Larger Quantities of Treated Hazardous Waste Going to MSW and Nonhazardous Landfills

EI Estimates Amount Exceeds 1 Million Tons Per Year

Contact: Mr. Cary Perket Phone: 858/488-4760

February 10, 2000 - For Immediate Release

The EI Digest: Hazardous Waste Marketplace – Minneapolis, MN - North America’s leading research service on hazardous waste management, found strong evidence that relatively flat demand at the nation’s hazardous waste landfills is due, in part, to the growing use of alternative means of hazardous waste treatment.

Hazardous waste generators have the option of treating characteristic waste with toxic constituents either by stabilization at commercial treatment centers or an on-site equivalent. In either case, the basis for stabilization is to alter the waste’s properties, reducing their capability of leaching contamination to the environment when placed in a landfill. In most U.S. states, this means treated hazardous waste or modified process waste can be placed in a municipal solid waste (MSW) or nonhazardous waste landfill.

With regards to off-site commercial stabilization, EI has identified 28 "stand alone" hazardous waste facilities that are not located at hazardous waste landfills. In addition to those 28, there are 18 treatment centers located at U.S. hazardous waste landfills. The amount of characteristic hazardous waste sent to the "stand alone" treatment center facilities increased by 301,000 tons between 1997 and 1995, a 34.1 percent increase.

Currently, there is little data available regarding the amount of on-site treatment because it is not required to be reported. Research done by EI indicates that at least 350,000 tons or more of hazardous waste are managed annually by adding chemicals to the manufacturing process, thereby achieving regulatory status as a nonhazardous waste.

"This is consistent with an overall trend nicknamed LERAT, Least Expensive Regulatory Accepted Technology," says EI Senior Analyst Cary Perket. "Many sanitary and nonhazardous landfills have significantly upgraded their liners and leachate collection systems since the 1970’s when RCRA was passed. Generators appear to have a growing confidence that these facilities provide secure disposal alternatives."

The addition of chemicals to the manufacturing process is not without its pitfalls. Recently the EPA, in conjunction with issuing the Phase IV Land Disposal Restriction (LDR), took action against the addition of metal filings and dust because they allege the iron addition manipulated laboratory test results rather than providing real resistance to leaching, thereby giving a false indication of the wastes ability to resist leaching.

"If there is a shortcoming to this situation, it is that most sanitary landfills and non-hazardous waste landfills do not have on-site laboratories to assure wastes they are receiving are consistently nonhazardous", added EI’s Perket. "Consequently, situations like the addition of chemicals (e.g. iron dusts) to the manufacturing process that falsely create test results showing inhibited leaching potential are not likely to be caught at the time of the wastes delivery to those types of facilities. In contrast, most stand alone commercial treatment centers need to certify the waste as being nonhazardous prior to sending it to the landfill."

This report appeared in EI Digest: Hazardous Waste Marketplace No. 9, 1999, a market research report published 10 times per year that covers hazardous waste management issues. Other research resources available from EI with respect to hazardous waste management is the online EI Hazardous Waste TSD Database and a reference wall map showing commercial hazardous waste facilities in North America.

Further information on EI Digest & EI Hazardous Waste TSD Facility Database can be found on ENVIROBIZ.COM (www.envirobiz.com), one of the Internet’s leading sites for proprietary and public environmental business information. Based in Minneapolis, Environmental Information, Limited (EI) specializes in both subscription-based and custom research services on the marketplace for environmental services and technology. For further information, contact customer service at 612/831-2473 or email ei@mr.net.

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