Your Guide to the EPA’s New Wiper Rule

by Karen

The EPA’s new wiper rule can provide significant annual savings and simplify wiper disposal for your facility.

The Changes

As of January 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has excluded solvent-contaminated spill response and wiping products like mats, socks, pads and wipes from a number of hazardous waste regulations. This means you won’t need to handle, process or dispose of solvent-contaminated wipes as regulated hazardous waste.

Exclusions from Original Regs

Disposable wipers and absorbents and reusable laundered wipes are excluded as long as they meet the criteria listed in the regulation:

“A solvent-contaminated wipe is a wipe (i.e., a shop towel, rag, pad, or swab made of wood pulp, fabric, cotton, polyester blends, or other material) that after use or after cleaning up a spill, contains a solvent that would be considered hazardous waste either because it is listed in the hazardous waste regulations, or because it exhibits the characteristic of ignitability. Solvent-contaminated wipes do not include wipes contaminated with hazardous waste other than solvents, or that exhibit the characteristic of toxicity, corrosivity, or reactivity due to contaminants other than solvents.” [40 CFR 260.10]

A Good Change

EPA testing shows that wipes, absorbent mats and spill response products contaminated with common industrial solvents pose no significant risks to human health or the environment because they amount to only a small fraction of the total volume of solvent waste. So now you can dispose of them in municipal landfills as long as you follow a few simple rules.

Facility Benefits

Disposing of hazardous waste is expensive, heavily regulated and time consuming. In fact, EPA estimates annual savings from this rule change of $30,400 if your facility is a large quantity generator (LQG) and $4,200 if you’re a small quantity generator (SQG).Here are four ways the rule change can benefit your facility:

It’s easier to manage your disposable wipe waste stream because you don’t have to deal with the obligations and restrictions of hazardous waste procedures.
You don’t need to use a laundry service to handle solvent-contaminated wipes because you can now use disposables and manage them yourself at a lower cost.
You can stop sending solvent-contaminated wipes to a designated hazardous landfill and use lower-cost municipal solid waste landfills.
You may be able to improve your status as a waste generator depending on how many solvent-contaminated wipes you generate.

Improving your status means reduced reporting across your operation as well as helping you meet the general RCRA requirement to reduce hazardous wastes. If you are ISO 14001 certified this may also have a positive effect on your ISO plans, audits and reviews.

Other Points to Know

The EPA’s new wiper rule became final in 2013, but when the Waste Minimization Forum surveyed nearly 500 top plants in the US, they found that very few were aware of the rule change and what it could mean to their facility. Part of the problem lies in the complexity of environmental regulations. Since the EPA’s rule is at the federal level, individual states are not required to adopt it, so you may not hear about it from your state or local officials.

To find out if your state has adopted the new rule check the EPA’s state–level adoption status map.

Wipes Eligible for Exclusion

Download (PDF, 113KB)

Four Steps to Compliance

Step 1: See if your state has adopted the EPA’s new rule

“Wipes must be accumulated, stored and transported in non-leaking, closed containers that contain free liquids, should they occur.”

Containers must also be clearly labeled as Excluded Solvent-Contaminated Wipes.

Step 2: Make sure there are no free liquids in the container

Loose solvent in the container is hazardous waste.

“Wipes must contain no free liquids prior to being sent for cleaning or disposal and there may not be free liquid in the container holding the wipes.”

“Free liquids removed from the wipes or from the wipes container must be managed according to applicable hazardous waste regulations in 40 CFR parts 260 through 273.”

Step 3: Dispose of the wipes within 180 days

Wipes may be accumulated up to 180 days on site prior to being sent for cleaning or disposal.

Eligible laundering: A facility “regulated under sections 301 and 402 or section 307 of the Clean Water Act.”

Eligible disposal: A municipal landfill “regulated under 40 CFR part 258 (incl. 258.40)” or “hazardous waste landfill regulated under 40 CFR parts 264 or 265.”

Eligible incineration: A combustor “regulated under section 129 of the Clean Air Act” or “hazardous waste combustor, boiler or industrial furnace regulated under 40 CFR parts 264, 265 or subpart H.”

Step 4: Keep simple records

Records must be maintained to capture the following:

1. Name and address of the cleaning or disposal company where the wipes are sent.
2. Waste collection dates to show that the wipes are not being accumulated for longer than the 180-day limit.
3. A description of the process the generator is using to meet the requirement for no free liquids.

The New Rule Is Win-Win

The new solvent-contaminated wiper rule can simplify the way you manage your contaminated wipes while saving you thousands on disposal each year. And it’s a win-win for business and the environment according to Mathy Stanislaus, EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response:

“Today’s rule uses the latest science to provide a regulatory framework for managing solvent-contaminated wipes that is appropriate to the level of risk posed by these materials. I’ve heard directly from stakeholders about the benefits of this rule and the need to finalize it. The rule reduces costs for thousands of businesses, many of which are small businesses, while maintaining protection of human health and the environment.”

Get more information on the EPA’s new wiper rule:

A Quickstart Guide — a straightforward infographic that allows you to review, decide upon, and implement the new
rule quickly.

EPA’s Best Practices Guidelines — tons of info on how you can utilize the new Wiper Rule to your maximum
advantage – see the final rule, a summary chart, a recent webinar, FAQs and more.

Details— on the new rule, historical perspective and info on implementation at the state level.

FAQs — the most commonly asked questions…and solid answers.

EPA’s state level adoption status map— shows which states have/have not adopted the new EPA rule.

TAGS: Hazardous Waste, Waste Reduction