Is Your Texas Hazardous Waste Disposal Company Putting You At Risk?

Introduction:

Is your hazardous waste disposal vendor putting your company at risk by failing to understand and advise you on EPA and TCEQ hazardous waste generator compliance regulations?

We were recently contacted by 2 Texas companies who got into trouble with TCEQ and EPA for hazardous waste violations that were actually caused by their hazardous waste disposal company.

These cases inspired me to write this blog post which is designed to explain how this can happen, what simple step you can take to evaluate your current hazardous waste disposal company in Texas so as to reduce your risk, and most importantly provide a summary of common EPA and TCEQ hazardous waste generator regulations which many manufacturers aren’t aware of.

The Problem & How You Can Reduce Your Risk

Many Texas manufacturers, especially small ones, make the mistake of believing that as long as they’re properly disposing of their hazardous waste, they’re also meeting all EPA and TCEQ industrial and hazardous waste compliance regulations. Unfortunately that’s not true. Not even close.

To compound the problem, the majority of hazardous waste disposal companies and treatment facilities in Texas only offer disposal services, with zero compliance oversight or advice for their customers. This is due to the fact that they often have little or no knowledge of the long list of hazardous waste regulations that apply to their customers (ie: industrial & hazardous waste generators).

To be fair, they have no obligation to understand these regulations or advise their customers, but unfortunately this knowledge gap can lead to major problems when, for example, the disposal vendor inadvertently creates manifesting or classification errors, or fails to recognize violations, which can then result in environmental violations, citations and stiff fines for their waste generator customers. These violations can involve a wide range of issues including labeling, storage, manifesting, training, containers, etc.

Never forget that EPA RCRA laws mandate “cradle to grave” responsibility for generators of hazardous waste. In other words, the company who creates the waste must understand and manage hazardous waste regulations, and cannot blame anyone else if or when they fail to do so.

Hello, my name is Russell Carr, and I’ve been in the hazardous waste disposal and management industry for over 20 years now. I started my career working for a hazardous waste disposal company, who did a great job of training me on how to classify and characterize industrial and hazardous wastes, but little did I know at that time, that there were a long list of other hazardous waste regulations that our customers had to meet and manage. My employer never bothered to mention this, nor did they offer training on these regulations so I was totally unaware, just as most, if not all other waste disposal companies are today.

Which leads us to our first objective, which is to strongly recommend that you contact your hazardous waste treatment company/vendor and ask them 2 simple questions:

Does their staff understand industrial and hazardous waste generator rules and regulations?
Do they provide oversight and consultation on how to manage this long list of regulations?

If the answer to either, or both questions, is “no,” we strongly recommend that you keep searching for a hazardous waste disposal company who can offer both: hazardous waste disposal services combined with compliance oversight and consultation services.

Common Hazardous Waste Generator Rules & Regulations

Below is a brief summary of the most common EPA and TCEQ industrial and hazardous waste regulations which apply to Texas manufacturers.

Industrial and Hazardous Waste Characterization and Waste Determination Documentation

In Texas, industrial waste generators must identify, characterize and create and document waste determinations for each waste stream that they generate. This includes everything from plant trash to recycled items, as well as all industrial and hazardous wastes, including “universal wastes.”

Waste determinations require extensive information including:

Generator RN, CN and SWR ID #’s
State waste code
Classification: Class 1, 2, 3 or Hazardous
Description of process generating the waste
Process knowledge & analytical data
EPA Hazardous Waste Codes (if applicable): Characteristic or Listed

This is a very common violation since the majority of Texas manufacturers are totally unaware of this requirement. We have heard from several companies over the years who were cited over this issue.

Determine Your Waste Generator Status

After completing your waste determinations, the next step in the process is to determine your company’s waste generator status. This is a key requirement, because your generator status will determine which additional industrial waste regulations apply, or don’t apply, to your company.

Your status is generally dependent on the monthly quantity of industrial hazardous waste that your company generates each calendar month (companies who generate acute hazardous waste or large quantities of Class 1 waste should conduct additional evaluations).

In summary, companies who generate less than 220 combined pounds per month (equivalent to approximately ½ a 55 gallon drum) of a hazardous waste is a CESQ or “Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator”. This is the lowest generator status, and results in the least additional waste compliance requirements.

If your company generates between 220 – 2,200 combined pounds per month of Hazardous waste, then your business is an SQG or “Small Quantity Generator.”

And finally, if your company generates more than 2,200 combined lbs. per month of Hazardous waste, then you are considered a LQG or “Large Quantity Generators.”

As you might have guessed, SQGs and LQGs must manage more regulations than CESQ’s.

Summary of Waste Generator Regulations Triggered Based on Generator Status

CESQs Must:

Create and document waste determinations
Manifest all waste shipments
Track quantity of hazardous wastes generated each month
Maintain files and records of all manifests
Evaluate and utilize approved US Department of Transportation (USDOT) waste containers for storage and transportation
Properly label and store waste containers
Utilize permitted and approved industrial and hazardous waste transporters and treatment facilities.
Provide DOT Hazardous Materials training if the company ships any quantity of hazardous waste.

SQGs Must:

Create and document waste determinations
Register with EPA & TCEQ as a SQG & obtain EPA and State Waste generator ID #’s
Create & maintain an “NOR” or Notice of Registration using TCEQ’s STEERS system.
Manifest all waste shipments
Track quantity of hazardous wastes generated each month
Maintain files and records of all manifests
Evaluate and utilize approved US Department of Transportation (USDOT) waste containers for storage and transportation
Properly label and store waste containers
Utilize permitted and approved industrial and hazardous waste transporters and treatment facilities.
Provide DOT Hazardous Materials training if the company ships any quantity of hazardous waste.
NOT store or accumulate > 6,000 kg of waste on site
Ship waste a minimum of every 180 days
Provide EPA/RCRA waste generator training to employees (Initial and recurring training required)
Develop & maintain a Pollution Prevention plan, Aka: P2 Plan
Must submit an Annual Waste Summary each year.
Must develop a written emergency contingency plan.

LQGs Must:

Create & document waste determinations
Register with EPA & TCEQ as a SQG & obtain EPA and State Waste generator ID #’s
Create & maintain an “NOR” or Notice of Registration using TCEQ’s STEERS system.
Manifest all waste shipments
Track quantity of hazardous wastes generated each month
Maintain files and records of all manifests
Evaluate and utilize approved US Department of Transportation (USDOT) waste containers for storage and transportation
Properly label and store waste containers
Utilize permitted and approved industrial and hazardous waste transporters and treatment facilities.
Provide DOT Hazardous Materials training if the company ships any quantity of hazardous waste.
NOT store or accumulate > 6,000 kg of waste on site
Ship waste a minimum of every 180 days
Provide EPA/RCRA waste generator training to employees (Initial and recurring training required)
Develop & maintain a Pollution Prevention plan, Aka: P2 Plan
Must submit an Annual Waste Summary each year.
Must ship waste off site at least every 90 days
Must maintain job descriptions for employees who are required to help manage hazardous waste operations.
Must develop a written emergency contingency plan.

Other Considerations:

As you can see, the more hazardous waste a company generates, and the higher the generator status, the greater the number of regulations that must be implemented and managed. This regulatory burden can be extremely challenging, especially for small manufacturers. This is a strong incentive to eliminate or minimize hazardous wastes wherever possible.
“Cradle To Grave” waste generator responsibilities: Per EPA and regardless of generator status, waste generators have ultimate responsibility for properly managing all applicable RCRA regulations as described above. This includes any errors, omissions and accidents caused by 3^rd parties, including contracted waste transporters and hazardous waste disposal vendors. Waste generators who fail to manage these requirements can face major fines and penalties.
This blog post is only intended to provide basic hazardous waste regulatory compliance information & guidelines. More information should and can be found on EPA’s and TCEQ’s websites.

Berg Environmental Services is celebrating 18 years in business helping Texas companies manage hazardous waste regulatory compliance. We provide hazardous waste disposal services combined with regulatory oversight and compliance assistance. Our clients save money, maintain compliance and reduce their risk.

Call 512-457-0374 Or Click Below To Schedule Your Free, No Obligation Strategy Call

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By Russell Carr|2021-10-13T17:20:46-05:00August 10th, 2020|Hazardous Waste Management, OSHA Health & Safety, Texas Environmental Regulations|Comments Off

About the Author: Russell Carr

How A Sales Guy Transformed Into An Environmental, Health & Safety Expert & Advocate For Small Businesses I've spent my entire 30+ year career working within the manufacturing and “industrial services” sectors. The first 15 years of my career focused on sales of hazardous materials related products and services to the manufacturing sector, then for the last 16+ years transitioned into entrepreneurship, founding 3 small industrial services related contracting businesses. As you’ll see below, running these companies eventually lead me to found yet a 4th business, but more on that in a minute…. Here’s a brief description of the first 3 companies: Berg Environmental Services, Inc.: hazardous waste disposal & transportation services, founded in August of 2003 3rd party wind energy operations & maintenance services provider to utility scale wind farms throughout the US, founded in September 2007 3rd party oil & gas exploration & production services provider, founded in August of 2011 Each of these companies operated in extremely dangerous working conditions and exposed my employees to a wide range of serious health & safety hazards on a daily basis. To complicate matters, 2 of the companies also exposed the environment to significant potential harm. In other words, I learned very early the critical importance of managing environmental, health and safety issues so as to ensure the safety of our employees and the environment, as well as minimizing related risks. But I also learned how incredibly difficult and challenging this endeavor can be due to the wide range of complicated and continually changing environmental, health and safety rules and regulations that impacted the companies. To summarize the challenges: First I had to determine which regulations applied to each company, then I had to build compliance programs to meet those regulations, and finally I had to ensure that the programs were being managed and followed by our staff on a daily basis. All while trying to run and grow 3 profitable businesses…. It was overwhelming and I always struggled to keep up. To make matters worse, throughout this time I also witnessed the devastating price that companies, management and ownership can pay for failing to manage EHS compliance. This included seeing one of my hazardous waste management clients get sent to jail over environmental issues, another client’s management team threatened with jail time, a direct competitor get fined $378,000 by OSHA fine after an employee was nearly killed, and many others face major fines and penalties. Full disclosure, one of my companies got fined by OSHA at one point, & another was cited by TCEQ, so I know how it feels. In summary, I learned first hand how incredibly difficult it is for small companies to manage EHS compliance due to a common lack of the critical expertise, time and resources that are needed to keep up, and how this situation then ends up exposing them to these potentially catastrophic risks that can literally destroy lives and businesses. This later inspired me to found my 4th company, Berg Compliance Solutions in 2012, which is dedicated to helping other small businesses, and business owners, to manage EHS compliance and risk. Education BA, Philosophy, University of Colorado, Boulder, December, 1990. Summary of Professional Experience & Qualifications: 30+ years serving the manufacturing & industrial services sectors 30+ years of sales and marketing experience 16+ years as small business owner & entrepreneur: Founded and operated 4 small businesses since 2003. Environmental, Health & Safety Compliance & Program Related: 19 plus years of hazardous waste management including EPA, TCEQ & RCRA regulations 8 years of DOT/FMCSA compliance experience, including hazardous materials transportation 8 years of combined experience implementing and managing OSHA health and safety compliance programs for 2 high risk energy services businesses Successfully implemented and gained ISO 9001 Quality Management Certification and OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health & Safety Advisory Service) Certification for wind energy maintenance business. Regulatory Enforcement Related Experience: Served as expert witness in criminal environmental compliance enforcement cases Superfund-CERCLA OSHA enforcement inspections, investigations and resolution in following industries: industrial services, manufacturing & construction. TCEQ enforcement inspections, investigations and resolution in manufacturing.

Is Your Texas Hazardous Waste Disposal Company Putting You At Risk?