United States Environmental Protection Agency
Solid Waste and Emergency Response
(5305W)
EPA530-F-98-007
www.epa.gov/osw
May 1998

Office of Solid Waste, OSW (Note:  Office of Solid Waste, OSW, was renamed Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, ORCR, on January 18, 2009)Environmental Fact Sheet             

               
TWO NEW HAZARDOUS WASTE CODES ADDED FROM ORGANOBROMINE
PRODUCTION 
     The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is 
promulgating a final rule to add two new hazardous waste 
codes to its current lists of hazardous waste. This final 
rule satisfies the mandates under the Hazardous and Solid 
Waste Amendments of 1984 to make listing determinations 
for wastes generated from the production of organobromine 
chemicals.

Background
   Under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and 
Recovery Act (RCRA), Congress authorized EPA to regulate 
the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste. 
In addition, the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments 
of 1984 required EPA to determine whether wastes generated 
by the production of organobromines should be included on 
the RCRA list of regulated hazardous wastes.  In response 
to this mandate, the Agency undertook a 2-year study of 
the industry and then listed as hazardous several wastes 
from the production of ethylene dibromide (EDB) and methyl 
bromide. The final rule listing hazardous wastes from the 
production of EDB (RCRA waste codes K117, K118, and K136) 
was published in the Federal Register on February 13, 1986 
(51 FR 5327).  The final rule listing hazardous wastes from 
methyl bromide production (RCRA waste codes K131 and K132) 
was published on October 6, 1989 (54 FR 41402).
     
   In June of 1991, EPA entered into a proposed consent 
decree with the Environmental Defense Fund et al. 
(EDF v. Reilly, Civ. No. 89-0598 (D.D.C.)), in which 
the Agency agreed, among other things, to publish proposed 
and final determinations on whether to list wastes as 
RCRA hazardous from the production of five additional 
organobromine chemicals.  EPA published a proposed rule 
on the listing of organobromine wastes in the Federal 
Register on May 11, 1994 (59 FR 24530).  EPA proposed 
to list two waste codes for 2,4,6-tribromophenol waste, 
not to list nine wastes, and to defer action on waste from 
the production of tetrabromobisphenol-A. Under a recently 
lodged proposed consent order in that case, the Agency was 
required to promulgate a final decision on or before 
April 15, 1998, on whether or not to list these wastes 
as hazardous. 

Action 
   Under this final rule, EPA is adding two new RCRA 
hazardous waste codes to its current lists of hazardous 
wastes:

   K140-- floor sweepings, off-specification product and 
spent filter media from the production of 
2,4,6-tribromophenol

   U408--2,4,6-tribromophenol (i.e., discarded commercial 
chemical products, off-specification species, container 
residues, and spill residues thereof).  

   EPA is also adding 2,4,6-tribromophenol to the list 
of hazardous constituents in Appendix VIII of 40 CFR 
Part 261.  In addition, EPA is amending the land disposal 
restrictions treatment standards for hazardous waste by 
adding these new wastes.  
     
   These two hazardous waste codes are listed based on 
the high concentrations of 2,4,6-tribromophenol in the 
wastes.  The Agency's risk assessment indicates that 
this chemical would be mobile in a leachate and may 
present high risk to human health and the environment, 
if the waste were disposed of untreated in a landfill.

     In its 1994 proposal package, EPA deferred action on 
listing one of two waste streams from the production of 
tetrabromobisphenol-A. The Agency has now determined not 
to list that waste. In addition, EPA has made a final 
determination not to list as hazardous nine waste streams 
from the production of bromochloromethane, ethyl bromide, 
octabromodiphenyl oxide, decabromodiphenyl oxide, and 
2,4,6-tribromophenol wastewaters.

Applicability
     Wastes listed as hazardous are subject to federal 
requirements under RCRA for persons who generate, transport, 
treat, store, or dispose of such waste.  Facilities that 
must meet the hazardous waste treatment, storage, and 
disposal requirements, including the need to obtain 
permits to operate, are commonly referred to as RCRA 
Subtitle C facilities.  Subtitle C is the original statutory 
designation for that part of RCRA in which Congress 
directs EPA to issue regulations for hazardous wastes as 
necessary to protect human health or the environment. 
     
   The effect of this hazardous waste listing subjects 
the waste to stringent management standards under RCRA, 
as well as to emergency notification requirements when 
hazardous substances are released to the environment. 
These emergency notifications are required under the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
Liability Act (CERCLA or Superfund) and the Emergency 
Planning and Community Right to Know Act  (EPCRA). For 
these notifications, EPA is adjusting the reportable 
quantities (RQs) for 2,4,6-tribromophenol (U408) and 
waste code K140 to 100 pounds each.

For More Information
     The Federal Register notice and this fact sheet 
are available in electronic format on the Internet 
through the EPA Public Access Server.  
Copies of documents applicable to this rule may be 
obtained by writing:  RCRA Information Center (RIC), 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Solid Waste, OSW (Note:  Office of Solid Waste, OSW, was renamed Office of Resource Conservation and Recovery, ORCR, on January 18, 2009)(5305W), 401 M Street SW, Washington, DC 20460.