MONTHLY HOTLINE REPORT November 1992 EPA530-R-92-014k PB92-922 411 _________________________________________________ THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN RE-TYPED FROM THE ORIGINAL ONLY THE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS HAVE BEEN INCLUDED _________________________________________________ **RCRA** 1. Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Criteria On October 9, 1991, EPA issued a final rule establishing minimum national standards for municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLFs). Most provisions of the rule will be effective October 9, 1993 (56 FR 51017). All MSWLF units that receive waste after October 9, 1991 (the date the rule was published), but stop receiving waste prior to the effective date must still meet certain final cover requirements at closure. If a landfill consists of three cells, and two of the cells closed before October 9, 1991, is the entire landfill subject to the new final cover requirements or just the one cell that received waste after the date of publication? The new final cover requirements only apply to the third cell that continued to receive waste after the publication date of the final rule for MSWLFs. The regulations state that the new final cover standards apply to MSWLF units receiving waste after October 9, 1991 (40 CFR Section 258.1). Each landfill cell constitutes a separate MSWLF unit. The two cells (units) which stopped receiving waste before publication of the final rule are not subject to the new final cover requirements or any other Part 258 requirement. The cell that continued to receive waste between the publication date in 1991 and the effective date in 1993 is subject only to the final cover requirements of 40 CFR Section 258.60(a). In addition to the new final cover standards, all Part 258 requirements will apply to the third MSWLF unit if it continues to receive waste after October 9, 1993. Note that states may have more stringent requirements regarding final cover, closure requirements, and solid waste facilities in general. 2. Reclaimed Commercial Products: Regulatory Status The owner of a facility collects used railroad ties that were treated with a wood preservative containing creosote. When the owner has accumulated a sufficient amount of railroad ties he bakes them to draw out the creosote. Once this process is complete, the reclaimed creosote can be used as a wood preservative without further processing. A drum of this creosote leaked into the soil. How is the resulting contaminated soil regulated upon disposal? The creosote-contaminated soil must be managed as U051. The recovered creosote formulation is classified as a product because the creosote has been reclaimed from the railroad ties and requires no additional processing before it can be beneficially used (40 CFR 261.3(c)(2)). Upon leaking into the soil, the creosote is classified as a solid waste pursuant to Section 261.2(b). The generator must then determine whether this solid waste is a hazardous waste. Sections 261.33(e) and (f) designate certain commercial chemical products as hazardous wastes when discarded. Specifically, Section 261.33(d) defines commercial chemical product in part as any commercial or technical grade of a product, or any formulation in which the listed chemical is the sole active ingredient. Assuming the reclaimed creosote is the only chemically active component for the function of the wood preservative (i.e., the sole active ingredient), and the discarded material meets the definition of a solid waste per Section 261.2(b), the discarded creosote is classified as U051. Since the soil is contaminated with U051, it is subject to regulation as a hazardous waste in accordance with EPA's "contained-in" policy, which requires all media (i.e., debris, soil, groundwater, sediment) that contain listed hazardous wastes to be managed as listed hazardous wastes. The soil, therefore, would have to be handled as a hazardous waste (U051) until it is decontaminated or until the hazardous waste is delisted (see, for example, 56 FR 24444, 24456; May 30, 1991). 3. Beryllium Dust (P015); Applicability Beryllium is listed in 40 CFR Section 261.33(e) as an acutely hazardous waste (P015). Does the P015 listing apply to all forms of unused beryllium that are discarded? The hazardous waste listing P015 applies only to unused commercial chemical product beryllium dust that is discarded (see Section 261.33(d) for a definition of commercial chemical product). On May 19, 1980, beryllium dust was listed in an interim final rule as an acutely hazardous waste in 40 CFR Section 261.33(e) because of its acute toxicity to humans when inhaled (45 FR 33084). The listing was finalized on November 25, 1980 (45 FR 78532). In the April 22, 1988, Federal Register, which made technical corrections to the list of commercial chemical products in Sections 261.33(e) and (f), the word "dust" was inadvertently omitted from the listing (53 FR 13382). Despite this omission, the applicability of the listing remains unchanged. The April 22, 1988 Federal Register was intended only to amend certain typographical errors in the hazardous waste lists. EPA never proposed to change the listing from "beryllium dust" to "beryllium" and does not intend the listing to apply to beryllium. Therefore, despite this typographical error in 40 CFR Section 261.33(e), the scope of the listing remains unchanged, and the hazardous waste code P015 applies only to beryllium dust. **EMERGENCY PLANNING AND COMMUNITY RIGHT-TO-KNOW** 4. Supplier Notification Under EPCRA Section 313 Chemicals are routinely added to or deleted from the existing EPCRA Section 313 list of toxic chemicals. When must I begin providing a supplier notification (40 CFR Section 372.45) for a newly added chemical? What about chemicals that were covered for calendar years 1987 and 1988? For a chemical added on or after January 1 and before December 1 of any calendar year, supplier notifications are to be provided with the first shipment of the chemical in the following calendar year and every year thereafter. For example, a chemical added on April 1, 1991, requires a notification beginning with the first shipment of the chemical in the 1992 calendar year. For a chemical added on or after December 1 of any calendar year and before January 1 of the next calendar year, supplier notifications are to be provided with the first shipment of the chemical in the year following the next calendar year and every year thereafter. For example, a chemical added on December 10, 1991, requires a notification beginning with the first shipment of the chemical in the 1993 calendar year.