Dangerous or hazardous wastes are toxic to
living things and are often persistent in the environment.
- new
Treated wood may contain
arsenic, chromium, lead, pentachlorophenol, or creosote pesticides.
- Paint and
coatings may contain asbestos, lead, mercury or PCBs
- Plumbing and
pipes may contain asbestos or lead
- Fluorescent and
high intensity discharge (HID) lamps may contain lead,
mercury or PCBs
- Batteries
may contain lead, mercury or PCBs
- Thermostats,
switches, and other electrical devices may contain mercury
- Other
Potentially Regulated Building Wastes (siding,
flooring, insulation, fireproofing, vinyl, plaster, wallboard,
adhesive, caulk and other materials) are known to contain
asbestos and PCBs)
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Most construction, demolition, and land clearing
(C&D or CDL) wastes are classified as Solid Wastes.
- Examples are garbage, industrial wastes, sewage,
and any other wastes that are not products.
- Usable products such as leftover paint and caulk
are not regulated unless they are discarded - even if they
contain dangerous materials. Leave them for the property owner
to use in future maintenance.
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Property owners - Are responsible for the
dangerous wastes generated on their property.
- Manifest any regulated amounts of dangerous
wastes off-site under your site's RCRA Site Identification
Number - not your contractors RCRA Site ID Number..
- Count regulated dangerous waste amounts towards
the site's generator status.
Contractors - Are responsible for wastes that
originate on their own property.
- Manifest any regulated amounts of dangerous
wastes - for example from re-finishing salvaged architectural
doors and trim under your own shop's RCRA Site Identification
number - not your client's RCRA Site ID number.
- Do not take regulated amounts of dangerous
wastes generated at a work site back to your own shop or another
work site. That would be illegal transportation of dangerous
wastes under the regulations.
- Contractors can represent a property owner or
generator in managing their waste.
Contractors and property owners are both
responsible for protecting their employees and clients from
hazardous exposures. Painters, abatement workers, and demolition
workers who use unsafe practices can be exposed to extremely high
levels of lead and asbestos.
- The Washington Industrial Safety and Health Act
(WISHA), which is enforced by the State Department of Labor and
Industries, requires an assessment of workers' risk of exposure
to lead and asbestos in all types of construction, renovation
and demolition projects.
Homeowners - Dangerous wastes such as lead
paint are Household Hazardous Wastes when they originate from
maintenance and renovation activities done by homeowners or their
contractors. Household Hazardous Waste is regulated by your
local Solid Waste program and the Department of Health. However,
lead paint wastes from the demolition of an entire home may be
regulated as dangerous waste.
Refer to Household
Lead Waste Disposal and Household
Hazardous Waste for more information.
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Designation = Identification It is the
process used to find out if a waste is a regulated dangerous waste.
- Dangerous waste numbers or waste codes
identify a regulated waste on its shipping manifest and at the
disposal facility.
- A dangerous waste generator's regulatory
status and responsibilities are determined by waste
designation.
- Some dangerous wastes can be excluded from
the regulations.
See Dangerous
Waste Identification / Designation for more detailed information
about waste designation, sampling and testing.
See Selected
Exclusions from Dangerous Waste Regulations for Building Wastes
or the complete list of Exclusions in WAC
173-303-071 Exit Ecology from
the State Code Revisers Office
Dangerous or toxic materials are used in a wide
variety of industrial and consumer products.
- Materials that are safe while contained or in
use can become a hazard to people and the environment when
broken, spilled or otherwise released (mercury in fluorescent
light tubes).
- Often the materials that make a product long
lasting (lead in paint) or fire resistant (asbestos) also make
it toxic and persistent in the environment.
Potentially Regulated
Building Wastes has information about structural products known
to be manufactured with lead, mercury, asbestos, PCBs and other
dangerous materials that are regulated when they are wastes.
See Dangerous Waste
Contamination in the Soil for information about the
dangerous wastes found in contaminated soil.
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A dangerous waste generator is "any
person, by site, whose act or process produces dangerous waste or
whose act first causes a dangerous waste to become subject to
regulation". Dangerous Waste Regulations, WAC
173-303-040 Exit Ecology.
Generators have a generator status based on
the amount of dangerous waste generated each month. The reporting,
manifesting, and management requirements are different for each
generator status.
- Large Quantity Generator (LQG)
- Medium Quantity Generator (MQG)
- Small Quantity Generator (SQG)
Most job sites with dangerous waste will qualify as
Small Quantity Generators (SQGs) or Medium Quantity Generators
(MQGs). Contractors may be able to take SQG wastes to a collection
site operated by local government. This option can be less expensive
than dangerous waste disposal. Information on local programs may be
obtained from local government sources or Ecology regional offices.
A RCRA Site
Identification Number (ID#) is required for;
- sites that generate regulated amounts of
dangerous waste,
- transporters of regulated quantities of
dangerous waste, and
- facilities that transfer, store, treat, recycle,
or dispose of dangerous waste.
A site with a current RCRA Site ID# files an Annual
Dangerous Waste Report .
Pollution Prevention
Plans are required from
- businesses that generate more than 2,640 pounds
of recurrent hazardous waste a year, or
- businesses required to report their toxic
chemical releases under the 1986 Superfund Amendments and
Reauthorization Act (SARA) Title III, Section 313.
All dangerous waste generators pay an annual
Hazardous Waste Education Fee of $46.
- Facilities submitting Pollution Prevention Plans
pay an additional variable amount Planning Fee, based upon the
amount of waste manifested.
For more information refer to Generator
Status and Requirements .
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Labeling, manifesting, and packaging of solid or
dangerous wastes for transportation must be done according to
Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations.
Medium and large quantity generators
- Use a Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest
shipping paper for dangerous wastes.
- Use dangerous waste transporters to haul
their waste.
Small quantity generators
- Don't have to manifest their waste when it goes
off-site.
- Can transport their wastes to a destination
facility themselves.
See Dangerous Waste
Transportation Requirements for more information.
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Solid Waste or Household Hazardous Waste?
Contact your local health department for permitted disposal
facilities.
Dangerous Waste? Disposal options depend on
the generator status.
- a permitted dangerous waste
treatment, storage and disposal facility (TSD); or
- a facility that legitimately recycles or
reclaims dangerous wastes.
- Small quantity generators have additional
options. They can use the above facilities or a solid
waste facility approved by their local Moderate Risk Waste
Plan.
See Dangerous
Waste Disposal Options for more information.
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Before starting a construction, renovation or
demolition project, contact the county building planning or
permitting authority for local regulatory information.
The Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Program
at the Department of Ecology regulates dangerous or hazardous waste
management and disposal.
Dangerous Products are not regulated by the
Hazardous Waste Program. Usable left over paint, glue, caulking
compound, etc. left by a contractor for the property owner's
future use are not considered wastes if they are used or recycled.
Household Hazardous Wastes is exempt or
removed from the dangerous waste rules. Household waste is not
necessarily exempt from other regulations. Refer to Household
Hazardous Wastes for more specific information.
Abandoned Dangerous Waste such as paints,
fertilizers, pesticides, used oil, antifreeze, batteries, tires
and so on can be found at construction and demolition sites. Both
household and regulated business wastes have been anonymously
dumped at work sites or on vacant lots.
- City of Seattle Hotline to report graffiti and
abandoned waste: 206.684.PKUP.
Spills of dangerous wastes are regulated by
the Hazardous Waste and Toxics Reduction Program at the Department
of Ecology.
Soil Cleanup of pre-existing contamination
is regulated by the Toxics Cleanup Program at Ecology. For more
information refer to Dangerous
Waste Contamination in the Soil.
The Solid Waste Program at the Washington
State Department of Ecology and local health departments
regulate solid waste disposal.
Ecology's Solid Waste regulation was changed from
Chapter 173-304 WAC to
Chapter 173-350 of the Washington
Administrative Code (referred to as the WAC) and became effective on
Feb. 10, 2003. Municipal Solid Waste Landfills are still regulated
under Chapter 173-351 WAC. Refer to Chapter 173–350 WAC for the
actual Solid Waste regulations. A hard copy of Chapter 173-350 WAC
is also available by calling (360)407-6038.
The new rule provides for two types of non-municipal
solid waste landfills, inert waste landfills and limited purpose
landfills. “Inert waste” is defined as solid waste that meets the
criteria for inert waste in Chapter 173-350-990.(hyperlink) Inert
landfills may only manage concrete, asphalt, masonry, ceramics,
glass, aluminum, and stainless steel. In order for other materials
to be considered inert, they must meet the criteria. These types of
material do not pose any significant environmental risk.
Limited purpose landfills are available to accept many other types
of wastes including industrial waste, demolition waste, problem
waste, and wood waste. Design criteria for limited purpose landfills
are performance based, subject to location standards, design and
operating criteria, ground water monitoring, and financial
assurance. Limited purpose landfill design specifications may often
include a liner and leachate collection system.
Land clearing wastes includes such material as rocks and soil,
vegetation, and wood from trees and shrubs that have been removed
from a job site before construction begins. It is recommended that
woody debris go to a recycling facility for composting or made into
mulch. The only acceptable disposal options (other than recycling)
for either land clearing or plaster wastes is in a limited purpose
landfill, incinerator, or municipal solid waste landfill regulated
under Chapter 173-351 WAC.
Other state and federal agencies also
regulate construction and demolition. This guide provides limited
information about other agency's rules.
The state Department
of Labor and Industries Exit
Ecology (L&I), and the Washington
Industrial Safety and Health Act Exit
Ecology (WISHA), are based on federal OSHA and EPA
regulations.
L&I's Safety Standard for Construction Work,
WAC 296-155
Exit Ecology is
available though the WAC Regulations on the L&I Publications
homepage at http://www.wa.gov/lni/
Exit Ecology, or
call (360) 902-5500 for a free copy, or to ask for a free, no
penalties, consultation on the requirements of the construction
standard.
Safety Standards for Construction Work includes
a section of standards for demolition in Part S 296-155-775
through -830. Some requirements are; an engineering survey, a
written demolition plan or method of operation, and a
determination whether asbestos and other hazardous materials are
present at the work site. Apparent or suspected
asbestos-containing materials must be removed prior to demolition.
This applies to other hazardous substances as well.
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Hazardous Waste & Toxics Reduction Program
