On November 15, 2019, the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) signed a final rule to classify and regulate hazardous aerosol can wastes as “universal wastes” under the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste rules.
Rule Summary
Aerosol cans are widely used for dispensing a broad range of products including paints, solvents, pesticides, food and personal care products, and many others. The Household & Commercial Products Association (HCPA) estimates that 3.75 billion aerosol cans were filled in the United States in 2016 for use by commercial and industrial facilities as well as by households. Aerosol cans can account for nearly 40 percent of retail items that are managed as hazardous waste at large retail facilities.
With this rule, EPA adds hazardous waste aerosol cans to those “universal wastes” regulated under title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), part 273. This change in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations is expected to reduce regulatory costs for a wide variety of establishments generating and managing aerosol cans, including the retail sector, by providing a clear, protective system for handling hazardous waste aerosol cans.
The streamlined universal waste regulations are expected to:
EPA is providing a pre-publication version of this final rule below. While EPA has taken steps to ensure the accuracy of this Internet copy of this final rule, it is not the official version of this final rule. Please refer to the official version in a forthcoming Federal Register publication, which will appear on the Government Printing Office's govinfo website.
View the pre-publication version of this rule
*This content was generated by https://resource-recycling.com. To read the original article or for more information go to https://www.epa.gov/hw/increasing-recycling-adding-aerosol-cans-universal-waste-regulations#rule-summary