Solid Waste Reform

In Association of Battery Recyclers, Inc., et al v. EPA, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit blocked EPA from regulating mineral processing waste as hazardous waste because it was slated for future recycling. The court also directed EPA to adjust its definition of a solid waste to reflect the fact that hazardous materials destined for recycling cannot be considered a waste. EPA's waste group has said that encouraging recycling is a top priority, and revising the waste definition is a key method to do so.

In response to the court decision in the lawsuit Battery Recyclers, Inc., et al v. EPA, EPA has proposed revisions to the definition of solid waste that identify certain recyclable hazardous secondary materials as not discarded, and thus not subject to regulation as wastes under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The proposed rule (68 FR 61558) would exempt from regulation that material which is generated and reclaimed in a continuous process within the same industry. According to EPA's Fact Sheet, "this proposal does not apply to recycled materials that are considered inherently waste-like; used in a manner constituting disposal; burned for energy recovery; or recycled by a commercial or third-party recycler." Although not in the basic proposal, EPA asks for comments on a broader exemption, namely the exempting from the definition of "waste," materials which are recycled across different industry sectors.

Click here for more information from the EPA web site
http://www.epa.gov/ebtpages/wastes.html#subtopics

http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/vision.htm

Proposed revisions to the "Definition of Solid Waste"

Additional information on this issue for our members can be found at
http://www.npra.org/members/environmental/news.cfm