Approximately 13 tons of hazardous waste is generated every second. Every year, that’s 400 million tons of hazardous waste. Found throughout hospitals, laboratories, and automobile garages, hazardous waste is also present in farming and water treatment activities. Many of us generate this type of waste in our own homes from household products such as batteries
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Four Common EPA Violations Concerning Handling Waste Materials
Updated February 2022 Owners of businesses in nearly every industry need to stay up to date on EPA regulations and violations to avoid unwanted penalties and fines. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has regulations in place that affect local, state and federal governments and their respective agencies. In addition, the EPA has regulations
... Continue ReadingWhat Happens to a Business After a Destructive Event?
Disasters happen more often than you think. Fires, floods, hurricanes, and other destructive events can not only bring severe damage to a business’s building, but hazardous waste can arise from the aftermath. On June 14, 2021, a chemical plant in Rockton, Illinois suffered an explosion and fire. It destroyed the building and sending hazardous debris
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Updated July 2021 Landfills are a tool used to handle the disposal of different types of waste in any industrialized society and regulated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). When handling hazardous waste, the EPA encourages source reduction instead of landfills. However, the reality of industrial societies means that the generation of hazardous
... Continue ReadingWhen Excess Hazardous Waste Contributes to Large Volume Designations: Managing Episodic Events
Producers of hazardous waste are broken down into three categories of waste generator status. We broke down these categories and their stipulations to define what constitutes a small quantity vs large quantity generator in a recent article. While the different categories are clear, the higher hazardous waste producers have a much higher level of compliance
... Continue Reading4 Characteristics of Hazardous Waste for Completing Your Waste Profile
The EPA requires all hazardous waste producers to fill out an important form called a Hazardous Waste Profile. Formally known as the Waste Characterization Profile, the Hazardous Waste Profile requires a list of all chemical properties associated with the waste produced. This form must be completed before waste is disposed of or transported. The Hazardous
... Continue ReadingClean Up Your Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest Forms or Risk Fines
Hazardous Waste Generators regardless of generator status are breathing a sigh of relief that 2021 is not a reporting year for submitting the Biennial Hazardous Waste Report. However, it’s always an excellent time to check that you’re using the best reporting practices possible. Federal regulations require generators and transporters of hazardous waste and owners or
... Continue ReadingSmall Quantity vs Large Quantity: What are the designations?
When it comes to hazardous materials handling, the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) has outlined three types of generators. Hazardous waste generators produce waste in three categories that are determined by the amount of waste generated per calendar month. There are three categories of generators and three very frequently used acronyms: VSQG: Very small quantity
... Continue ReadingTop 6 Things to Know About Episodic Hazardous Waste Generation
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines an episodic event as an activity that does not normally occur during a generator’s operations. The event causes a hazardous waste generator to exceed the upper limit of its normal generator category for that month. This often affects Small Quantity Generators (SQGs) or Very Small Quantity Generators (VSQGs) negatively,
... Continue ReadingEmpty HAZMAT Container? Check Again.
What appears empty to the normal eye may not be considered empty by the EPA. So even though you set out to comply with all the hazardous waste management regulations for the material itself, you may still end up being at risk of violating the law. The Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) contains
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