The US EPA’s View on Legitimate Recycling and the Generator-Controlled and Transfer-Based Exclusions for Hazardous Secondary Materials

The US EPA’s View on Legitimate Recycling and the Generator-Controlled and Transfer-Based Exclusions for Hazardous Secondary Materials (HSM). The concept of defining legitimate recycling in a manner that does not contribute to the disposal problem has been a historically difficult issue for the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency). The Agency has described many past environmental contamination and/or cleanup issues from the stockpiling of materials that were never actually recycled. In some cases, companies continued to stockpile these materials until they went out of business leaving cleanup issues behind. …

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The U.S. EPA “Continued Use” Policy

Materials are not solid wastes until the decision is made to discard them. Materials that are not solid wastes cannot be RCRA regulated hazardous wastes. In the case of solvents, they are used until considered spent at which point they will be discarded. The U.S. EPA has a long established concept that materials are not solid wastes when they qualify for the Agency’s continued use policy, or in similar fashion, the secondary materials exemption regarding source substitution. …

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