April 15, 2013

EPA Updates Waste Analysis Guidance for Generators/TSD Facilities

The agency recently revised its guidance document entitled Waste Analysis at Facilities that Generate, Treat, Store, and Dispose of Hazardous Wastes, EPA/530/R-12/001, January 2013. A detailed review of the 223-page January 2013 guidance is beyond the scope of this article, but a brief comparison with the previous guidance (EPA/530/R-94/024, April 1994) follows:

Sampling and analysis objective:

EPA/530/R-94/024—Representative sample philosophy: “A waste analysis plan documents the procedures that you use to obtain a representative sample of the waste and to conduct a detailed chemical and physical analysis of this representative sample.”
EPA/530/R-12/001—Single exceedance philosophy: “The objective for an enforcement official is to evaluate a waste handler’s compliance with a ‘do not exceed’ standard. The enforcement official will likely collect one targeted sample based on professional judgment, as all the official needs to determine if a waste is hazardous is a single exceedance of a standard.... That is, the enforcement official determines whether a concentration of a specific constituent in some area of the wastes exceeds the regulatory level. This only requires a single measurement above the regulatory level to draw a conclusion, that the waste is hazardous.”

Recharacterization frequency:

EPA/530/R-94/024—1) When the TSD facility is notified, or has reason to believe that the process or operation generating the hazardous wastes has changed; or 2) when the generator has been notified by a TSD facility that the characterization of the wastes received at the facility does not match a pre-approved waste analysis certification and/or the accompanying manifest.
EPA/530/R-12/001—Provides an algorithm for determining the recharacterization frequency for a particular waste stream based on comparing the average of the previous and current waste analysis results to the regulatory threshold level. The algorithm gives a recharacterization frequency as high as every shipment to as low as annually.

Acceptable knowledge:

EPA/530/R-94/024—1) Process knowledge, 2) waste analysis data obtained from other facilities, and 3) old (pre-1980) analytical data.
EPA/530/R-12/001—1) Process knowledge; 2) data from analysis or testing performed by the generator; and 3) in cases of newly listed wastes, data from recent waste analyses performed prior to the effective date of the listings.

Conditions on using acceptable knowledge (AK):

EPA/530/R-94/024—1) Documentation that clearly demonstrates that the information relied upon is sufficient to identify the waste accurately and completely should be maintained, and 2) published studies used as AK should be carefully reviewed for relevancy.
EPA/530/R-12/001—1) Records should be kept demonstrating that periodic (e.g., annual) AK reviews are being conducted; 2) published studies used as AK should be carefully reviewed for relevancy; 3) safety data sheets (SDSs) used as AK generally should not be more than 5-years old; 4) material balances should be comprehensive; 5) original AK determinations should be reviewed annually, randomly, and whenever the generating process/waste changes or the TSD facility finds a nonconformance; and 6) environmental factors or spontaneous changes (e.g., separation of organic solvents from a water phase over time, pH changes when in contact with ambient air, etc.) should be included.

Waste analysis plans (WAPs):

EPA/530/R-94/024—Six elements to a standard WAP.
EPA/530/R-12/001—Ten elements to a standard WAP. Recommends the use of a systematic planning process [such as the data quality objective (DQO) process] to define the objectives of a sampling and analysis program; provides expanded information on composite and grab samples; adds third-part accreditation to the selection of environmental laboratories; adds new section on quantifying data uncertainty; adds new sections on developing the facility’s discrepancy and rejection policies; adds new section on recordkeeping; adds new section on corrective action measures (i.e., steps that a facility will take to eliminate the cause(s) of a nonconformity or undesirable situation due to a deficiency); and adds three new sample WAPs: 1) offsite treatment and disposal facility, 2) offsite storage facility, and 3) offsite cement kiln.

Information received by a TSD facility from a generator:

EPA/530/R-94/024—“Though the generator is responsible for properly identifying and classifying the waste, the TSDF will be held liable by enforcement authorities if it violates its permit conditions and any other applicable regulations.”
EPA/530/R-12/001—“If the generator does not supply the information or supplies incomplete or inadequate information, and the owner or operator chooses to accept a hazardous waste, the owner or operator is responsible for obtaining the information required for compliance.... At all times, the owners/operators of a TSDF [are] responsible for obtaining sufficient information required for compliance, regardless of the completeness or quality of any information received from the generator or other parties.... If the regulatory agency determines that a TSDF’s use of acceptable knowledge is deficient, the agency can require the TSDF to take additional steps to address such deficiencies.... TSDFs are still responsible for meeting the LDR treatment standards for all constituents subject to the LDR requirements, regardless of the constituents identified by the generator.”

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