Universal Hazardous Wastes

Enforcement & Inspection Branch

Penny Wilson, Inspector Supervisor - (501) 682-0868

• What are Universal Wastes?
• How Are Universal Wastes Handled?

What are universal wastes?

Section 273 of Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission Regulation 23 (PDF File 3.5mb), adopted in December, 1995, addresses a class of wastes grouped under the term “universal wastes”. Universal wastes are a specified set of widely distributed hazardous wastes for which EPA and ADEQ have approved less stringent handling and management standards provided that these wastes are ultimately forwarded to the appropriate recycling or reclamation centers, and are ultimately recycled or reclaimed.

The wastes classified as universal wastes include:

1. Spent batteries such as nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cd, or Nicad) and small sealed lead-acid batteries (found in many common items such as electronic equipment, portable telephones, portable computers, and emergency lighting). Larger lead-acid batteries are managed under the provisions of Regulation 23 (PDF File 3.5mb) §266, Subsection G;

2. Agricultural pesticides and herbicides that have been recalled or banned from use, are obsolete, have become damaged, or which are no longer needed due to changes in cropping patterns or other factors; and

3. Mercury-containing devices that exhibit a characteristic of a hazardous waste.

4. Intact spent or waste lamps which exhibit a characteristic of a hazardous waste.

5. Consumer electronic items (such as any intact or broken cathode ray tube, (e.g., television, computer monitor, or other cathode ray tube monitor or display device), personal computer or computer component, audio and/or stereo player, videocassette recorder/player, digital videodisk (DVD) recorder/player, video camera, telephone, facsimile or copying machine, cellular telephone, wireless paging device, or video game console) which exhibit a characteristic of a hazardous waste.

Universal wastes are not counted toward the amounts of waste generation which determine your Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) generator category, nor are they included in the wastes reportable on the Annual Hazardous Waste Report; provided that you manage them in accordance with the requirements of Regulation 23 (PDF File 3.5mb), §273.

Frequently-Asked Questions concerning Universal Wastes in Arkansas

How are universal wastes handled?

Universal waste generators, referred to in Regulation 23 (PDF File 3.5mb) as "handlers", may not dispose of any universal waste, and are prohibited from treating any hazardous waste, with the exception of responding to a release of these wastes to the environment, or specific treatment methods detailed at Regulation 23 (PDF File 3.5mb) §273.13 or §273.33.
Universal wastes are managed in much the same manner as hazardous wastes. Handlers must continue to ensure that these wastes are disposed of only by sending them to a permitted hazardous waste treatment, storage, or disposal facility, or by sending them to a permitted treatment facility for recycling. Handlers of universal wastes may accumulate universal wastes on-site for up to 12 months. Shipping universal wastes for disposal or recycling does not require the use of a hazardous waste manifest and may be shipped via a common carrier rather than a hazardous waste transporter. The following table summarizes the management requirements for universal waste handlers, transporters, and destination facilities:

Universal Waste Management Requirements

What constitutes an acceptable container for the accumulation, shipment, and transport of universal wastes?

Regulation No. 23 mirrors the Federal requirements for a RCRA-approved container, and the universal waste management standards use these same requirements. For shipment of either hazardous or universal wastes:

• The container must be compatible with the waste that it contains;
• The container must remain closed;
• The container must be structurally sound;
• The container must lack evidence of leakage, spillage, or damage that could cause leakage under reasonable conditions;
• The container must be acceptable to U.S. DoT for transporting the type of materials it contains.

Universal Waste Mercury-Containing Devices

Universal Waste Lamps

How does Arkansas regulate spent fluorescent lamps?

Arkansas has adopted the Federal provision which allows for managing spent hazardous waste lamps under the provision of the universal waste management program effective May 20, 2000.

Under the Arkansas regulations, only intact spent lamps may be managed as universal wastes. Broken or crushed lamps, regardless of whether such breakage or crushing was intentional or accidental, are still subject to the full scope of the RCRA regulations.

Are fluorescent lamps a hazardous waste?

Most spent fluorescent, compact fluorescent, high-intensity discharge, and sodium vapor lamps will be characterized as toxicity characteristic hazardous wastes because of leachable mercury (D009) or lead (D008, from the solder in the end connectors) content, or as reactive (D003) because of the sodium vapor content. The exceptions to this assumption fall into three cases:

• Generator provides documentation from manufacturer’s MSDS or product disposal information indicating that the disposed lamps do not exhibit a characteristic of hazardous waste and do not pose a short-or long-term risk to health or the environment when disposed in a Subtitle D landfill. Alternatively, generator may present certified laboratory results indicating that the lamps in question do not fail the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) for a characteristic of a hazardous waste.
• Spent lamps which meet the criteria for household hazardous waste (HHW) at Regulation No. 23 § 261.4(b) are not considered to be hazardous wastes and are not regulated under Regulation No. 23. HHW lamps may be accepted; lamps from commercial enterprises are conditionally-exempt hazardous wastes (or fully-regulated hazardous wastes, depending on facility’s generator status) and must be managed as hazardous waste.
• Phillips ALTO, Sylvania ECOLOGIC, and GE ECOLUX brand name lamps. These lamps may be identified by the manufacturer’s brand name and label. The Phillips lamps are further identified with green end caps on each lamp; the GE and Sylvania lamps are prominently labeled in green on the glass tube. These manufacturers have provided documentation to the Department concerning the mercury and lead content of these specific lines of lamps, and these lamps are generally safe for disposal in a Class I Subtitle D landfill. Other lamps are being developed that may be nonhazardous upon disposal, so be sure to check the lamp manufacturer’s MSDS for that model of lamp.

Spent lamps that are hazardous wastes (including conditionally-exempt hazardous wastes) may not be disposed of in Subtitle D (solid waste) landfills in Arkansas. Lamps that are disposed in or forwarded to Subtitle C (hazardous waste) landfills must be treated to meet the appropriate land disposal restriction (LDR) treatment standard (Reg. 23 § 268.40) before such disposal.

Under the provisions of RCRA and Regulation No. 23, once fluorescent or other lamps are "spent", they must be handled in the same manner as any other solid waste. Spent lamps that originate from households as defined at Reg. 23 261.4(b)(1) qualify as "household hazardous wastes" and may be managed and disposed of in the normal household trash. For spent lamps derived from any other source, the generator must determine, as required by Reg. 23 262.11, whether this solid waste is a hazardous waste, and then manage the waste under the appropriate requirements of Regulation No. 23. For intact lamps that are forwarded to permitted recycling or disposal facilities, generators may elect to manage these lamps as Universal Wastes.

What are my disposal obligations under Regulation 23?

Spent lamps that originate from households as defined at Reg. 23 261.4(b)(1) qualify as "household hazardous wastes" and may be managed and disposed of in the normal household trash.
Intact lamps may be managed as universal wastes under the provisions of Regulation No. 23, Section 273. Recycling is the most environmentally acceptable method of handling this waste stream, and there are a number of lamp recyclers in the Mid-South who safely and reliably recycle these wastes. The Department recommends that you:

• Re-package spent lamps in their original shipping cartons (or the carton that came with the replacement lamp);
• Store the spent lamps so as to prevent breakage until you have enough to economically recycle them (or as provided under the accumulation time limits for your generator category); and
• Use a permitted lamp recycler to treat and recycle your waste lamps.
  Handlers may accumulate universal waste lamps for up to 1 year before they must be shipped off-site for treatment (recycling) or disposal; and may ship the lamps on a normal bill of lading without the need for a hazardous waste manifest. Universal wastes may only be shipped to a permitted recycler, or a treatment or disposal facility permitted to manage hazardous wastes. Like other universal wastes, universal waste lamps are not counted toward a facility's total generation of hazardous wastes for either compliance status or generation fees.

What about crushing lamps to make them easier to handle?

The Department strongly discourages managing spent fluorescent lamps by crushing.

Crushing spent fluorescent lamps constitutes treatment of a hazardous waste. Generators may treat hazardous wastes on-site without a RCRA permit only if:

• Such treatment is accomplished in the generator's accumulation tanks and containers constructed and operated in compliance with Reg. No. 23 Section 265 Subsection I (for containers) or Subsection J (for tank systems), and these tanks and containers are exempt from permitting during the period of accumulation;
• Accumulated hazardous wastes are treated within the 90-day limit for accumulation (180 days for SQGs);
• They are in compliance with all of the emergency preparedness and prevention standards set forth at Reg. No. 23, Section 262..34(d)

Our experience has shown that most of the mercury in a fluorescent bulb or tube is in the vapor state. Crushing the tube releases most of the mercury into the environment. This creates a significant hazard to the employee operating the lamp crusher from exposure to mercury vapor, and the generator must ensure that he complies with the applicable OSHA rules and standards for worker safety and protection from mercury exposure. In addition, our research indicates that most lamp recyclers charge a higher price for crushed lamps than they do for intact lamps.

Under the universal waste provisions, handlers are prohibited from crushing their lamps if they wish to manage them as universal wastes. Crushed and/or broken lamps are to be managed under the existing solid and hazardous waste management rules, and are not eligible to be managed under the universal waste provision.

Universal Waste Consumer Electronic Items

Is a shrink-wrapped pallet an acceptable container for shipping universal waste electronic items?

Generally, no. EPA FAXBACK 14146 addresses palletized UW batteries contained with shrink wrap. ADEQ and EPA believe that shrink-wrapped pallets may constitute a “container,” but have several concerns:

• Structural integrity/effectiveness in containing contents from leaking or spilling into the environment
• Containment of leakage or spillage from broken units.
• DoT approval of such palletized material for shipment.
• Palletized wastes must still be labeled appropriately as to their content.

This interpretation may be applied in the same manner to palletized/shrink-wrapped E-Waste.

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