Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is responsible for regulating
hazardous waste from its point of generation through its final disposal. This
“cradle-to-grave” system begins with hazardous waste generators. The EPA has
developed generator standards for several aspects; from on-site accumulation of
hazardous waste, to manifesting, to labeling, recordkeeping, and reporting.
Because hazardous waste generators produce waste in different quantities
Congress broke them down into three distinct categories. These categories are
Large Quantity Generators (LQGs), Small Quantity Generators (SQGs), and
Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generators (CESQGs). The extent to which
each type of generator is regulated is dependent upon the amount of hazardous
waste each generator produces. All that said, the first thing to look at is what
qualifies someone as a generator.
According to section 260.10, a generator is “any person, by site, whose act or
process produces hazardous waste, identified or listed in Part 261 or whose act
first causes a hazardous waste to become subject to regulation.” In order to
make this statement more palatable, it helps to break it down by three integral
terms you will need to understand.
By Site
The first term we need to look at is“by site.” This refers to where a hazardous
waste is generated. It is important to note, however, that the regulations do not
expressly define the word site. Since the EPA tracks hazardous waste generation
by “individual generation site,” they issue unique identification numbers to each
generation site. To do this they issue unique identification numbers to identify
generators by site.
This is important because one owner or operator can have several sites being
regulated. For example, if one owner/operator has 4 buildings on a single plot of
land, each producing a hazardous waste, those four buildings can all have the
same EPA identification number. If that same owner/operator has 4 buildings on
four different pieces of property, however, each will need its own EPA ID number.
So, each individual “site” requires its own identification.
Person
The second important term is “person.” 260.10 defines person as “an individual,
trust, firm, joint stock company, federal agency, corporation (including
government corporation), partnership, association, state, municipality,
commission, political subdivision of a state, or any interstate body.” As you can
see, the definition is much more far reaching than you might anticipate. The
definition of person as it relates to RCRA encompasses any entity involved with a
process that generates a hazardous waste.
Act or Process
The third, and final, part to look at is the definition of the phrase “act or
process.” According to a training module available from the EPA, “because a
generator is defined as the person whose act or process first causes a
hazardous waste to become subject to regulation, sometimes the generator of a
waste may not necessarily be the person who actually produced the waste. For
example, if a cleaning service removes residues from a product storage tank
excluded in §261.4(c), the person removing the residues is the first person to
cause the waste to become subject to regulation, not the owner of the tank (i.e.,
the person who produced the waste).” This example is also a good illustration of
co-generators.
Co-Generators
Co-generation happens when more than one person can be considered a
generator. In the cleaning example, even though the person removing the waste
is not the owner/operator, he or she can still be considered a generator since
they were the first person to cause the waste to become subject to regulation. In
that same vein, the owner/operator is responsible because, “the act of operating
the unit led to the generation of the hazardous waste.”
“In cases where one or more persons meet the definition of generator, all
persons are jointly and severally liable for compliance with the generator
regulations. The parties may through a mutual decision have one party assume
the duties of generator, but in the event that a violation occurs, all persons
meeting the definition of generator could be held liable for the improper
management of the waste.”
Once it has been determined that a person is a generator, they must be
classified into one of three categories. I think we’ll save that for another post
though!
All information for this blog post was gathered from the EPA document, “Introduction to
Generators.” As always, this blog post is not intended to be comprehensive and it is
always best to check with the EPA and local government for full, up-to-date, rules and
regulations.
Tags: Blog, Generator Definition, Hazardous Waste, Hazardous Waste Generator, RCRA
