Current through Register Vol. 24-06, March 15, 2024
Recycling hazardous secondary materials for the purpose of
exclusion or exemption from the dangerous waste regulations must be legitimate.
Hazardous secondary material that is not legitimately recycled is discarded
material and a solid waste. In determining if their recycling is legitimate,
persons must address all the requirements of this section.
(1) Legitimate recycling must involve a
hazardous secondary material that provides a useful contribution to the
recycling process or to a product or intermediate of the recycling process. The
hazardous secondary material provides a useful contribution if it:
(a) Contributes valuable ingredients to a
product or intermediate; or
(b)
Replaces a catalyst or carrier in the recycling process; or
(c) Is the source of a valuable constituent
recovered in the recycling process; or
(d) Is recovered or regenerated by the
recycling process; or
(e) Is used
as an effective substitute for a commercial product.
(2) The recycling process must produce a
valuable product or intermediate. The product or intermediate is valuable if it
is:
(a) Used by the recycler or the generator
as an effective substitute for a commercial product or as an ingredient or
intermediate in an industrial process; or
(b) Sold to a third party.
(3) The generator, recycler, or
third party must manage the hazardous secondary material as a valuable
commodity when it is under their control. Where there is an analogous raw
material, the hazardous secondary material must be managed, at a minimum, in a
manner consistent with the management of the raw material or in an equally
protective manner. Where there is no analogous raw material, the hazardous
secondary material must be contained. Hazardous secondary materials that are
released to the environment and are not recovered immediately are
discarded.
(4) The product of the
recycling process must be comparable to a legitimate product or intermediate:
(a) Where there is an analogous product or
intermediate, the product of the recycling process is comparable to a
legitimate product or intermediate if:
(i) The
product of the recycling process does not exhibit a dangerous waste
characteristic (as defined in WAC
173-303-090
) or meet any dangerous waste criteria (as found in WAC
173-303-100
) that analogous products do not exhibit; and
(ii) The concentrations of any dangerous
constituents found in WAC
173-303-9905
that are in the product or intermediate are at levels that are comparable to or
lower than those found in analogous products, or at levels that meet widely
recognized commodity standards and specifications, in the case where the
commodity standards and specifications include levels that specifically address
those dangerous constituents.
(b) Where there is no analogous product, the
product of the recycling process is comparable to a legitimate product or
intermediate if:
(i) The product of the
recycling process is a commodity that meets widely recognized commodity
standards and specifications (e.g., commodity specification grades for common
metals); or
(ii) The hazardous
secondary materials being recycled are returned to the original process or
processes from which they were generated to be reused (e.g., closed loop
recycling).
(c) If the
product of the recycling process has levels of dangerous constituents (found in
WAC
173-303-9905
) that are not comparable to or unable to be compared to a legitimate product
or intermediate per (a) and (b) of this subsection, the recycling still may be
shown to be legitimate if it meets the following specified requirements. The
person performing the recycling must conduct the necessary assessment and
prepare documentation showing why the recycling is, in fact, still legitimate.
(i) The recycling can be shown to be
legitimate based on:
(A) Lack of exposure from
toxics in the product;
(B) Lack of
bioavailability of toxics in the product; or
(C) Other relevant considerations which show
that the recycled product does not contain levels of dangerous constituents
that pose a significant human health or environmental risk.
(ii) The documentation must
include a certification statement that the recycling is legitimate and must be
maintained on site for five years after the recycling operation has
ceased.
(iii) The person performing
the recycling must notify the department of this activity using ecology's site
identification form.