RCRA Recycling: EPA Issues Long-Awaited "Definition Of Solid Waste" (DSW) Amendments

Background

On October 7, 2008, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen L. Johnson signed a final rule under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The new rule addresses the issue of when and how materials can escape being deemed "solid waste" under RCRA — specifically, when "recycling" a material will keep it outside the RCRA definition of solid waste (DSW).

The issue is critical. Under RCRA, a material must first be solid waste to be deemed hazardous waste. If a material is hazardous waste, RCRA's full panoply of stringent "cradle-to-grave" regulatory requirements — including the much-feared and extremely expensive facility-wide "corrective action" — can be triggered.