Document jm93Rb1X8nj7xm22OxxqKGryy

I The Society of the Plastics Industry, Inc. 1025 Connecticut Avenue Washington, D C. 20036 (202) 822-6700 July 16, 1986 \ TO: Staff Directors OHEIC Steering Committee FR: Dennis C. Burgess RE: Amendments to the Hazardous Waste Regulation RECEIVED lJUL 211986 DR.R.T.GOTTESMAN On June 13, 1986 in Federal Register, Volume 51, Number 114, page 21648, the EPA proposed'a new rule regarding changes in the Hazardous Waste System, 40 CFR parts: 261- Identification and listing of hazardous waste, 271 - Requirements for authorization of state hazardous waste programs and 302 - Designation, reportable quantities and notification. The rule proposes to amend it's hazardous waste identification and listing regulations by: - expanding the toxicity characteristics to include an additional 38 chemicals; - and by introducing a new Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) to be used in the toxicity characteristic assessment. If the listed chemicals leach out of a plastic scrap material utilizing the TCLP above the regulatory levels proposed, then the materials are classified as hazardous waste and therefore, may not be disposed of in a sanitary landfill. According to EPA the plastic industry represents 75% of the facilities which will be affected. Listed below are the new chemicals of concern to the plastics industry. The TCLP regulatory levels have been back calculated to determine the residual monomer concentration levels, equal or below which there would not be a sufficient amount in the resin to exceed the limits even if it all was extracted. Products containing higher levels of residuals would have to be tested by the TCLP procedure. SPI-12164 Acrylonitrile o,m,p - Cresols Phenol Vinyl Chloride Proposed TCLP Regulatory Level (PPM in extract) 5 10 14.4 0.05 Res i dual Monomer In Polymer Plastics Used In 100 ppm 200 ppm 288 ppm 1.0 ppm ABS, SAN Nitrile Rubber Phenolic Resin Phenolic Resin PVC Resin Regulated under old EP procedure Lead Cadmium 5 1 100 ppm 20 ppm PVC Stabi1izer Pigments PVC Stabi1izer Pigments Chromium 5 100 ppm Pigments & Stabi1izer Please review promptly with your interested operating units. Comments on the proposal are due August 11, 1986. The questions to be addressed are: 1) Do these chemicals present a sufficient hazard to health or the environment to be added to the list? If not, why? 2) If so, are the proposed levels for extraction correct or too conservative? If the latter, why? 3) Is the new TCLP realistic, exaggerated, feasible, too costly? Why? We would like to establish an ad hoc task group to develop SPI comments and need "volunteers" who can represent the affected product groups. If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to call. The proposed regulations, including the TCLP procedure, are attached. DCB/bl SPI-12165 EPA broadens its list of hazards The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is seeking to expand significantly the universe of chemicals that are des ignated hazardous wastes under the 1984 amendments to the Resource Con servation and Recovery Act (RCRA). A regulation proposed by EPA in the June 13 Federal Register would, if adopted, add 38 organic compounds to the list of 14 substances EPA uses in one of its tests to identify wastes as hazardous and earmark them for management un der RCRA. The proposed rule would also amend that identification test--the Extraction Procedure Toxicity Charac teristic (EPTC)--by adding models to ac count for the mobility and dilution of compounds as they migrate from land fills into groundwater. The proposed regulation is "probably the most significant waste rule to come out since 1980" when RCRA regulations were first promulgated, says Richard C. Fortuna, executive director of the Hazardous Waste Treatment Council (HWTC). The rule creates "a whole new generation of tests" for determining waste categories that are "going to bring a lot of people into the [RCRA] system who were previously not in it." Reasons. EPA thinks the proposal is significant, too, but for different rea sons. "I think that adding additional characteristics of toxicity is very impor tant," says Alan S. Corson, deputy di rector of EPA's characterization and assessment division. "We have been concerned for some time that we [did not have] enough chemicals on the [RCRA] list" of compounds considered hazardous, Corson explains. He believes that adding 38 organic compounds to the list of eight metals, four pesticides and two herbicides (table) "certainly is a step in the right direction." However, expanding the universe of hazardous constituents is only one facet of the proposal to make EPA's RCRA waste-identification program more com prehensive. Under RCRA section 3001, EPA must identify hazardous wastes in one of two ways: by developing lists of specific wastes that, if mismanaged, would endanger human health or the environment; or by identifying charac teristics of wastes that could render the wastes hazardous if badly managed. The two methods, says an EPA staff er, "are fundamentally different." To list a waste as hazardous, EPA does a detailed industry study. The study places strong emphasis on the hazard 26 Chemical Week/July 2, 1986 ous constituents contained in specific wastes from the industry under scruti ny--that is, the survey is waste-specific. The listing process can take years. In contrast, EPA identifies waste characteristics by a "generic process." The process deals with the properties a waste might have that could cause it to become hazardous if that waste were improperly managed. Proper manage ment would keep it from being desig nated as hazardous, thus removing it from RCRA's purview. New tests. The proposed rule not only adds compounds to the characteris tic list, but also adds new tests using different standards from those used for the original list of 14 compounds. The original test is known as EPA's Extrac tion Procedure--the EP in the EPTC. The EP creates a liquid extract of a waste, similar to the leachate that might travel from a landfill to groundwater near a waste facility. The extract is analyzed for the 14 compounds to de termine whether any are present at or above the regulatory levels set by EPA. To set the regulatory level, EPA takes into account the dilution or attenuation in each extract that might occur as it leaches into the water. The current EPTC uses the National Interim Prima ry Drinking Water Standards to set a toxicity threshold for each pollutant, and combines these with a "generic di lution/attenuation factor" of 100 to yield a regulatory threshold. For exam ple, the toxicity threshold level for lead is 0.05 mg/1. To reach the regulatory level for lead under RCRA, multiply the 0.05 mg/1 health level by 100, the dilu tion/attenuation factor. The proposed regulations also add a different and more complex leaching test, called the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP), developed specifically to yield the regulatory lev els for the 38 added organics. In the new procedure, EPA uses a set of chron ic toxicity reference levels to establish a toxicity threshold for each compound. The TCLP combines these toxicity levels with a compound-specific dilution/atten uation factor, derived from a groundwa ter transport model. HWTC's Fortuna thinks that this "new analytical procedure may create a problem," in that it is "a more difficult procedure to run consistently" and may generate data that is hard to verify or reproduce. His worry is shared by H. Anthony Breard, Jr., vice-president of SPI-12166 government and public affairs at Cecos International. "We've raised that ques tion [with EPA] for a year now. We don't feel that the test [data and proce dures] have been replicated." Another potential downside to the TCLP, Fortuna says, is that EPA could require generators to test every batch "to see whether you're in the [RCRA] system or not, based on the constituent levels." The proposal is unclear on how often EPA will ask generators to test. Costly. A third problem with the pro posal is that the new testing require ments will be costly and time-consum ing. "You're going to have to analyze for many more things," says Fortuna. "It's not going to be cheap." However, Corson insists that the fi nancial impact on industry will not be "undue." The rules will bring "a num ber of new wastes into the system," he says, and to the "smaller companies, this may be seen as a burden." Large waste generators can more easily ab sorb the cost of the tests, which, he says, run $2,000-3,000/test. The hardest hit, Corson suggests, will be those com panies that have not yet fallen under RCRA's umbrella. He notes that EPA predicts the rules will affect only 1,265 facilities. "The impact'' of the proposed rules "might be a lot greater than EPA thinks," says Charles A. Johnson, tech- EPA is creating `a whole new generation of tests' for determining waste categories nical director of the National Solid Wastes Management Assn. "I am con cerned," he continues, "that EPA may not have examined all of the possible materials that might turn out to be haz ardous" and the economic impact that the new rules might have on the wastetreatment industry. New testing costs are not the only concern, Fortuna says. Facilities also will have to comply with other RCRA provisions, such as retrofitting im poundments and containment lagoons. Breard posits that the proposed rules might even create the ironic situation in which "you have a unit that was closed out properly" several years ago as a nonhazardous landfill, but with the new rules "is now brought into the whole regulatory scheme." That would mean, he points out, that the owner or opera tor of the facility would have to apply to EPA for a RCRA closure permit and arrange to provide millions of dollars in financial assurances that the facility will be closed properly. Corson says that EPA will take all of these concerns into consideration before promulgating the final rule toward the end of the year. Those who wish to sub mit written comments to the agency on the proposal must do so no later than Aug. 12. EPA also plans to hold a public hearing on the regulatory package in Washington, D. C., on July 14. The agency, Corson emphasizes, does not intend to stop at 38 compounds. "If I were to guess," he says, "someday it may get to a number like 200" charac teristic compounds. He adds, "We'd also like to come up with a reasonable ap proach to defining toxicity." LAURIE A. RICH ADDA NEW MERCEDES-BENZ TO YOUR EUROPEAN VACATION PLANS. AND SUBTRACT SOME OF THE COST. Plan to make European delivery of a new Mercedes-Benz part of your 1986 European vacation plans. Select any 1986 gasoline or diesel model;* pick it up at the factory European Delivery Center-and embark on a deluxe driv ing vacation. Avoiding costly rentals while saving on the price of your new Mercedes-Benz. Send coupon for a free European Delivery brochure today. 'Subject to availability. Send coupon lo: MHMA86-7 Mercedes-Benz of North America, Inc. Marketing Communications Division One Mercedes Drive, Montvule. NJ 07645 Name____ Address-- SPI-12167 City-------- State----------------------------Zip------- CI9S6 Mercedes-Benz of N-A., Inc., Montvale, NJ. July 2. 1986/Chermcal Week 27