Fiscal Year 2024 Accomplishments: Materials Recovery and Waste Management Division
On this page:
- Protecting Communities from Hazardous Waste and Providing Technical Support for Local Governments
- Protecting Communities from Coal Ash and Helping States Meet Federal Standards
- Protecting the Environment and Public Health through Emissions Reductions and Recycling of HFCs, Solar Panels, and Proper Disposal of Pharmaceuticals
- Protecting the Environment and Public Health Through Safe Management of Hazardous and Solid Waste Across Borders
Protecting Communities from Hazardous Waste and Providing Technical Support for Local Governments
On February 8, 2024, ORCR published a proposed rule to add nine per- and polyfluoroalkyl compounds as RCRA hazardous constituents. With this proposal, EPA is protecting communities by strengthening its ability to address PFAS contamination under the RCRA cleanup program at RCRA hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities.
On April 26, ORCR published the final denial of a petition to classify discarded polyvinyl chloride, a type of plastic commonly known as PVC, as a RCRA hazardous waste. In the final denial, EPA concluded that the petition, even as supplemented by the information received through the public comment period, provided insufficient information to justify listing discarded PVC as a hazardous waste.
On May 9, ORCR published the final approval of a variance petition from the U.S. Department of Energy for the Hanford Site in Washington State to treat and dispose of 2,000 gallons of low-activity radioactive and hazardous waste in a manner that minimizes threats to human health and the environment.
On August 2, ORCR published "Creating Disaster-Resilient Buildings to Minimize Disaster Debris." This document provides practical actions for communities on planning, designing, improving, and adapting new and existing buildings to withstand natural disasters.
Protecting Communities from Coal Ash and Helping States Meet Federal Standards
On May 8, 2024, we finalized changes to the CCR regulations for Coal Combustion Residuals Management Units and inactive surface impoundments at inactive electric utilities, referred to as "legacy CCR surface impoundments." This rule will reduce incidents of cancer from the consumption of arsenic in drinking water, avoid intelligence quotient losses from mercury and lead exposure, improve water quality, and protect threatened and endangered species. This rule will also reduce the possibility of impoundment failures, including both “catastrophic” failures and smaller-volume releases.
ORCR collaborated with several states in their work to develop state CCR permitting programs. We provided technical and policy assistance to help them develop regulations and state authorization application packages. In many cases, this communication and assistance is ongoing. Unfortunately, despite extensive attempts to collaborate, EPA determined that the portions of the Alabama CCR permit program that were submitted for approval do not meet the standard for approval; those portions submitted are significantly less protective of people and waterways than the federal regulations require. Therefore, in May 2024 EPA denied the application submitted by the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, which sought to allow the Alabama CCR permit program to operate in lieu of the federal CCR program.
Protecting the Environment and Public Health through Emissions Reductions and Recycling of HFCs, Solar Panels, and Proper Disposal of Pharmaceuticals
In FY24, ORCR partnered with the Office of Air and Radiation to reduce emissions and increase the recycling of hydrofluorocarbons. We finalized a rule on the phasedown of hydrofluorocarbons under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020. As part of this effort, we also finalized alternative recycling standards for ignitable used refrigerants under RCRA authority. These changes to the hazardous waste regulations will decrease emissions and support the safe recycling of used refrigerants.
Safe and efficient solar panel recycling facilitates development of a circular economy for critical materials. To enable solar panel recycling, ORCR posted answers to frequently asked regulatory questions. We answered questions about identifying and safely managing solar panels that are hazardous waste and questions about how the RCRA regulations apply to solar panels that are reused and recycled.
We launched a website to provide information to households about how to properly dispose of leftover medications, including how to use various pharmaceutical take-back programs. This new site helps the public understand why proper disposal of household medication is important as well as what households should and should not do with their unwanted medications. The website also provides collectors of household medications with information about what they should do with the medications they collect.
Protecting the Environment and Public Health Through Safe Management of Hazardous and Solid Waste Across Borders
Our international work advanced equities on numerous fronts, whether it was ensuring hazardous waste moved safely across borders or solid waste management was adequately addressed in international agreements.
In FY24, ORCR processed over 2,400 notifications that included tens of thousands of waste streams for imports and exports of RCRA hazardous waste through the RCRAInfo Waste Import Export Tracking System. U.S. trade in hazardous waste remains focused in North America with 70% of shipments going to Canada and 18% to Mexico.
As the lead for the U.S.-Mexico Border 2025 Waste Policy Workgroup, we co-hosted two binational webinars on the management of scrap tires with counterparts from Mexico’s Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT). In September 2024, we joined the Deputy Administrator and other EPA senior leadership at the National Coordinators’ Meeting to mark the accomplishments of the Border 2025 program, which wraps up next year.
In November 2023, we adopted a waste threshold for waste contaminated with mercury at the fifth Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP-5). We served on the technical expert group and spoke in the plenary session, completing implementation of the waste article of the Convention after more than seven years of negotiation.
We joined the Department of State-led U.S. government team at the 3rd and 4th Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meetings to negotiate a new global instrument aimed at eliminating plastic pollution. ORCR played a key role in advancing draft text for the agreement with the goal of finalizing it at the end of 2024.
