Now for characteristic wastes.
RCRA establishes four criteria for evaluating characteristic hazardous wastes:
You can visit the hyperlinks for ignitability, reactivity and corrosivity to see a precise definition, but their names tell a lot about them. "Toxicity" requires some explanation. Clearly almost all of the listed wastes are "toxic." As are most things that are reactive, etc. Why a special characteristic? The big issue with waste is whether or not it has sufficient risk, such that it cannot be disposed in the same manner as normal "municipal solid waste," i.e., can it go to the same municipal solid waste dump as household trash? It is assumed that anything that goes into a municipal solid waste landfill might "leach" into the groundwater. That is, rain water or water from other trash will percolate through the waste, dissolving organic and inorganic matter and chemicals and carrying them into the ground water. But most materials will not dissolve and many of the dissolved chemical are not particularly hazardous. So the toxicity characteristic is based upon a test, the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure, TCLP, ("Tee Clip"). Skipping a lot of details, the test takes a relevant sample of the waste and places in a mild acid solution. After a while the solution is tested to see if has any of the concentrations listed in the table. If any of the concentrations are over the limit in the table, the sample has failed the TCLP and the material is hazardous waste.
Assignment:
This is the homework relating to lists. For the TRI assignment you identified
three wastes or releases. You also did some web searching to determine a little
about them. Write a paragraph each about these three wastes or releases and
determine if they are hazardous wastes according to RCRA. Are they on a list?
Which one. Are they characteristic wastes? For that you may need to compare
what you learned about the waste with the definitions of the characteristics.
If the waste came from a variety of sources, specify one or two and sources
and see if the waste is on the F or K lists.
Quiz. You should try this "paper" copy of the quiz before you go to the electronic copy in Blackboard.