Auto recyclers appear to have dodged a bullet as the Environmental Protection Agency finally pulled the regulatory trigger on a final rule (issued Jan. 13, 2015) having to do with recycling.
At risk has been whether auto recyclers would have to test each piece of scrap metal sent to a recycler for "legitimacy," a test that would determine whether that particular piece of scrap contained hazardous material, and therefore could not be recycled. That was the prospect the EPA raised back in July 2011 when it issued a proposed rule called "Definition of Solid Waste."
In comments sent to the EPA contesting provisions of that proposal, Michael E. Wilson, Chief Executive Officer, Automotive Recyclers Association, wrote, "ARA must ask EPA officials if it really is their intent to require a legitimacy test on each piece of scrap metal that is sold to processors for recycling as a valuable commodity?"
The ARA and other groups outside auto industry sectors argued scrap metal is not hazardous, and it should continue to be recycled as it always had been, outside the reach of Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) requirements. The RCRA is the EPA-administered law regulating solid waste disposal. The agency reversed course and agreed.
EPA does not expect the final 2015 Definition of Solid Waste (DSW) rule to affect automotive recycling or other types of scrap metal recycling," explains George Hull, a spokesman for the EPA. "EPA expects that scrap metal that is recycled according to normal industry business practices would typically meet the new legitimate recycling definition and no special demonstration or change in normal management practices would be needed for scrap metal to be considered legitimate under the new rule."
However, things are changing with regard to hazardous substances salvage yards take out of unwanted autos before crushing them. The final rule offers salvage yards, two new options, according to Phillip Retallick, senior vice president, Compliance and Regulatory Affairs, Clean Harbors Environmental Services. Retallick worked for the U.S. EPA for 10 years, then later as director of the Delaware Solid and Hazardous Waste Program before joining the private sector.
One new option is registering with the EPA or relevant state agency as a certified recycling facility; the other is registering as a generator. The first option comes with considerable recordkeeping, storage requirements, spill prevention, financial assurance, worker training and notification requirements with regard to collection of used oil, brake fluid, lead-acid batteries, PCB-contaminated wastes and other hazardous materials either removed or drained from salvaged cars. Facilities that certify as a recycling facility can accumulate those secondary hazardous materials until they are ready to sell the stored wastes to reclamation facilities. While this option may be attractive to some salvage yard owners and operators, most of these facilities may choose to avoid the regulatory commitments.
Retallick suspects most auto salvage yards will probably take advantage of the new generator option. He explains it allows the salvage yard to collect and store hazardous wastes designated for recycling as long as it insures that any hazardous secondary materials are properly collected and stored in proper containers or storage tanks, maintains records, documents the amount and description of the secondary hazardous materials sent off-site for recycling, and notifies local emergency response officials where the accumulated secondary hazardous wastes are being stored on-site. These are softer requirements compared to those imposed on certified recyclers.
What about aftermarket retail operations? They collect used oil, batteries and other hazardous materials, too, and send them off site for recycling. Retallick explains that as long as the stores comply with federal and state used oil and lead-acid battery collection rules, they will not be affected by this new rule.
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