Glossary
Many of the terms we use in documents throughout this web site may be unfamiliar to you. We have included two glossaries to help you out:
- The LDR Glossary deals specifically
with terms applied in the LDR program.
- The EPA Glossary defines terms used more generally throughout the Agency.
LDR Glossary
Area
of Contamination (AOC) Policy: EPA interprets RCRA to allow certain
discrete areas of generally dispersed contamination to be considered RCRA
units. Therefore consolidation of material within an AOC and treatment
of material, in situ, within an AOC does NOT CREATE A POINT OF HAZARDOUS
WASTE GENERATION FOR PURPOSES OF RCRA.
Best
Demonstrated Available Technology (BDAT): The treatment technology
that best minimizes the mobility or toxicity (or both) of the hazardous
constituents for a particular waste.
Characteristic
Waste: Waste that is considered hazardous under RCRA because it exhibits
any four different properties: ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity,
and toxicity.
Contained-in
Determination for Soil: Granted by EPA or an authorized state that
certifies that soil is no longer considered a hazardous waste. You can
apply for a contained-in determination if soil should not be managed as
a hazardous waste because:
(1) the soil does not exhibit a characteristic of hazardous waste when
generated, or
(2) the soil contaminated with a listed hazardous waste has concentrations
of hazardous constituents that are below health-based levels.
Contained-in
Policy: The "contained-in" policy dates back to a 1986 memorandum
which states that although groundwater is not a solid waste, it can be
considered a hazardous waste if it "contains" a hazardous waste.
This policy was then applied to soil and debris.
Debris:
Any solid material exceeding a 60 mm particle size that is intended
for disposal and that is a manufactured object, or plant or animal matter,
or natural geologic material.
Decharacterize:
Treat a characteristic waste so that it no longer exhibits a characteristic
property. For characteristic wastes treated in Clean Water Act and Safe
Drinking water Act systems, decharacterize means dilution.
Determination
of Equivalent Treatment (DET): A type of variance from the treatment
standards in 40 CFR 268.40; applicable when a technology is specified
as the treatment standard. Allows an alternative technology to be used
in lieu of the specified technology, if the petitioner can demonstrate
that the alternative technology can achieve a measure of performance equivalent
to that of the specified technology.
Generator:
Any person whose act first creates or produces hazardous waste.
Hazardous
and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA): Amendments to RCRA, enacted in
1984.
Listed
Waste: Wastes that are considered hazardous under RCRA because they
meet specific listing descriptions.
Mixed
Waste: Radioactive waste that is also a hazardous waste under RCRA.
Such wastes are jointly regulated by RCRA and Atomic Energy Act.
Non-Analyzable
Constituents: Constituents that lack appropriate test methods or chemical
standards and therefore cannot be properly measured to determine compliance
with LDR concentration-based standards in 268.40 and 268.48.
Nonwastewater (NWW): Wastes that do not meet the criteria for wastewaters
defined below.
Point
of generation (POG) of a Hazardous Waste: The point at which a waste
is first determined to be hazardous. For listed wastes this is the point
at which the waste first meets the listing description, and for characteristic
wastes it is the point the waste first exhibits the characteristic.
Prohibited
Wastes: Wastes that have to meet their treatment standards before
land disposal.
Restricted
Wastes: Wastes that have LDR treatment standards, but can be land
disposed without treatment because of an exemption (e.g., a capacity variance).
Soil:
Unconsolidated earth material composing the superficial geologic strata
(material overlying bedrock) consisting of clay, silt, sand or gravel
size particles as classified by the U.S. Soil Conservation Service, or
a mixture of such materials with liquids, sludges or solids which is inseparable
by simple mechanical removal processes and is made up primarily of soil
by volume based on visual inspection.
Subtitle
C Landfill: A landfill that accepts hazardous waste (including treated
hazardous waste).
Subtitle
D Landfill: A landfill that accepts nonhazardous waste.
Total
Waste Analysis: Analytic test method used to measure compliance with
most of the organic treatment standards. Carbon disulfide, cyclohexanone,
and methanol treatment standards are measured using toxicity characteristic
leaching procedure.
Toxicity
Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP): Analytic test method used
to measure compliance with the metal treatment standards.
Transfer
Facilities: Any transportation-related facility such as loading docks,
parking areas, storage areas, or other similar areas where shipments of
hazardous waste are temporarily held during the normal course of transportation.
Transporter:
Any person engaged in the off-site transportation of hazardous waste by
air, rail, highway, or water.
Treatability
Group: A grouping of hazardous wastes that can be treated to similar
concentrations using identical technologies.
Treatment,
Storage, Disposal Facilities: Facilities engaged in the treatment,
storage, or disposal of hazardous waste.
Underlying
Hazardous Constituent (UHC): Any constituent listed in 40 CFR 268.48,
Table UTS - Universal Treatment Standards, except fluoride,
selenium, sulfide, vanadium, and zinc, which can reasonably be expected
to be present at the point of generation of the hazardous waste, at a
concentration above the constituent-specific universal treatment standard.
Universal
Treatment Standards (UTS): These are the constituent-specific treatment
standards found in §268.48.
Use
Constituting Disposal: The direct placement of recycled materials,
that is wastes or waste derived-products, on the land. Note, remediation
activities involving replacement of treated soils onto the land is not
a type of use constituting disposal, in part, because it is a supervised
remediation instead of an unsupervised recycling activity.
Waste
Analysis Plan (WAP): A plan that outlines the procedures necessary
to ensure proper treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous waste.
Wastewater
(WW): Wastes that contain less than 1% by weight total organic carbon
(TOC) and less than 1% by weight total suspended solids (TSS).