Full Document:
RCRA Online Number: 14827
Title: CONTAINERS THAT ONCE HELD P-LISTED PHARMACEUTICALS
Document Date: 2011-11-04
To: RCRA Division Directors
From: Rudzinski
Description: For generators that are managing containers that held P-listed commercial chemical products and that are not RCRA empty per 261.7, three suggestions are provided on how to manage the residues remaining in the containers. First, it is only the weight of the residue in the container that needs to be counted toward generator status; the weight of the container does not need to be counted toward generator status (SEE ALSO: Memorandum, November 1, 1983 (RO 12151)). In some cases, we anticipate that this interpretation will mean that some healthcare facilities that have been counting the weight of the container and therefore managing their hazardous waste in accordance with the LQG standards will now be able to manage their hazardous waste in accordance with the CESQG standards of 40 CFR 261.5. Second, a generator can demonstrate that containers are "RCRA empty" in accordance with 261.7(b)(3)(ii), which allows a container that held an acute hazardous waste to be considered "RCRA empty" if it has been cleaned by a method (other than triple rinsing) "that has been shown in the scientific literature, or by tests conducted by the generator, to achieve equivalent removal." In the absence of scientific literature, a generator would need test data to show that it has achieved an equivalent removal method. ""Bag beating"" is an equivalent removal method to triple rinsing only for paper bags and not for other types of containers (SEE ALSO: Memorandum, May 20, 1985 (RO 12407)). Third, for containers that held warfarin, a generator could conduct analysis on the warfarin residues remaining in a fully dispensed container and, if the concentration of the residues is =0.3% warfarin, then the residues would not meet the listing description for the P-listed waste, even if the pills originally in the container did meet the listing description. Instead, the residues remaining in the container would be regulated as U248 hazardous waste.
Regulatory Citation(s): 261.33(e), 261.5, 261.7
Official ORCR Policy: Yes
Associated Topic(s):
Containers |