Teresa Marks, Director
5301 Northshore Drive
North Little Rock, AR 72118-5317 
(501) 682-0744

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Quick Links

• Introduction
• What is the Annual Report?
• Who Reports?
• What to Report
• Report Forms and Software
• Sources for Report Information
• Hazardous Waste Fee Assessments
• Retention of Reports

Introduction

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality's (ADEQ) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (U.S. EPA) mission to protect human health and the environment includes the responsibility to effectively manage the State's hazardous waste. As part of this task, U.S. EPA and the States collect and maintain information about the generation, management, and final disposition of the nation's hazardous waste regulated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, in coordination with the U.S. EPA, requires hazardous waste generators and hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities to report their hazardous waste activities during each calendar year. The information collected is used to:

• Provide the U.S. EPA and the Department with an understanding of hazardous waste generation and management activities in Arkansas, and in the Nation;
• Help measure and maintain the quality of the environment in Arkansas and the Nation;
• Assure that the State and the Nation have adequate hazardous waste treatment and disposal capacity, as required by the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA); and
• Communicate the status of hazardous waste management to the public, primarily through the National Biennial RCRA Hazardous Waste Report

What is the Arkansas Annual Hazardous Waste Report?

Arkansas businesses and facilities that generated hazardous waste(s) and/or transported hazardous waste(s) off-site must submit an annual hazardous waste report to the Director by March 1 of each year. This report describes the generator's hazardous waste activities during the previous calendar year and reports:

• Quantities and nature of any hazardous waste generated
• The disposition of hazardous wastes treated or disposed of on-site
• The disposition of hazardous wastes shipped to off-site treatment, storage, or disposal facilities (TSDFs)
• Quantities, nature, and disposition of hazardous wastes received on-site from other sources.

Who Reports?

You are required to submit an Annual Report if, during the reporting year, you:

• Were a fully-regulated Generator (LQG) or Small Quantity generator (SQG) during any month; or
• Treated, stored, or disposed of RCRA hazardous wastes on site in a waste management unit subject to RCRA permitting requirements; or
• Your site is on file with the Department as an SQG or LQG

What to Report

If you are required to submit an Annual Report, the following waste streams should be reported:

• All RCRA hazardous wastes and acutely hazardous wastes that were generated, shipped off-site, or treated, disposed, or recycled at your site;
• All RCRA hazardous wastes that were received from off-site;
• All hazardous wastes managed in units subject to RCRA permitting requirements;
• Hazardous wastes generated as a result of RCRA corrective action, spill cleanups, or other remedial actions;
• RCRA hazardous wastes generated at a Superfund remedial action or voluntary clean-up site.

Which Forms To Submit

Arkansas’ Annual Report Forms are similar to the federal forms for the EPA Biennial Report. You cannot, however, submit the federal forms.  You must use the free Electronic Reporting System software.

NOTE:  All hazardous waste generators MUST use electronic reporting.

• Booklet:  All Arkansas Annual Report Forms AND step-by-step instructions
• RCRAINFO File Specification Guide Hazardous Waste Report Submissions

The forms may change slightly from year to year as information needs change, so be sure that you are using forms designed for the current reporting year.

The Annual Report consists of five forms:

• Site ID Form, which provides basic facility identification and summary data;
  • All sites required to submit an Annual Report must complete and sign the Site ID Form.
• Form GM, which provides information on waste generation;
  • All sites required to submit an Annual Report must submit a separate Form GM for each hazardous waste that was:
    • generated on-site from a production process, service activity, or routine cleanup.
    • the result of equipment decommissioning, spill cleanup, or remedial cleanup activity.
    • derived from the management of a non-hazardous waste.
    • received from off-site, was subsequently shipped off-site, and was not recycled or treated on-site.
    • a residual from the on-site treatment, disposal, or recycling of a previously-existing hazardous waste.
• Form WR, which describes wastes received from off-site;
  • All sites required to submit an Annual Report must submit a separate Form WR for each hazardous waste received from off-site during the reporting year.
• Form OI, which describes offsite TSD and transfer information.
  • All sites required to submit an Annual Report must submit a separate Form OI for each offsite transfer, storage or disposal facility (all information) and transporters (names and EPA ID number only)
• Declaration of Electronic Filing
  • This form must be signed and mailed back to ADEQ for your electronic submittal to be considered complete.

Sources for Report Information

In preparing your Annual Report, you will need to consult your records on the quantities and types of hazardous wastes which you generated over the past year. Some helpful records include:

• Production records of hazardous wastes generated or accumulated over the reporting year;
• Hazardous waste Manifests (showing where the wastes were shipped for treatment or disposal);
• Laboratory analyses of your wastes (were wastes classified as hazardous?);
• Contracts and agreements with off-site TSD facilities that managed your wastes; and
• Copies of permits for any on-site waste management systems.

Several commercial software packages are now available which track your wastes as they were generated, manifested, and shipped. These may be very useful in assembling for the Annual Report. Just like filing your taxes, you should always make copies of the completed Report for your records, use a trackable method (such as UPS, Federal Express, or certified mail) to forward your report to this Department, or get a signed and dated receipt if you hand-deliver your Report.

Hazardous Waste Fee Assessments

ADEQ assesses yearly fees based on the information provided in the Annual Report. The Remedial Action Trust Fund Fee (Superfund Fee) is due by July 1 of each year, and the Hazardous Waste Monitoring and Inspection Fee is due by January 1 of each year. Descriptions of these fees and their applications are documented in Section 6 of Regulation No. 23. The fees are summarized below:

 

Fees will be calculated and billed by the Department in the course of reviewing the Annual Report, and an invoice will be forwarded to the generator. Generators should not enclose their fee payments with their Annual Reports.

Retention of Reports, Manifests, and Test Records

Generators must keep a copy of each annual report and any exception reports for a period of at least three years from the date the report was submitted. The generator also is required to keep a copy of all manifests for three years or until he or she receives a copy of the manifest signed and dated from the owner or operator of the designated facility. The manifest from the facility must then be kept for at least three years from the date on which the hazardous waste was accepted by the initial transporter.

Finally, the records of the waste analyses and determinations undertaken by the generator must be kept for at least three years from the date the waste was last sent to an on-site or off-site TSDF. The periods of retention mentioned above can be extended automatically during the course of any unresolved enforcement action regarding the regulated activity, or as requested by the Director.