fact Sheet
TWO NEW HAZARDOUS WASTE CODES ADDED
FROM ORGANOBROMINE PRODUCTION
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is promulgating a final
rule to add two new hazardous waste codes to its current lists of hazardous
waste. This final rule satisfies the mandates under the Hazardous and Solid
Waste Amendments of 1984 to make listing determinations for wastes
generated from the production of organobromine chemicals.
Background
Under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), Congress
authorized EPA to regulate the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. In addition,
the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 required EPA to determine whether wastes
generated by the production of organobromines should be included on the RCRA list of regulated
hazardous wastes. In response to this mandate, the Agency undertook a 2-year study of the
industry and then listed as hazardous several wastes from the production of ethylene dibromide
(EDB) and methyl bromide. The final rule listing hazardous wastes from the production of EDB
(RCRA waste codes Kl 17, Kl 18, and K136) was published in the Federal Register on February
13, 1986 (51 FR 5327). The final rule listing hazardous wastes from methyl bromide production
(RCRA waste codes K131 and K132) was published on October 6, 1989 (54 FR 41402).
In June of 1991, EPA entered into a proposed consent decree with the Environmental Defense
Fund et al. (EDF v. Reilly, Civ. No. 89-0598 (D.D.C.)), in which the Agency agreed, among other
things, to publish proposed and final determinations on whether to list wastes as RCRA hazardous
from the production of five additional organobromine chemicals. EPA published a proposed rule
on the listing of organobromine wastes in the Federal Register on May 11, 1994 (59 FR 24530).
EPA proposed to list two waste codes for 2,4,6-tribromophenol waste, not to list nine wastes, and
to defer action on waste from the production of tetrabromobisphenol-A. Under a recently lodged
proposed consent order in that case, the Agency was required to promulgate a final decision on or
before April 15, 1998, on whether or not to list these wastes as hazardous.
Action
Under this final rule, EPA is adding two new RCRA hazardous waste codes to its current lists
of hazardous wastes:
C K140-- floor sweepings, off-specification product and spent filter media from the production of
2,4,6-tribromophenol
C U408—2,4,6-tribromophenol (i.e., discarded commercial chemical products, off-specification
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species, container residues, and spill residues thereof).
EPA is also adding 2,4,6-tribromophenol to the list of hazardous constituents in Appendix VIII
of 40 CFR Part 261. In addition, EPA is amending the land disposal restrictions treatment
standards for hazardous waste by adding these new wastes.
These two hazardous waste codes are listed based on the high concentrations of 2,4,6-
tribromophenol in the wastes. The Agency's risk assessment indicates that this chemical would be
mobile in a leachate and may present high risk to human health and the environment, if the waste
were disposed of untreated in a landfill.
In its 1994 proposal package, EPA deferred action on listing one of two waste streams from
the production of tetrabromobisphenol-A. The Agency has now determined not to list that waste.
In addition, EPA has made a final determination not to list as hazardous nine waste streams from
the production of bromochloromethane, ethyl bromide, octabromodiphenyl oxide,
decabromodiphenyl oxide, and 2,4,6-tribromophenol wastewaters.
Applicability
Wastes listed as hazardous are subject to federal requirements under RCRA for persons who
generate, transport, treat, store, or dispose of such waste. Facilities that must meet the hazardous
waste treatment, storage, and disposal requirements, including the need to obtain permits to
operate, are commonly referred to as RCRA Subtitle C facilities. Subtitle C is the original
statutory designation for that part of RCRA in which Congress directs EPA to issue regulations
for hazardous wastes as necessary to protect human health or the environment.
The effect of this hazardous waste listing subjects the waste to stringent management standards
under RCRA, as well as to emergency notification requirements when hazardous substances are
released to the environment. These emergency notifications are required under the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) and the
Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act (EPCRA). For these notifications, EPA
is adjusting the reportable quantities (RQs) for 2,4,6-tribromophenol (U408) and waste code K140
to 100 pounds each.
For More Information
The Federal Register notice and this fact sheet are available in electronic format on the Internet
through the EPA Public Access Server. For additional information or to order paper copies of the
Federal Register notice, call the RCRA Hotline at (800) 424-9346 outside the Washington, DC,
area and (703) 412-9810. Copies of documents applicable to this rule may be obtained by writing:
RCRA Information Center (RIC), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste
(5305W), 401 M Street SW, Washington, DC 20460.
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