TSDF Permit Glossary: Key Terms & Definitions for Developers and Consultants

TSDF Permit Key Terms & Definitions

Closure: The process of permanently closing a hazardous waste management unit or facility in accordance with an approved closure plan and the requirements of 40 CFR 264 Subpart G or 40 CFR 265 Subpart G.

Contingency Plan: A document that outlines the actions facility personnel must take in response to fires, explosions, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to air, soil, or surface water at a hazardous waste management facility (40 CFR 264 Subpart D and 40 CFR 265 Subpart D).

Corrective Action: The cleanup of releases of hazardous waste or constituents from solid waste management units at a treatment, storage, and disposal facility (TSDF), regardless of the time at which waste was placed in such units, as required under sections 3004(u) and 3004(v) of RCRA.

Disposal: The discharge, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, or placing of any solid waste or hazardous waste into or on any land or water so that such solid waste or hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the environment or be emitted into the air or discharged into any waters, including ground waters (40 CFR 260.10).

Generator: Any person whose act or process produces hazardous waste identified or listed in 40 CFR Part 261 or whose act first causes a hazardous waste to become subject to regulation (40 CFR 260.10).

Groundwater Monitoring: The process of sampling and analyzing groundwater to detect the presence of hazardous waste or hazardous constituents, as required under 40 CFR 264 Subpart F and 40 CFR 265 Subpart F.

Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA): The 1984 amendments to RCRA that significantly expanded the scope and requirements of the RCRA program, including the regulation of small quantity generators, waste minimization, and corrective action.

Hazardous Waste: A solid waste that exhibits the characteristics of hazardous waste (ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity) or is listed as a hazardous waste in 40 CFR Part 261.

Land Disposal Restrictions (LDR): The regulations that prohibit the land disposal of untreated hazardous wastes and set treatment standards for hazardous wastes prior to land disposal (40 CFR Part 268).

Manifest: The shipping document that originates with the generator and contains information about the type, quantity, and destination of hazardous waste being transported (40 CFR 262 Subpart B).

Permit: An authorization, license, or equivalent control document issued by the EPA or an authorized state to implement the requirements of the RCRA hazardous waste regulations (40 CFR 270.2).

Post-Closure: The period after closure of a hazardous waste management unit during which owners and operators must perform maintenance and monitoring activities to preserve the integrity of the disposal system and continue to prevent or control releases from the unit (40 CFR 264 Subpart G and 40 CFR 265 Subpart G).

RCRA: The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, as amended, which establishes the framework for the proper management of hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste.

Recycling: The process of recovering useful materials or energy from solid waste, including hazardous waste, through methods such as reuse, reclamation, regeneration, and burning for energy recovery.

Release: Any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing of hazardous waste or hazardous constituents into the environment (40 CFR 260.10).

Small Quantity Generator (SQG): A generator who generates less than 1,000 kg of hazardous waste in a calendar month and complies with the requirements of 40 CFR 262.16.

Solid Waste: Any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, commercial, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities (40 CFR 261.2).

Storage: The holding of hazardous waste for a temporary period, at the end of which the hazardous waste is treated, disposed of, or stored elsewhere (40 CFR 260.10).

Treatment: Any method, technique, or process, including neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical, or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste so as to neutralize such waste, or so as to recover energy or material resources from the waste, or so as to render such waste non-hazardous, or less hazardous; safer to transport, store, or dispose of; or amenable for recovery, amenable for storage, or reduced in volume (40 CFR 260.10).

Treatment, Storage, and Disposal Facility (TSDF): A facility that treats, stores, or disposes of hazardous waste and is required to obtain a permit or interim status under RCRA (40 CFR 260.10).

Universal Waste: Widely generated hazardous wastes, such as batteries, pesticides, mercury-containing equipment, and lamps, that are subject to streamlined collection, storage, and transportation requirements (40 CFR Part 273).

Waste Analysis Plan: A document that describes the procedures that will be used to comply with the waste analysis requirements of 40 CFR 264.13 or 40 CFR 265.13, including the methods for obtaining a representative sample of the waste and the frequency of sampling.

Waste Minimization: The reduction, to the extent feasible, of hazardous waste that is generated or subsequently treated, stored, or disposed of, with the reduction occurring through source reduction or recycling (40 CFR 264.73(b)(9) and 40 CFR 265.75(h)).

Waste Stream: A term used to refer to wastes that have similar physical, chemical, and/or radiological properties and are generated from a specific process or source.

Wastewater Treatment Unit: A device that is part of a wastewater treatment facility that is subject to regulation under either section 402 or 307(b) of the Clean Water Act, and that receives and treats or stores an influent wastewater that is a hazardous waste, or that generates and accumulates a wastewater treatment sludge that is a hazardous waste, or treats or stores a wastewater treatment sludge which is a hazardous waste (40 CFR 260.10).