United States Solid Waste and EPA530-F-98-010
Environmental Protection Emergency Response April 1998
Agency (5305W) www.epa.gov/osw
Office of Solid Waste
c/EPA Environmental
Fact Sheet
TREATMENT STANDARDS SET FOR
TOXICITY CHARACTERISTIC (TC) METAL
WASTES, MINERAL PROCESSING WASTES,
AND CONTAMINATED SOIL
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is publishing regulatory controls
that encourage the safe recycling and disposal of hazardous metal waste, and
newly identified waste from mineral processing.
Background
The widespread practice of disposing of hazardous waste in units located
directly on the land has been regulated by EPA's Land Disposal Restrictions
(LDR) program for many years. A major part of the LDR program is to
adequately protect public health and safety by establishing treatment standards
for hazardous wastes before they can be disposed of in land disposal units.
These treatment standards either specify that the waste be treated by a
specified technology, or that they be treated by any technology as long as the
concentration of hazardous constituents is below a certain level. Universal
Treatment Standards specify the concentration levels for hazardous
constituents.
In addition to setting new treatment standards, another continuing task of
the EPA is to better define which industrial materials are wastes, thus subject
to regulation, and which should be excluded from regulation.
Action
LDR treatment standards are established for metal-bearing
wastes-including TC waste (those with high levels of metal constituents)-and
waste generated in mineral processing operations. These standards are based on
the best technologies available to treat these or similar wastes. The UTS for 12
metal constituents is revised to better reflect the entire universe of wastes that
are subject to the treatment standards. Consequently, listed and characteristic
hazardous wastes containing one or more metal constituents may have to comply
with new treatment standards.
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Hazardous waste regulations are modified to define which secondary
materials from mineral processing are considered waste, and thus subject to
LDR treatment standards. Materials that are legitimately recycled and kept off
the land prior to recycling are conditionally excluded. These provisions promote
the safe recycling of mineral processing secondary materials by reducing
regulatory obstacles to recycling, while ensuring the proper treatment and
disposal of hazardous wastes. Other miscellaneous issues related to mineral
processing wastes also are covered. In particular, the Toxicity Characteristic
Leaching Procedure is retained as a test for evaluating the toxicity
characteristic in these wastes.
EPA is also amending the LDR treatment standards for soil contaminated
with hazardous waste. These standards are tailored to be more appropriate for
soils to make it more feasible to clean up contaminated sites without using
combustion technologies. Finally, EPA is excluding from regulation certain
wastewaters from wood preserving operations.
For More Information
The Federal Register notice is available in electronic format on the Internet
at . This fact sheet and other documents
related to this rule are available at . For additional information or to order paper copies of any documents,
call the RCRA Hotline. Callers within the Washington Metropolitan Area must
dial 703-412-9810 or TDD 703-412-3323 (hearing impaired). Long-distance
callers may call 1-800-424-9346 or TDD 1-800-553-7672. The RCRA Hotline
operates weekdays, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Write to the RCRA Information
Center (5305W), US EPA, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460.
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