EPA Rule on Solid and Hazardous Waste: Enforcement and Compliance With 83 Fed. Reg. 24664

This CLE course will discuss the implications of the EPA's revised definition of "solid waste" and the regulatory framework for recycling hazardous secondary materials under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). The panel will walk environmental lawyers through the changes contained in the final rule promulgated by the EPA in 2018, the underlying D.C. Circuit decision which gave rise to the rule change, recommendations for counsel in light of the shift, and the current state of enforcement and compliance actions.

In 2018 EPA promulgated a final rule revising the definition of solid waste under the RCRA. The rule change accepted, without comment or public notice, the July 2017 and March 2018 orders issued by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in the matter of American Petroleum Institute v. EPA (D.C. Cir. No. 09-1038).

Under RCRA, the EPA and states partner to manage the treatment, storage, and disposal of solid and hazardous waste. The statute defines solid waste to include "discarded material." Waste that sidesteps the definition of "solid waste" because it is never discarded may not be regulated as hazardous waste.

As such, parsing out the meaning of "solid waste," and more specifically "discarded material" becomes critically important for companies in the business of waste recycling. The 2018 final rule not only significantly modifies the conditions for a key RCRA recycling exclusion, but also makes optional one of the four core factors defining "legitimate recycling"--whether the product of the recycling process is comparable to a legitimate final product.

Listen as our distinguished panel of environmental practitioners offers critical guidance on each of the changes delineated by the D.C. Circuit, the EPA's codifying of those issues, and the current status of enforcement at the state and federal level.