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This web-based document serves as a user-friendly reference to assist Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and state staff, industrial facilities generating and managing hazardous wastes as well as the general public, in locating and understanding the current RCRA hazardous waste generator regulatory “requirements.”1 These requirements are located primarily in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) at Part 262. The requirements as laid out in this reference document are organized by generator status—that is, conditionally exempt small quantity generators (CESQGs), small quantity generators (SQGs), and large quantity generators (LQGs). Please note that this reference document is designed to be web-based, so the usefulness of the document is maximized when it is viewed on a computer that is connected to the internet.
This web-based document is not a substitute for the CFR itself or the requirements contained in the CFR. This document is also not a rulemaking in any way. Additionally, this reference document presents only the federal requirements for hazardous waste generators. Most States are authorized to manage their hazardous waste generator regulatory program. Therefore, States may have their own set of regulations that apply in lieu of federal regulations, and while most state hazardous waste regulations are based on the federal requirements, some states have developed regulations more stringent than the federal program. We direct you to the following website to determine if the state regulatory program is different from the federal program: http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/stateweb.htm
This web-based document grows out of an evaluation of the hazardous waste generator program conducted in the spring of 2004 where EPA solicited input from its various stakeholders through the issuance of an Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM). (Please see FR Volume 69, No.78, April 22, 2004, pages 21800-21804.) EPA received over 500 individual comments from numerous organizations identifying issues and areas of confusion with the current RCRA generator regulations, and offering suggestions for resolving those issues. (Please see www.regulations.gov and search for docket number RCRA-2003-0014.) The most frequently mentioned comment from stakeholders was the need for EPA to improve the user-friendliness of the existing regulations. Commenters noted that the applicable hazardous waste generator regulations currently are scattered throughout the CFR and can be difficult to follow due to the large number of cross-references. As a result, hazardous waste generators have difficulty in understanding which regulations they must comply with.

The objective of this document is to address some of the commenters’ concerns by consolidating and streamlining the generator regulatory requirements into a helpful reference tool that features a user-friendly format, including references to EPA FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), letters, memoranda, and guidance documents that EPA has provided to the public through the years to help hazardous waste generators interpret the existing hazardous waste regulations. This document does not change any of the existing generator regulatory requirements.
This document is organized by hazardous waste generator status (e.g, CESQG, SQG and LQG), and, within those categories, by regulatory requirement as found in the CFR. The Summary Table provides a summary of regulatory requirements for each class of generator status. Also identified is the specific CFR citation for a particular regulatory requirement. In some cases, a particular regulatory requirement will be applicable to all classes of generators; in other cases to one or two classes.
This document is navigable in several ways. First, generators can use the Summary Table to link directly to the regulatory citation of interest in the Government Printing Office’s Electronic Code of Federal Register website (e-CFR) by left-clicking the mouse on the hyperlinks in the table. Clicking on the hyperlink will open the e-CFR in a new web-browser window, so the original document will also remain open.
Secondly, generators can take advantage of the Table of Contents (page 2 of the document) or the bookmarks (located on the left-hand side of the screen) to navigate through the body of the document. The Table of Contents and bookmarks are organized by hazardous waste generator status (“Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generators”, “Small Quantity Generators” and “Large Quantity Generators”). As a subset to each category of generator status, the user will find additional bookmarks linking to the regulatory requirements for each class of generator. In some cases, a particular regulatory requirement will be applicable to all classes of generators; in others cases, to one or two classes. As above, generators can use the Table of Contents and bookmarks to navigate by clicking the left side of the mouse on the link of interest in order to move within the document.
To help stakeholders better understand specific requirements, we also have provided, where applicable, hyperlinks to FAQs, letters, and memoranda issued by EPA, as well as guidance documents developed by EPA that provide further clarification of the hazardous waste generator regulations. We have attempted to identify the relevant related FAQs, letters, memoranda, etc. on a particular subject (miscellaneous resources can be found at the end of the document). However, please note that it is possible that EPA could have inadvertently overlooked a relevant document and did not include it in this reference document. Therefore we cannot guarantee that we captured every relevant document in each and every instance. Additionally, once a generator has navigated to the regulatory “requirement” of interest, we have provided hyperlinks to the e-CFR website when the generator regulations cross-reference themselves or other regulations.
Because regulations are promulgated throughout the year, EPA intends to update this reference document periodically to remain up-to-date with the hazardous waste generator regulatory requirements. However, as noted previously, this web-based reference document is not a substitute for the CFR itself or the requirements in the CFR. Additionally, the Government Printing Office frequently updates the e-CFR website to which the document is linked.
This reference document assumes that a solid and hazardous waste has been generated. Therefore, we have not included the applicable regulatory citations for determining if a solid waste (See 40 CFR 261.2) or a hazardous waste (See 40 CFR 261.3) has been generated. Similarly, we have not included the regulatory citations for specific exclusions from either the definition of solid waste and definition of hazardous waste found in 40 CFR 261.4, or the requirements for recyclable materials found in 40 CFR 261.6. However, based on stakeholder comments, EPA is whether to prepare similar reference documents for other hazardous waste regulations.

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