20^TH Annual North American Commercial
Hazardous Waste & Wastewater Facilities Survey

367 North American Facilities Identified As Currently Operating

This year, marks the twentieth year that Environmental Information Limited has released the results of its annual compilation of commercial hazardous waste and wastewater services. The compilation found there to be 367 commercial hazardous waste facility locations, many of which offer multiple types of disposal, energy recovery, recycling and disposal.

“The most prevalent type of commercial hazardous waste and wastewater facility is recycling,” stated EI Research Analyst Karl Joyce. “There are probably other locations that accept the equivalent of hazardous waste and wastewaters for recycling that, due to regulatory reporting exemptions, are not easily identified.”

Table below represents a compilation of active hazardous waste and hazardous wastewater disposal, energy recovery, recycling or treatment at the various facilities in Canada and the United States .

* Some facilities with on-site capabilities are no longer offering all treatment options listed here.

There are a number of commercial facilities which have been “mothballed” or closed in recent years because of lower than expected demand for commercial services.

“The decreasing number of commercial facilities is an indication of adjustment needed to reflect the realities of the actual hazardous waste market that was created by RCRA, rather than the one optimistically projected as being needed in the 1980s by the USEPA,” stated EI Senior Analyst Mr.Cary Perket. “We fully expect there will be more closures for the same basic reason, although some sectors like energy recovery, incineration and landfills are near or at a healthy balance between demand and supply of services.”

The EI research report Commercial Hazardous Waste Management Facilities 2004 can be purchased for $95 plus shipping by calling Environmental Information at (952) 831-2473.