Kevin Arceneaux
12-14-2004, 4:54 PM
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 tlonger 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
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 tlonger 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