| OPERATOR |
The person responsible for the overall operation of a RCRA site. Note: This is the legal
entity which controls the RCRA site operation rather than the plant or site manager. This is usually a
company or business name, not an individual. See Person. |
| OWNER |
The person who owns a RCRA site or part of a RCRA site. Note: This includes the owner(s) of
the building(s) and/or land. This may be an individual, company, or business name. See Person. |
| PERSON |
An individual, trust, firm, joint stock company, Federal Agency, corporation (including a
government corporation), partnership, association, State, municipality, commission, political
subdivision of a State, or any interstate body. |
| PROCESS SYSTEM |
For purposes of the Hazardous Waste Report, a process system refers to one or more
units used together to treat, recover, or dispose of a hazardous waste. The process system begins at
the unit where the hazardous waste first enters and consists of all other treatment, recovery, or
disposal units downstream from the point of entry. Note that storage is not considered a process
system, except for storage at a bulking and re-shipping facility (H141).
Classify each process system with a Management Method code that best identifies the last
substantive purpose/operation it performs. For example, a process system to remove dissolved
metals from wastewater prior to shipping the sludge off-site typically includes equalization, pH
adjustment, chemical precipitation, flocculation, clarification/settling, and dewatering of the sludge
removed from the bottom of the clarifier. The chemical precipitation process best identifies the last
purpose of this treatment system - to remove metals from the wastewater. If this wastewater
treatment system is RCRA-regulated, it would be reported as H077 (Chemical Precipitation). If the
sludge will be disposed at the reporting site in a landfill, the code will be H132 (Landfill) and will
need to be reported on a separate GM Form because it is a residual from a treatment process.
However, this process is exempt if the treated water flows to a POTW or a NPDES outfall with no
RCRA-regulated storage or treatment units in the system, and should not be reported. A listing of
Management Method codes may be found further down in the 'Other Reference Information and
Code Lists' section of this booklet. |
| PROCESS UNIT |
For purposes of the Hazardous Waste Report, a process unit refers to a single type of
treatment (e.g., tank, distillation column, surface impoundment) in which hazardous waste is
treated, disposed, or recycled. |
| RCRA INTERIM (PERMIT) STATUS |
Refer to 'Interim (Permit) Status' definition. |
| RCRA PERMIT |
A complete RCRA permit is comprised of an operating permit for hazardous waste
treatment, storage, and disposal, and a corrective action permit addressing releases from solid
waste management unit (SWMUs). To apply for a permit, a site must file a two-part application
(Part A and Part B). A facility is not considered to have a complete RCRA permit until both parts
have been issued. |
| RCRA SUBTITLE C SITE (RCRA SITE OR SITE) |
The physical plant or location at which one or more of the
following regulated waste activities occurs: the generation, transportation, treatment, storage, or
disposal of hazardous wastes; recycling of hazardous wastes; United States importer of hazardous
waste; mixed waste (hazardous and radioactive) generator; exempt boiler and/or industrial furnace
burning or processing hazardous waste; large quantity handler of or destination facility for universal
wastes; disposing hazardous waste with an underground injection permit; the transportation (and
temporary storage during transportation), processing/re-refining, burning, or marketing of used oil;
eligible academic entity managing laboratory hazardous waste under Subpart K; facility managing
hazardous secondary material being reclaimed that must comply with certain requirements and
conditions; or undergoing corrective action.
A site may consist of several treatment, storage, or disposal operational units. For entities that only
transport regulated wastes, the term site refers to the headquarters of that entity's operations. |
| RECYCLING |
Use, reuse, or reclamation of a material (40 CFR 261.1(c)(7)). 'Reclamation' is the
processing or regeneration of a material to recover a usable product (e.g., recovery of lead values
from spent batteries, regeneration of spent solvents) (40 CFR 261.1(c)(4)). A material is 'used or
reused' if it is either: (1) employed as an ingredient (including use as an intermediate) in an
industrial process to make a product (e.g., distillation bottoms from one process used as feedstock
in another process) (40 CFR 261.1(c)(5)). However, a material will not satisfy this condition if distinct
components of the material are recovered as separate end products (as when metals are recovered
from metal-containing secondary material); or (2) a commercial product (e.g., spent pickle liquor
used as phosphorous precipitant and sludge conditioner in wastewater treatment). |
| RESIDUAL |
A hazardous waste derived from the treatment, disposal, or recycling of a previously existing
hazardous waste (e.g., the sludge remaining after initial wastewater treatment). |
| RESOURCE CONSERVATION AND RECOVERY ACT (RCRA) |
The Solid Waste Disposal Act as amended by the
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (40 CFR 270.2). It is the Federal statute that
regulates the generation, treatment, storage, disposal, recycling, and/or transportation of solid and
hazardous waste |
| SHORT-TERM GENERATOR |
A generator whose generator status is the result of a one-time, non-recurring,
temporary event that is not related to normal production processes. In other words, short-term
generators produce hazardous waste from a particular activity for a limited time and then cease
conducting that activity. Short-term generators would not be considered episodic generators
because episodic generators have the potential to generate on a regular basis. Examples of short-term generators include: one-time highway bridge waste generation, underground storage tank
removals, generation of off-spec or out-of-date chemicals at a site that normally doesn?t generate
hazardous waste, remediate or spill clean-up sites with no previous RCRA ID, and site or production
process decommissions by a new operator. |
| SLUDGE |
Any solid, semi-solid, or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial, or industrial
wastewater treatment plan, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility exclusive
of the treated effluent from a wastewater treatment plant (40 CFR 260.10). |
| SMALL QUANTITY GENERATOR (SQG)OF HAZARDOUS WASTE |
A generator that meets all the following criteria:
1. Generates, in any calendar month, more than 100 kg (220 lbs.) but less than 1,000 kg (2,200 lbs.)
of RCRA hazardous waste; and
2. Does not generate, in any calendar month, or accumulates at any time, more than 1 kg (2.2 lbs.)
of acute hazardous waste; and
3. Does not generate more than 100 kg (220 lbs.) of material from the cleanup of a spill of acute
hazardous waste.
OR, a site is a Small Quantity Generator if the site:
1. Meets 1) and 3) of the Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator criteria (see definition),
but
2. Is storing more than 1,000 kg (2,200 lbs.) of RCRA hazardous waste on-site. If the site
accumulates, at any time, more than 1,000 kg (2,200 lbs.) of RCRA hazardous waste, the site
must apply for an EPA ID Number using this form. |
| SMALL QUANTITY ON-SITE BURNER EXEMPTION |
The persons who burn small quantity of hazardous waste in
an on-site boiler or industrial furnace, in accordance with 40 CFR 266.108, are conditionally exempt
from regulation for that activity. |
| SMELTING, MELTING, AND REFINING FURNACE EXEMPTION |
Under 40 CFR 266.100(c), owners or operators of
smelting, melting, and refining furnaces that process hazardous wastes solely for metals recovery
are conditionally exempt from regulation, except for 40 CFR 266.101 and 266.112, provided they
comply with limited requirements set forth in Section 266.100(c). Similarly, 40 CFR 266.100(f)
provides that owners or operators of smelting, melting, and refining furnaces that process
hazardous wastes for the recovery of precious metals are conditionally exempt from regulation,
except for 40 CFR 266.112, provided they comply with limited requirements specified in Section
266.100(f). |
| SOLID WASTE |
Any garbage, refuse, or sludge, or other materials not excluded under 40 CFR 261.4(a).
Exclusions include, for example, domestic sewage and any mixture of other wastes that pass
through a sewer system to a publicly owned treatment works (POTWs); industrial wastewater
discharges that are point source discharges subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act;
irrigation return flows; nuclear materials defined by the Atomic Energy Act; and in situ mining
materials (see the 'Other Reference Information and Code Lists' section of this booklet).
Wastewaters being collected, stored, or treated before discharge and sludges generated by
wastewater treatment are not excluded. The EPA defines hazardous waste as a subset of solid
waste. |
| SOURCE MATERIAL |
As defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954: (1) Uranium, thorium, or any other
material determined by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission pursuant to the provisions of Section
2091 of this title to be source material; or (2) ores containing one or more of the foregoing materials
in such concentration as the Commission may by regulation determine from time to time. |
| SPECIAL NUCLEAR MATERIAL |
As defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954: (1) plutonium, uranium
enriched in the isotope 233 or in the isotope 235, and any other material which the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, pursuant to the provisions of Section 2071 of this title, determines to be
special nuclear material, but does not include source material; or (2) any material artificially
enriched by any of the foregoing, but does not include source material. |
| SUBPART K |
An alternative set of generator requirements for managing laboratory hazardous waste at
eligible academic entities. Generators that are eligible academic entities with laboratories may elect
to opt into 40 CFR 262 Subpart K and manage their laboratory hazardous waste under Subpart K in
lieu of 40 CFR 262.34(c) (or 40 CFR 261.5 for CESQGs). In order for eligible academic entities (see
definition) to opt into Subpart K or subsequently withdraw from Subpart K, they must use the Site ID
Form to notify the appropriate State or EPA Regional Office. Refer to 40 CFR 262.203 and 262.204.
Note: You must check with your State to determine if you are eligible to manage laboratory
hazardous waste pursuant to 40 CFR Part 262 Subpart K and for any state-specific requirements. |
