California agency to hold workshop on ASR disposal

The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) will hold a workshop in Sacramento, California, the afternoon of Tuesday, June 26, to present information on proposed regulations to establish what it calls a “conditional exclusion” for chemically treated auto shredder residue (ASR). The department also is proposing new regulations to add what it calls safeguards designed to increase protections for human health, safety and the environment.

In January, the DTSC completed an analysis of metal shredding facilities, their processes and wastes, and potential impacts on human health and the environment titled “Draft Evaluation and Analysis of Metal Shredding Facilities and Metal Shredder Wastes.”

In its June 26 Workshop Notice, the DTSC says its analysis found that, prior to treatment, ASR is hazardous, and the department is developing a permit model to provide what it calls appropriate regulation of facilities that process ASR to ensure it is properly handled and treated.

At the same time, the analysis demonstrated that when ASR is properly handled and treated, the resulting “chemically treated metal shredder residue (CTMSR)” may be safely disposed of as nonhazardous waste.

Specifically, the analysis demonstrated that the disposal of CTMSR as nonhazardous waste in municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills, including its use as alternative daily cover, has not resulted in harm to human health or safety or to the environment, and that CTMSR has not contributed to the migration of heavy metals from landfills.

DTSC says it has concluded that classification of CTMSR as a hazardous waste is not necessary to prevent or mitigate potential hazards to human health or safety or to the environment.

DTSC also has determined that the nonhazardous waste classifications established previously are no longer the most appropriate or effective mechanism for the management of CTMSR. DTSC says it has determined it is more appropriate and effective to establish an exclusion of CTMSR from hazardous waste management requirements under a new regulation that places additional specified requirements as conditions to the exclusion. Among other things, under the new regulation, only authorized metal shredding facilities may use the exclusion; the ASR must be treated at the “most effective” level; and the ASR can be disposed of only at certain authorized landfills.

Adoption of these standards in regulation will clarify the regulatory status of CTMSR for metal shredding facilities, establish additional protective conditions on the management of CTMSR, and allow DTSC to more consistently and effectively implement and enforce California’s hazardous waste control laws and their implementing regulation, according to the agency.