Revisions to Proposed California Hazardous Waste Generator Rules
Posted: July 11th, 2023
Authors: Jane M.
Changes proposed to California’s hazardous waste program earlier this year are now undergoing a proposed modification and the revisions are open to public comment until July 20, 2023.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency implemented the Hazardous Waste Generator Improvements Rule (GIR) in 2016. In March of this year, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) proposed revisions to the hazardous waste program in California to incorporate the GIR provisions. The April 2023 4TR article covered this initial proposal in depth.
Updates to the California regulations are required under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). If these proposed changes are adopted, it would cause California hazardous waste regulations to have equal stringency as corresponding federal regulations. A public comment period was held for the initial proposal and since then, modifications have been made to the proposed regulations.
What changes were made from the initial proposal?
Amendments were made to the following: California Code of Regulations, Title 22, Division 4.5, Chapter 12, proposed Sections 66262.13, 66262.15, 66262.16, and Chapter 18, Section 66268.1. The most notable change in the revision was the incorporation of text defining Very Small Quantity Generators (VSQG) as it is defined in the code of federal regulations. However, California continues to only recognize small quantity and large quantity generators as generator categories. Table 1 shows the criteria for each of the generator categories, highlighting the very small quantity generator criteria; this table was adapted from the Proposed Modified Text of Regulations.
| Quantity of acute hazardous waste generated in a calendar month | Quantity of extremely hazardous waste generated in a calendar month | Quantity of non-acute hazardous waste generated in a calendar month | Generator category |
| > 1 kg | Any amount | Any amount | Large quantity generator |
| Any amount | > 1 kg | Any amount | Large quantity generator |
| Any amount | Any amount | ≥ 1,000 kg | Large quantity generator |
| ≤ 1 kg | ≤ 1 kg | Small quantity generator | |
| ≤ 1 kg | ≤ 1 kg | ≤ 100 kg | Very small quantity generator |
Other changes included:
- Revision to the satellite accumulation area regulations, specifically the accumulation quantity limit for multiple waste streams.
- Updated description for the small quantity generator for Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous wastes.
- Changes in wording to improve clarity and remove typos.
What can you do?
Comments on the proposed amendments can be submitted to the DTSC by email at regs@dtsc.ca.gov or as a hard copy. To submit hard copy comments, the DTSC address is:
Office of Legislation and Regulatory Review
Department of Toxic Substances Control
P.O. Box 806
Sacramento, California 95812-0806
For any questions about these changes, please contact me at jmullen@all4inc.com or 502.208.3137. Additionally, reach out to Meredith Garrett at mgarrett@all4inc.com or 909.477.7132 for additional information on the California GIR proposed rules and to find out how ALL4 can help your site maintain compliance.
