5309
&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Region5 1995
230 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604
A Better Way
Guide to the RCRA
Permitting Process
905B86100
-------
,
5309
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Region 5
230 South Dearborn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604
1986
A Better Way
Guide to the RCRA
Permitting Process
905B86100
-------
Table of Contents:
Introduction to RCRA page 1
What Is Hazardous Waste? page 2
Who Handles Hazardous Waste? page 2
Who Gets a Permit? page 3
How Does the State Fit In? page 4
How Is the Public Protected7 page 4
Secure Chemical Landfills page 5
Incineration page 8
What About Enforcement? page 9
How Is Our Ground Water Protected? page 1 0
How Do We Select a Disposal Method? page 1 1
List of State Contacts page 1 2
U,S. Environmental Protection Agency
Cover Photo B A King "Looking over Lake Superior from Grand Sable Dunes"
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Introduction to RCRA
I
.-ir
One by product of the highly
industrialized society in which we
live is waste — lots of it and some of it
dangerous More than 6 billion tons
of hazardous waste are produced every
year That's more than 1 ton of waste for
every man, woman, and child in
the country
In the past, Americans didn't give
much thought to where the waste went,
as long as it disappeared The prevailing
philosophy was, "out of sight, out of
mind," and past disposal methods
reflect the mistaken belief that wastes
could be safely buried
Today, we know that irresponsible
disposal methods can cause severe
health and environmental effects
Careless disposal of hazardous wastes
can contaminate surface and ground
water and contributes to air pollution
The issue is not whether we can eliminate
waste — it's a fact of our industrialized
life — but how we can safely and
efficiently manage its disposal
As part of its mission to safeguard the
environment and human health, the
US Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) regulates hazardous wastes One
way this is done is through the Compre-
hensive Environmental Response.
Compensation, and Liability Act
(CERCLA), better known as Superfund
Superfund allows the EPA to clean up
abandoned hazardous waste sites
Another way is through the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act
(RCRA), designed to prevent more
uncontrolled hazardous waste sites
from springing up across the country
RCRA, a body of Federal regulations
governing the management of hazard-
ous wastes, was authorized in 1976
and amended in 1 980 and 1 984 The
regulations are designed to protect
public health and the environment so
that hazardous wastes cause as little
damage as possible RCRA establishes
many technical and safety standards for
the generation, treatment, storage,
transportation, and disposal of
hazardous wastes
In 1984, additional legislation,
the Hazardous and Solid Waste
Amendments (HSWA), was passed
HSWA greatly expanded EPA's authority
in dealing with hazardous wastes
Under these amendments, EPA
must phase out the land disposal of
hazardous wastes and induce industry
to reduce the amount of waste it
creates EPA must issue permits for the
waste management facilities that merit
them and close those that do not
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To EPA, hazardous waste is a very
specific term It is not just any garbage
that may be dangerous The EPA
maintains a list of about 450 regulated
hazardous wastes, which includes
various solvents, paints, inks, disinfect-
ants, oils, toxicants, and sludges,
among other things Awasteis
considered hazardous if it is any of
thefollowmg
• ignitable (can relatively easily
cause a fire)
• corrosive (capable of dissolving
material such as steel)
• reactive (capable of generating
toxic gases or fumes)
• toxic (contains a high concentration
of heavy metals such as lead)
• acutely hazardous (can cause death
or serious illness)
It must also be a waste These
regulations do not cover chemicals
that will be used as ingredients in
products or the products themselves
Hazardous waste usually comes from
the manufacturing process or off-
specification batches of a product
The waste producer is not going to use
for anything else — most hazardous
wastes have no commercial value
Whoever creates the hazardous waste
is known as the generator, and
whoever moves the waste from one
location to another is the transporter
Those who treat (T), store (S), or dispose
(D) of hazardous wastes are called
TSD's A business concern can be in
one category or in all three There are
specific standards for generators,
transporters, and TSD's
The EPA assigns identification (ID)
numbers to generators, transporters,
and TSD's This system allows EPA to
keep track of who is handling hazardous
waste When a tranporter moves
hazardous waste, the waste must be
accompanied by a special form called a
manifest The manifest identifies what
the waste is, how much there is, where
it came from, and its final destination
All parties mvloved — the generator,
the transporter, and the TSD — must
sign and keep copies of the manifest
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Only TSD's are required to get
permits TSD's store waste for more
than 90 days, treat or change it in
some manner, or dispose of it
permanently They may work just
with their own waste or may take wastes
from other facilities All existing TSD's
were required to file a notification form
to let EPA know of their existence and
to get an ID number by August 1 980
By November 1 980, they had to submit
additional information, what is known
at EPA as Part A of the application for
a hazardous waste permit
Part A is a standard form that tells EPA
the name and location of the site, its
owner, the type of waste it accepts, what
it does with the wastes, the site's
maximum capacity, the expected
annual intake, what other environ-
mental permits it has, and its emergency
provisions If a facility submitted its
notification and Part A, it has interim
status Interim status allows a facility
to continue operating under a set of
specific standards until a final permit
decision is made
Since 1 980, EPA has been gradually
calling mthesecond part of the permit
application from all facilities with
interim status The EPA notifies a
facility that it has 6 months to submit
a Part B — the actual permit application
These applications are usually very
detailed documents that include
photographs of the facility, the
engineering design, thorough descrip-
tions of processes and safety features,
emergency plans, financial assurances,
and other pertinent information
The applications are thoroughly
reviewed by EPA scientists, lawyers,
and engineers They check to make sure
that each facility is following all of the
Federal hazardous waste management
regulations They then draw up a permit
that outlines which hazardous waste
management practices applytothe
facility, what wastes it can accept, and
any special provisions Generally,
permits must be renewed at least once
every 1 0 years However, land disposal
permits must be reviewed after 5 years
and modified if necessary
There are 1,200 TSD's just in the
6 States of Region 5, so issuing permits
for all of them will take a long time
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How Does the State Fit In?
The States, with financial assistance
from EPA, provide considerable
assistance to the RCRA permitting
process They review applications for
completeness and technical accuracy
and later help draft the actual permits
One of EPA's top priorities is to
authorize the States to operate their
own hazardous waste programs in
place of the Federal RCRA program
To do this. State laws and regulation:
must be at least as strict as Federal one|
In Region 5, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan,,
Minnesota, and Wisconsin are author-
ized to administer most of the RCRA
program The EPA remains involved
in authorized States by actively
overseeing the program Because
States are not yet authorized to
implement the 1 984 Amendments, EP/
is responsible for the amendments
How Is the Public Protected?
The manifest system helps protect the
public by creating a paper trail Trans-
porters are the critical link between the
generators and the ultimate treatment,
storage, and disposal of hazardous
waste If a waste cannot be delivered as
the manifest directs, the transporter
must inform the generator and receive
further instructions In such cases, the
transporter will usually be instructed
to return the waste or take it to
another facility
Before handing the waste over to a
TSD, the transporter must have the TSD
sign and date the manifest One copy of
the manifest remains at the facility while
the other stays with the transporter
All facilities must track incoming
wastes and analyze them to make sure
they know exactly what they are han-
dling Facilities must make sure their
personnel are trained in hazardous waste
management, and they must keep track
of the training to prove to EPA or the
State that it was done Updated
emergency plans are also required
Facilities must develop a closure
plan, which gives the expected closure
date and outlines the means they will
use to ensure that any remaining
hazardous waste is diposed of safely
Each facility must demonstrate to EPA
that it meets financial assurance tests
That is, even if the facility goes bankrup
it must have money set aside to
assure its safe closure Financial
assurance also guarantees that money
will be, or has been, set aside to take ca
of any environmental problems that ma
occur within 30 years of closing
Finally, all facilities are inspected
regularly by the States and by EPA
Major facilities, including all Federal
and State facilities, must be inspected
at least once a year Large commercial
facilities are usually inspected several
times a year Smaller facilities must be
inspected at least once every 2 years
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Secure Chemical Landfills
In the past 15 years, we have gone
from simply digging a hole to engineer-
ing secure chemical landfills. When
properly designed, operated, and
monitored, landfills can be a viable way
to dispose of hazardous wastes.
Because landfills are unavoidable,
at least for the foreseeable future, RCRA
has imposed strict guidelines to make
them as safe as possible. In 1985, EPA
proposed to reduce by more than one-
third the types of hazardous waste
that can be disposed of in a landfill
during the next 5 years. Under the
proposal, the types of wastes allowed
in landfills would be severely limited.
For example, liquid wastes have already
been banned from land disposal, and
a similar ban on solvent- and dioxin-
containing wastes has been proposed.
EPA has also tightened its permitting
requirements for landfills that accept
hazardous wastes. Under RCRA, landfills
must be equipped with certain features
to make them as safe as possible.
All new landfills must be fitted with
two synthetic liners and at least three
feet of clay to ensure that they can hold
waste without leaking. This prevents
leachate, the potentially dangerous
fluid formed when rainwater drains
through a waste, from seeping.
Landfills are also equipped with a
leachate collection system above the
top liner and a leak detection and
collection system between the liners.
When a landfill becomes full, it is
capped with a sloped cover usually
made of clay and lined with synthetic
material. This minimizes the amount of
leachate produced and protects the site
from run off. The operator is required to
conduct a ground-water monitoring
program. (See section on ground-water
protection.)
Thorough waste analysis is also
mandatory, because the types of wastes
placed in a landfill must be compatible.
Landfill operators are required to keep
a copy of the generator's waste stream
analysis on file. Upon receiving a waste,
the operator must "fingerprint" it by
checking against the file for certain
items such as pH and specific gravity.
If there is any indication that the waste
has been mislabeled, by accident or by
design, the operator can either reject
it or report the fact to EPA.
Following analysis, wastes are placed
in the landfill according to a layering
system outlined in the operator's
design plan and approved by EPA.
Wastes are interspersed with layers of
soil. Normally, landfills containing
organic wastes are designed to allow
for a layer of porous material, like sand,
beneath the cap. Pipes are fitted in this
porous layer to vent methane gas and
thus prevent a fire hazard. The gas is
retrieved through the pipes and either
burned off or cleaned by the operator.
OVERLEAF: Diagram of Secure Chemical Landfill
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Gas Vent
» Monitoring •*•'•'r^i^^Ni
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{Plastic Cover !
fLeak
Detection
System
pS£px
tesss*?
r^V.0^ water ©
•'c&S':•*•&'/* Monitoring ,
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Incineration
With increasing public concern over
the long-term environmental effects of
land disposal, incineration of hazard-
ous waste is emerging as a preferred
method of treatment.
The chief advantage of incineration
is that it can completely destroy many
wastes, or at least greatly reduce their
volume. However, incineration will not
fully eliminate the need for landfills,
since the remaining ash has to go
someplace. In most cases, the ash
does not react chemically with other
substances and is not dangerous.
Nonetheless, EPA makes sure it is
handled as hazardous waste when
it is placed in a landfill.
Incineration is effective on some
solid wastes as well as virtually all
liquid organic wastes such as paint
sludges and spent solvents. Trie EPA
also recommends that, when possible,
wastes from Superfund sites be
incinerated.
The average incinerator can burn up
to about 1 ton of waste per hour. When
done according to EPA standards, the
process is virtually odor free.
Generally, incineration involves
four major steps.
First, the waste is converted to a vapor
by heating it above the boiling point
of its organic hazardous components.
Solid waste is usually converted to a
liquid, then to gas, while liquid waste
is usually converted directly to gas.
Second, the waste gas is burned in
the presence of air at a temperature
between 1500 and 2200 degrees
Fahrenheit. Third, the remaining gases
pass through a cleaning system, such
as a scrubber, where soot and other
combustion products are removed.
Finally, the cleaned gas is released into
the air and monitored by the incinera-
ting facility. Usually the cleaned gas
contains water and carbon dioxide,
both safe substances. Any remaining
ash or solid residue is treated and
disposed of in a landfill. Thus
incineration completely destroys
the toxic or hazardous constituents
in the wastes.
Under RCRA, other performance
standards have been devised to
regulate incinerators. Operators are
required to conduct a trial burn with
a small quantity of the waste before the
actual incineration. They must also
ensure at least 99.99 percent
destruction and removal of principal
organic hazardous components or, in
thecaseof dioxin-containing wastes,
99.9999 percent destruction and
removal of dioxin.
The EPA sets limits on the emission
of hydrogen chloride and particles from
incinerators. It also requires an
automatic system that stops the waste
feed to prevent malfunctions from
posing danger. In addition, incineration
is subject to the RCRA permit process
and all its strict enforcement standards.
8
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What About Enforcement?
Standard Incineration
System
Solid Waste
Feeder
Gas
Scrubber
(Cleans Flue Gas
By Removing Acids
And Paniculate
Matter)
Stack
Liquid Waste
Feeder
Waste Ash
Properly
Disposed
Precipitator Induced
(Removes Any Draft
Remaining ^an
Particulates) (A Fan That Provides
For Gas Flow Through
The Incinerator)
-- : ,«-• r-F**' "''"I
tm "•••*-"C
a *• m-
Avital part of RCRA involves making
sure that waste handlers meet EPA
requirements The EPA and the States
conduct on-site inspect ions of TSD's to
ensure that hazardous wastes are being
properly managed and to reviewTSD
records and reports If a violation is
found, EPA or the State issues a warning
letter, or a compliance order that
specifies what the waste handler must
do to remedy the situation An order
may also assess a fine In serious cases,
EPA or the authorized State can suspend
or revoke a RCRA permit, this forces
a facility to stop its operations
RCRA makes it illegal to knowingly
transport hazardous wastes to a facility
that has no interim status or no permit,
to treat, store, or dispose of hazardous
waste without interim status or a permit,
or to falsify any RCRA-related document
The EPA can issue fines of upto $25,000
per day of continued noncomphance for
civil violations, or up to $50,000 per
day for criminal viol at ions
RCRA provides for a felony called
knowing endangerment — putting
another person in imminent-danger
of death or serious bodily injury
A conviction under this provision
can result in a fine of up to $1 million
for a corporation, or a fine of up to
$250,000 and imprisonment for an
individual The EPA has specially
trained criminal investigators to look
into criminal activities
Additionally, citizens can file suit
when a waste site poses an imminent
or substantial hazard
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Beneath the earth's surface, stored
away in geologic form at ions called
aqu'fers, lies one of America's most
precious and irreplaceable resources
— ground water Half of all Americans
get their drinking water from ground
water sources, and this percentage is
growing Our ground water, once
thought to be immune from contamina-
tion, is now an endangered resource
Ground water becomes contaminated
when wastes and other pollutants
seep into aquifers Because ground
water moves slowly, contaminants
do not spread or mix quickly, but
instead remain concetrated in slow-
moving plumes
Recognizing the threat that land
disposal of hazardous wastes poses to
our ground water, EPA has enacted
strict regulations to maintain the purity
of this resource Facilities storing or
disposing of waste on land must
monitor the ground water and report
their findings to EPA or the State
RCRA outlines three different phases
of ground-water monitoring
In the first phase, called detection
monitoring, land disposal facilities
are required to check for general
indications of ground-water contami-
nation associated with the type of waste
they accept Monitoring wells are sunk
around the facility and samples are
taken to measure any possible leaks
Ground water, much like a river in this
respect, basically flows in one direction
through soil and rock openings Under
RCRA, at least one monitoring well must
be placed in an up-gradient or upstream
position, and several additional wells
must be placed in down-gradient or
downstream positions
The up-gradient well monitors the
background quality of the ground water
before it has any contact with the
facility Thedown-gradient wells
monitor its quality after any contact
that might have occurred Down-
gradient wells must be placed
immediately adjacent to the facility's
waste areas to provide an early warning
of possible contamination Detection
monitoring alerts EPA to the possibility
of excessive contaminants in the
ground water by comparing up-gradient
and down-gradient concentrations and
by statistical tests
If a significant change is found
in the down-gradient wells, the facility
must move into the second phase:
compliance monitoring In this phase,
EPA establishes a limit on how much of
any given chemical contaminant will be
allowed to reach the down-gradient
wells In most cases, this limit will be
the corresponding concentration from
the up-gradient wells
10
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If a facility exeeds the limit, EPA can
order it to move into the third phase
corrective action One corrective
technique involves pumping the conta-
minated water through recovery wells
and treating it Another method is the
construction of a grout curtain, an
underground wall that retards the flow
of ground water in order to isolate or
control contamination A less commonly
used technique involves introducing
organisms or chemicals directly into
the ground water to neutralize the
contamination
In addition, EPA has created a special
task force to investigate the adequacy
of ground-water monitoring at com-
mercial facilities that dispose of
hazardous wastes on land The task
force has two major goals to determine
whether regulated facilities meet RCRA
requirements and to identify and
evaluate any causes of poor comp-
liance as well as recommend solutions
•rl< '. 't a DlSfHiSi'i
Although RCRA is designed to make
land disposal of hazardous waste
safer, there is a growing consensus
that the Nation should move as swiftly
as possible toward treatment and
resource recovery as the preferred
methods of hazardous waste manage-
ment The EPA is currently investigating
many methods, including incineration,
deep-well injection, solidification, and
biological degradation, among others
First, the nature of the waste must be
considered — its physical and chemical
characteristics, volume, and the
constituents that make it hazardous
Other key factors in selecting the best
available treatment are the anticipated
degree of hazard, energy use, and
economic impact
Of paramount concern are health and
environmental impact. Will the final
residues from the waste management
process be safe for controlled release
into the air, water, or land?
11
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List of State Contacts
ILLINOIS: Ken Luly
Community Relations
Illinois EPA
2200 Churchill Road
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-5562
INDIANA: Veronica Willis Knight
Office of External Affairs
Indiana Dept of Environmental Management
105 South Meridian Street
Indianapolis, IN 46206
(317) 232-8512
MICHIGAN: Mmdy Koch
Hazardous Waste Division
Michigan Dept of Natural Resources
PO Box 30028
Lansing, Ml 48909
(517) 373-2730
MINNESOTA: Steve Reed
Hazardous Waste Permit & Review Branch
Minnesota Pollution Control Agency
520 Lafayette Road
St Paul, MN 55155
(612)296-7786
OHIO: Michael Greenberg
Division of Hazardous Materials Management
Ohio EPA
361 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43216
(614)466-1488
WISCONSIN:
12
US. Environmental Protection Agency
Re@©n V, ' • ;./
230 South Dearuorn Street
Chicago, Illinois 60604
Eric Syftestad
Bureau of Solid Waste Management
Wisconsin Dept of Natural Resources
PO Box 7921
Madison, Wl 53707
(608) 267-7561
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Prepared by the U S Environmental Protection Agency Region 5,
serving Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin
Regional Administrator Valdas V Adamkus
Director of Public Affairs Jon T Grand
Writer/Editor Anne M Rowan
Art Director Birute A Bulota
For further information write to U S Environmental Protection Agency
Region 5, Office of Public Affairs, 230 South Dearborn Street,
Chicago, IL 60604, or call (31 2)353-2072
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