EPA Provides Regulatory Options for Addressing Backlog of Hazardous Waste Needing Incineration
EPA Headquarters developed a memo directed to the EPA regional offices and authorized state programs that implement the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) program in response to the backlog of hazardous waste awaiting processing at permitted facilities with incinerators across the United States. The memo lays out the existing regulatory options to address this urgent issue for various regulated entities that generate and manage hazardous waste. This includes both generators of hazardous waste and RCRA permitted treatment, storage, and disposal facilities. The regulatory options can be used to help ensure hazardous waste continues to be safely managed during this unusual circumstance.
Headquarters urges the EPA regional offices and authorized states to prioritize evaluating requests from the impacted regulated entities, and to work with them to ensure their requests contain all the necessary information to allow EPA regions and states to make informed and expeditious decisions.