United States Environmental Protection Agency Solid Waste and Emergency Response Office of Solid Waste (5305W) EPA530-F-00-026 September 2000 Environmental Fact Sheet: Hazardous Waste Regulation Proposed for Some Inorganic Chemicals EPA is proposing to add three wastes from inorganic chemical manufacturing processes to the list of hazardous waste. Regulating these chemical wastes will protect human health and the environment by eliminating potential pathways of exposure. Background The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) requires EPA to make listing determinations for hazardous waste. EPA lists a waste as hazardous when the Agency determines that it poses unacceptable risks to the environment or people. Listed waste usually comes from various manufacturing processes, which includes the inorganic chemical manufacturing industry. The Agency examined over 170 waste streams from the following 14 sectors: antimony oxide, barium carbonate, boric acid, cadmium pigments, inorganic hydrogen cyanide, phenyl mercuric acetate, phosphoric acid from the dry process, phosphorus pentasulfide, phosphorus trichloride, potassium dichromate, sodium chlorate, sodium dichromate, sodium phosphate from wet process phosphoric acid, and titanium dioxide. After making detailed assessments of these waste streams, the Agency is proposing to list three of them as hazardous waste. Action EPA is proposing to add the three wastes to the K-coded waste list. K-code wastes come from specialized manufacturing processes, such as those found in the inorganic chemical manufacturing industry. The three wastes the Agency proposes to list are: - K176 Baghouse filters from the production of antimony oxide; - K177 Slag from the production of antimony oxide that is not disposed of or speculatively accumulated; and - K178 Nonwastewaters from the production of titanium dioxide by the chloride-ilmenite process. EPA also proposes to add the hazardous constituents of these wastes to the list of constituents regulated under RCRA for each type of waste. These constituents are: antimony, arsenic, lead, thallium, and manganese. For More Information The Federal Register notice, this fact sheet, and related documents are available on the Internet at