EPA's Non-Hazardous Secondary Material Rule: 'A Combination Of Flexibilities'

The Environmental Protection Agency issued the Non-Hazardous Secondary Material (NHSM) Rule in December 2012 under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The NHSM Rule defines which materials will be deemed ''solid waste'' when combusted for purposes of triggering incinerator standards under the Clean Air Act. The authors of this article trace the development of the NHSM rule into a more flexible regulation since EPA's initial 2010 rulemaking proposal. EPA has nurtured a trend of leniency by exempting more types of materials and streamlining the petition process, which will result in far fewer materials being classified as solid waste when combusted, the authors say.

EPA's Non-Hazardous Secondary Material Rule: 'A Combination of Flexibilities'