The regulations of the USEPA include exclusions from the definition of hazardous waste for certain discarded materials. This exclusion is limited to specific industries, processes, and chemicals identified by regulation. This exclusion is important since if a discarded material is not a hazardous waste it is not subject to complicated and expensive regulation under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
This article is meant to serve as an introduction and a starting point for all of the exclusions of §261.4(b). Below are links to articles which themselves are Power Point presentation previously uploaded to SlideShare and later posted on my blog. As of June 2013 I am still a long way from completion, but be patient, I’ll eventually get to them all. If you are not patient, then contact me with a request, I’ll do my best to accommodate your wishes as soon as I can by posting another blog post/SlideShare Upload.
40 CFR 261.4(b)…
(3) Mining overburden.
(4) Fossil fuel combustion waste.
(5) Oil, gas, or geothermal exploration & production wastes.
(6) Trivalent chromium wastes.
(7) Mining and mineral processing waste.
(8) Cement kiln dust.
(9) Arsenic-treated wood.
(10) Petroleum-contaminated waste from underground storage tanks.
(11) Petroleum-contaminated injected groundwater.
(12) Used chlorofluorocarbon refrigerants.
(13) Non-terne plated used oil filters.
(14) Used oil re-refining distillation bottoms that are used as feedstock to manufacture asphalt products.
(15) Leachate or gas condensate collected from landfills where certain solid wastes have been disposed.
(16) [Reserved]
(17) Solid waste that would otherwise meet the definition of low-level mixed wastes (LLMW) pursuant to §266.210 of this chapter that is generated at the Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Inc. (OMP Spring House) research and development facility in Spring House, Pennsylvania and treated on-site using a bench-scale high temperature catalytic oxidation unit [expired June 27, 2010].
(18) Solvent-contaminated wipes, except for wipes that are hazardous waste due to the presence of trichloroethylene, that are sent for disposal.