March/April 2011
Compliance with hazardous waste regulations might seem tricky, but scrapyards that meet five key requirements have a better chance of avoiding fines and violation notices.
By Lindsay Maine
Though scrap is not waste, scrap processing yards can encounter wastes that recyclers become responsible for storing and disposing. Much of the hazardous waste, such as polychlorinated biphenyl-containing capacitors and ballasts, mercury switches, and certain oils, comes from end-of-life vehicles or appliances or from maintaining equipment. Some states don’t consider wastes such as motor oil hazardous, but stormwater management or other regulations dictate how yards must handle them. The various programs and agencies that regulate these wastes can overlap, creating confusion—even for hazardous waste management experts. It’s nearly impossible to have in-depth knowledge of every environmental, health, and safety regulation that applies to a scrapyard to the point that you feel confident that your business is compliant. You can end up feeling like a guppy in a pool of regulatory sharks.
To complicate matters further, these regulations are written to apply to many different industries and businesses, so their guidance might not spell out exactly what a scrapyard needs to do. Then regulators, managers, and workers all bring different interpretations and perspectives into play, which breeds disagreement over whether you actually have met the regulatory requirements. As managers, we interpret the guidelines according to our perspective, and we communicate the information to our employees, who implement the requirements as they understand them. We might think we’re compliant, but an inspector who has interpreted the regulations in a different way could decide that the recycling operation falls short. Just when we think the shark has lost interest and is swimming away, we see rows of teeth closing in on us.
Whether you’re a large or small generator of hazardous waste, if you focus on mastering five basic regulatory requirements, you’re more likely to escape the jaws of the regulatory sharks. I’ve seen investigators fine scrapyards again and again for falling short in these five areas. At the same time, the problems they find outside these five areas have been relatively easy to fix. More important, if you master the “big five,” the inspectors are more likely to recognize your understanding of the regulations, and you will have demonstrated your yard’s concerted efforts toward hazardous waste compliance.
1. Have a contingency plan, and make sure employees know how to implement it. Regulators love to cite scrapyards for their failure to have a spill response and emergency contingency plan in place. That’s unfortunate, because in many states, the minimum requirements are actually quite simple: You must have an effective and organized emergency plan in writing, and the employees must have received adequate training on it. I want to emphasize the training: Though most regulations mandate that you have the plan in writing, it’s useless if the workers don’t adequately implement it.
Here’s an easy way to determine if you’re meeting this requirement: Do you see spilled fluids or big stains on the ground in your yard? If you can see them, the inspectors can, too. Spills and stains are a sign of poor housekeeping, and inspectors are likely to take them as an indication that you’re not implementing your spill control and contingency plan or not adequately training your workers to do so. This can set a negative tone for the remainder of the inspection. (An oil spill might not be a hazardous waste issue, but it’s most likely a stormwater management issue, and your facility’s spill prevention control and countermeasure plan should address it.) Having procedures in place for unexpected spills and emergencies won’t just help you stay in compliance; it also will help your employees maintain the facility and will keep them safe.
A contingency plan spells out exactly how the facility will respond to a spill, fire, explosion, or natural disaster that could affect it. For each contingency, the plan identifies specific duties and who is responsible for each one. It should designate one person as the emergency coordinator—someone thoroughly familiar with the facility’s contingency plan; its layout, operations, and activities; the location and characteristics of its hazardous and nonhazardous wastes; and the site of important records. Identify and train backup coordinators, too, so the site is still protected from problems or prepared for a surprise visit from an inspector even if the primary emergency coordinator is away or ill.
The contingency plan should make it clear that only employees with specific training can clean up certain types of spills, and it should identify those workers. Ideally, these workers are trained to OSHA’s hazardous waste operations and emergency response (HAZWOPER) standard. It’s a good idea to have someone with that knowledge on site at all times.
Your contingency plan also might specify keeping a spill-control kit on hand for each type of spill the facility could experience. Basic spill response steps are to contain the spill and use an absorbent to soak it up. Many workers make the mistake of spreading absorbent on the spill and thinking they’re done, but you really have to work the absorbent into the spill (typically, with a broom) and then properly dispose of the absorbent.
Once you have a plan, train everyone on staff on his or her specific responsibilities during each contingency. Repeat the training annually, as well as when the facility hires new workers or gives existing employees new responsibilities related to hazardous waste management and spill response. The contingency plan should answer every possible question so that managers and employees feel equipped to respond to any circumstance.
Be sure to keep the plan up to date, too. Review and amend it whenever applicable regulations change; if the plan fails in an emergency; if the characteristics of the facility change (due to construction, new operations, or maintenance, for example) in a way that materially increases the potential for fires, explosions, or spills; when the list of emergency coordinators changes; or when you change the emergency equipment.
2. Keep hazardous waste containers closed. Scrapyards also frequently receive violations for open and unsecured containers of hazardous waste or petroleum-based products. The regulations’ purpose is to prevent spills or the release of volatile organic compounds, which certain solids and liquids emit as gases into the atmosphere. Open containers pose a threat; closed ones don’t. It’s that simple. Obviously, a hazardous waste tank or container that doesn’t have a lid, or one with its lid removed, is open. Inspectors also consider it open, however, if its lid is closed but unsecured or if it has an open bung. If the contents would spill if you turned the container over, then it’s open. A closed container is leakproof and vapor-tight.
Keep hazardous waste containers securely closed except when they are under an operator’s direct control, such as when workers are actively adding or removing waste. If the employees who were adding or removing waste go on break, or if someone calls them to another area, they must close and secure the lid.
Some employees get creative in their efforts to cover containers, such as by using tarps, large pieces of scrap, and rags, but creative and easy fixes usually do not serve the law’s intent, and they leave you vulnerable to a violation. Reinforce the rule that containers must remain closed until it becomes routine for workers.
3. Label containers accurately and completely. Labels are an easy target for inspectors because they can see them from a distance. If they see a container but don’t see a label, they will investigate further. Proper labeling also is a safety issue: It ensures that employees do not put the wrong materials in the container and communicates content hazards.
The type of label a container requires—and the information it must contain—depends on the type of hazardous waste it holds. In general, a label should identify the hazard inside the container with its proper shipping name per the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (Washington, D.C.) Hazardous Materials Table. The “accumulation start date”—the date when you began to add the named waste to the container—also belongs on the label, or you should document it somewhere else where it is readily accessible. A guide for how to properly label your facility’s commonly generated wastes is a great tool. Fill out sample labels for each of the different wastes you accumulate, scan or copy them into a booklet, and give it to employees responsible for labeling wastes—or keep a copy where they can find it.
Filling out the label properly is a step in the right direction, but workers also have to affix the label to the storage container or tank and remove any old labels so that every hazardous waste container has just one, correct label. Empty drums that previously held hazardous waste also need labels, and the labels must give the date you emptied them. Along those lines, each hazardous waste has an accumulation or storage time limit set by local, state, or federal agencies that is based on the type and quantity of waste generated. Keep track of those limits and be sure to ship the waste for proper disposal in the allotted time.
4. Implement proper secondary containment. Most scrapyards need to think about secondary containment for petroleum-based or hazardous materials to keep those materials from contaminating stormwater. Spill prevention control and countermeasure plans require that facilities with petroleum-based products in 55-gallon or larger containers keep those containers in “sized containment”—containment that can hold the entire volume of the largest container, or that volume plus expected rainfall if the container is exposed to the elements. Capture devices such as containment pallets or berms can meet those requirements, retaining spills until response and cleanup are possible. Engineered spill prevention solutions such as spill kits, catch basins, and grading (to contain or divert materials that could spill) also work as secondary containment. Double-walled tanks work, too, but make sure you can verify that there are no leaks. You must inspect hazardous waste storage areas weekly and tanks daily. Inspectors will be satisfied if you place secondary containment devices of the appropriate size where they’re required; keep them clean; and inspect them, containers, and tanks as mandated.
5. Keep adequate and accurate records. Recordkeeping reflects the internal maintenance of your recycling operation. In the same way your facility’s housekeeping gives inspectors their first impression of your facility and sets the stage for the inspection, a quick glance at your records can communicate to the inspectors your organization, ownership, and knowledge of regulatory requirements. Several inspections have ended as soon as the inspector reviewed the facility’s paperwork: The appropriate and accurate records instilled confidence in the inspector that the yards were equally well-maintained.
Documentation closes the loop for hazardous waste management. It’s the final step in complying with hazardous waste regulations. When our materials and operations generate hazardous wastes, we must store and dispose of them properly, and our paperwork—the manifests, bills of lading, lab results, and so on—provides hard evidence that we have met our obligations. Training records prove that you have properly trained employees; shipment records prove that you have sent the waste for proper disposal. You must maintain most of these records for three years, although some you must keep longer. It’s a good idea to at least archive an electronic copy of these records beyond the three-year requirement.
It’s not enough just to have the right paperwork; it must contain accurate and complete information as well. In the same way that a large stain or standing spill shows you have not implemented a spill-response plan, an improperly filled out and signed mani-fest shows a lack of proper paperwork training. Even if a broker fills out the manifest, the person who signs it—not the broker—is certifying that the information it contains is correct. An incorrect manifest can result in fines and headaches when you try to meet other requirements, such as the biennial report that state or federal environmental agencies most likely require. If you keep records available, organized, and well maintained, you will have little concern when an inspector audits them.
The scrap recycling industry might look like a tasty meal for a wide array of regulatory sharks. It’s difficult to be an expert in all areas of regulation and meet all of the yard’s other business demands. To simplify your hazardous waste management, focus on the five steps above. They’ll give you the confidence you need to welcome your next inspection as well as the peace of mind that your facility is safe.
Lindsay Maine is environmental manager for SA Recycling (Anaheim, Calif.).
Compliance with hazardous waste regulations might seem tricky, but scrapyards that meet five key requirements have a better chance of avoiding fines and violation notices.