For those of us that recieve Woodworker’s E-zine, they have continued to not tell the whole story concerning using kitty litter used to pick up spilled solvents. After the previous ezine, I emailed the editor to correct the staement on diposal of the kitty litter. My response did not make it into the current issue, but a they did include another email to them that continued the erronious idea.
Before I took my present job, I worked for the Louisiana Dep’t of Environmental Quality, Hazardous waste and Regulation Development, so I do KNOW what is right.
Under the Haz Wate Regs, 40 CFR 261.4(b)(1), waste generated in a household is EXEMPT from the hazardous waste regulations. This reg applies to those of us that do it as a small scale in a workshop at the house.
A caveat to this is that each state may have regulations that are more stringent than federal rules. As far as I know, regulators do talk to each other, I know of no state that has not exempted waste from a household from the HW regs. You may wish to check with your state or local regulations and ordinances to verify that you are exempt. Do not take the work of a person on the phone, either with your waste collection agency, local or state regulator, read the rule. Many will tell you that you cannot place that waste at the curb for pickup. Many don’t know that households are exempt or take the easiest answer. Been there, done that with my local Waste Management people. And this was while I was doing the regs for the state. I just love dealing with people that don’t know what is what.
I am not saying that sending the waste to a local household haz waste collect is not the “right” thing to do. But you may not have to. A Haz Waste landfill as compared to a regular Solid Waste Landfill, you will find very little difference in the regulations between the two. As time has gone on, the regs for a Solid Waste Landfill have become equal to a Haz Waste one. The differences are documenting what is in each Cell of a haz waste Landfill and that you cannot but loos liquids into a haz landfill. It must be stabilized and solidified before it can go into the landfill.
A couple of other things:
1. Kitty litter uses bentonite clay as the absorbant. The liquid is not bound into the litter as it would be into a peat product or a few of the others that are available for use. Let us say you use some in January and the collection day is not until October (they usually schedual these near the end of the year), by the time it rolls around a couple of things can happen. The sovent will evaopate out of the litter, rendering it no-hazardous, the characteristic that made it haz is no longer there or it has seperated out of the clay, doing you no good.
2. Once it is into the kitty litter, it is not recyclable. I know of no recovery companies that can recover and process for reuse solvents or oils from it. I have that with my current job also. That is going to be sent out for disposal.
For small businesses, which probably covers everone else here, look a 40 CFR 262.44. These are the CESGC rules for those who generate less than 100 kilograms per month. They generally give the same rules – as long as your waste is going to a permitted facility – either under 40 CFR 264 and 265 or a ficility permitted for solid waste after 1998 40 CFR 257.5 through 357.30
Kevin Arceneaux
Visit the Lone Wolf Activities for MS Trainsimulator at www.3dtrains.com
Replies
So long the post .... so confusing the message.........!!
Care to try that again, this time in simple language a college graduate can understand?
I really do appreciate your effort, Kevin, and bless you, but I am beginning to see why government regs are so impossible to understand.
Don't get mad now, I am being honest, and doing so as gently as I can.
NIKKI, Kevin, when asked for the time, will tell you how to build a clock.
STEINMETZ
What it means, is unless there is a local or state reg against it, you can put haz waste out with your household trash.Kevin ArceneauxVisit the Lone Wolf Activities for MS Trainsimulator at http://www.3dtrains.com
Kevin,I'm still not sure what your message was in the original post. I would say it is the responsibility of each person to know what the regs are in their area governing hazardous wastes. Like California, MN has a long list of stuff they want separated from normal household trash, including any sort of finishing materials (even latex paint).However, they are fine with depositing finishing supplies in household trash -- if it is made into a solid form. Kitty litter will work, but a cheaper alternative is the oil absorbent clay sold by any auto parts store ($5 for a 20 lb bag, the last time I bought it). Under no circumstances do they want to see any of this stuff dumped on the ground, but again, they are okay with having it evaporate from a container (e.g. lacquer thinner). The regs do change over time, so it is worth checking with the local authority. Here, for instance, at one time you could put asbestos impregnated pipe insulation in the regular household trash; but now they want it bagged and delivered to a special collection point (even the household hazardous waste sites won't take it).
My point was that the ezine is putting out incorrect information. Their 2 sources that the quoted were are fireman and an unnamed source. To me that is not enough factual information to make a statement like they did. They did not check and get their facts right. The facts are very easy to find if you look. They failed to do so. They also could have asked someone, either with the feds or states, again they failed to do so before making the staement. That stuff bothers me as at one time reg development WAS my job and I am still in the business and HAVE to know the rules.I tried to point them in the direction to get correct information, but they contiuned down the wrong path. This again bothers me. Even if they did not trust the information I gave them, they still should have checked into it and verified that either I was right or they were right.To be honest - if I need to use something to clean up a spill or have old paint I need to get rid of, I do one of two things. I either let the solvent evaporate off of I take the cans to the annual haz waste day. I also take my used oil and old filter back to the auto parts store I bought the new oil and filter.As I stated in my orignal post - always check with your local and state people. They always have the right to be more strigent than the Feds.Kevin ArceneauxVisit the Lone Wolf Activities for MS Trainsimulator at http://www.3dtrains.com
I understood your original post without any problem. I agree that the ezine should have checked their story better. I subscribe to the ezine but I am having trouble with several of their stories lately.Thanks for your posting and trying to clear up some of the confusion on this subject.Howard
Thanks for the clarification, Kevin.
There is no household hazardous waste exemption in California nor is there a very small business (CESQG) exemption. Instead, California has invested in a network of household hazardous waste collection facilities that take household hazardous waste and (usually) small business waste for proper disposal. Not a perfect system nor a sensible use of limited resources in every case, but as well as us homo saps do.
My opinion: A small amount of solvent spilled should be allowed to evaporate or soaked up with cloth or paper and allowed to evaporate. A significant amount (what ever that is), bite the bullet and call the local emergency response folks. Get the clean up done safely and in a manner that shows that you want your kids to have a world as good as yours, or better. Not strictly legal advice in the great State of Confusion (California), but reasonable if legal where you live.
I'll add what I think I know about this: sometimes it's the case that household hazardous waste is exempt from state regulations, BUT in some states ( I think PA) it becomes the responsibility of the waste hauler once the waste hauler picks it up. So the waste hauler might refuse it even if the state or feds say it's o.k. In other words, there could be a third layer of bureaucracy to check out: federal, state, and private waste hauler.
You need to be carefull when talking to the hauler, they do not know the regs. I had that problem here. They refused to pick up some old paint cans and other chemicals when I cleaned my shed out. I called and the girl on the phone told me it was against state regulations for them to pick it up. At this time I was doing the haz waste regs for the state. So I know she was wrong. I asked to speak to the supervisor and was told he would have to call me back. So I gave her my number, not telling her what I did. :) When the supervisor called and I answered DEQ, Hazardous Waste, that was pretty much the end of the arguement and they send a truck to my house to pick up the waste.Kevin ArceneauxVisit the Lone Wolf Activities for MS Trainsimulator at http://www.3dtrains.com
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