Like large business owners, small business owners must comply with waste management rules set forth by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These resources will help your business comply with regulations that apply to managing hazardous and non-hazardous wastes.

To jump to a section in this article, select one of the following links:

• General Compliance Information

• Permits and Application Renewals

• Complying with the Resource Conversion and Recovery Act (RCRA)

• Import/Export Requirements

• Hazardous Waste Generators

• Large Quantity Generators

• Small and Conditionally Exempt Generators

• Industrial Waste Management

• Land Disposal Restrictions

• Municipal Solid Waste

• Transporters of Hazardous Waste

• Medical Waste

• Motor Vehicle Waste

• Radioactive Waste

• Universal Waste

• Waste Identification

General Compliance Information

• Small Business Guide to Waste Reduction and Prevention
  Links to resources geared for small businesses to assist in waste management.

• Managing Your Hazardous Waste: A Guide for Small Businesses
  Offers user-friendly manual targeted to small quantity generators of hazardous wastes.

• Little Known But Allowable Ways to Deal with Hazardous Waste
  Provides methods that small businesses can follow to minimize their hazardous waste on site.

• National Biennial RCRA Hazardous Waste Report: Documents and Data
  Supplies links to documents and data from the National Biennial Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Hazardous Waste Report.

• Treatment, Storage and Disposal of Hazardous Waste
  Gives background and overview information about the treatment, storage and disposal programs for solid wastes.

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Permits and Application Renewals

• Hazardous Waste Permits
  Provides an index of permit and permitting documents for the RCRA.

• National Biennial RCRA Hazardous Waste Report Forms 8700-12 and 8700-23
  Covers notification of Regulated Waste Activity (EPA Form 8700-12) and RCRA Hazardous Waste Part A Permit Application (EPA Form 8700-23).

• Subpart X (Miscellaneous Units)
  Provides information about RCRA miscellaneous units.

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Complying with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)

• RCRA Compliance Assistance
  Provides information about compliance assistance with the RCRA.

• RCRA Online
  Offers an online database which assists users in locating documents that cover a wide range of issues and topics related to the RCRA.

• RCRA In Focus Publications
  Offers a series of publications providing an overview of RCRA regulations affecting specific industry sectors.

• RCRA Laws and Regulations
  Details RCRA history, regulations, guidance, policies and related resources.

• RCRA Training Modules
  Provides links to RCRA training modules.

• Introduction to Solid and Hazardous Waste Exclusions
  Gives information about solid and hazardous waste exclusions.

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Import/Export Requirements

• Importing and Exporting Hazardous Waste
  Provides information about importing and exporting hazardous waste.

• Hazardous Waste: Import/Export Regulatory Requirements
  Links to guidance for the import and export of mixed waste.

• Border Compliance Assistance Center
  Supplies information on transporting cargo from Mexico into the United States, with special attention to solid and hazardous wastes.

• Collection of Materials on Import/Export Regulatory Requirements
  Describes the RCRA requirements applicable to those parties that import or export hazardous wastes. These regulations apply only to wastes that are defined as hazardous.

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Hazardous Waste Generators

Subtitle C of the RCRA regulates hazardous waste generators. A generator is any person or site whose processes and actions create hazardous waste. Generators are divided into three categories: large, small and conditionally excempt based upon the quantity of waste they produce per month. The following information provides environmental compliance information for all three types of generators.

• Hazardous Waste Generators: RCRA Compliance
  Provides information on the regulation of hazardous waste generators.

• RCRA Training Modules: Introduction to Generators
  Contains information about hazardous waste generators.

• Hazardous Waste Generator Regulations: A User Friendly Reference Document
  Assists industrial facilities generating and managing hazardous wastes, as well as the general public, in locating and understanding the current RCRA hazardous waste generator regulatory requirements.

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Large Quantity Generators

• Hazardous Waste Generators: Large Quantity Generators

Provides resources for large quantity generators.

• Hazardous Waste Requirements for Large Quantity Generators

Details information about hazardous waste requirements for large quantity generators.

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Small and Conditionally Exempt Generators

• Resources for Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generators
  Links to resources for businesses that produce less than 100 kilograms of hazardous waste per month.

• Resources for Small Quantity Generators
  Provides resources for small quantity generators.

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Industrial Waste Management

• Guide for Industrial Waste Management
  Provides facility managers with recommendations and tools to manage land-disposed, non-hazardous industrial wastes.

• Commercial and Industrial Waste
  Offers guidance to help industries effectively manage their commercial and industrial waste and successfully meet high waste recovery goals.

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Land Disposal Restrictions

• Land Disposal Restrictions Program
  Provides information about land disposal restrictions.

• Land Disposal Restrictions for Hazardous Waste: A Snapshot of the Program
  Gives an overview of the EPA program which regulates Land Disposal Restrictions for Hazardous Waste.

• Land Disposal Restrictions Program Resources
  Supplies access to the virtual library for the Land Disposal Restrictions program, which includes training materials and frequently asked questions.

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Municipal Solid Waste

• Decision Makers' Guide to Solid Waste Management
  Provides a guide developed particularly for solid waste management practitioners, such as local government officials, facility owners and operators, consultants, and regulatory agency specialists.

• Common Wastes and Materials
  Offers information on the recycling activities associated with a variety of materials recovered for recycling in the United States.

• Municipal Solid Waste Recycling
  Provides information on source reduction and recycling as part of waste management.

• ReduceIt Companion Software to the Source Reduction Program Potential Manual
  Provides companion software (designed to be used in connection with the Source Reduction Program Potential Manual) to help solid waste managers plan for a source reduction program, and to determine the impact of various source reduction options on their community.

• Solid Waste Test Methods: Related Links
  Lists contacts and information for the Methods Information Communication Exchange (MICE) program, and for Evaluating Solid Waste: Physical/Chemical Methods (SW-846).

• Source Reduction Program Potential Manual: A Planning Packet
  Contains information designed to help solid waste managers determine the potential impact of various source reduction options.

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Transporters of Hazardous Waste

• Hazardous Waste Transporters
  Links to resources for hazardous waste transporters.

• Hazardous Waste Manifest System
  Gives information on the Uniform Hazardous Waste Manifest system, including regulatory updates, forms and training.

• Hazardous Waste Manifest System: FAQs
  Lists frequently asked questions about the manifest system, necessary for the transport of hazardous wastes from the generator's site to the point of disposition.

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Types of Hazardous Waste

Medical Waste

• Medical Waste
  Explains the Medical Waste Tracking Act of 1988, which requires management standards for segregation, packaging, labeling and marking, and storage of medical waste. Health care businesses, such as hospitals and doctors' offices must comply with these regulations.

• Medical Waste FAQs
  Lists frequently asked questions about the Medical Waste Tracking Act.

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Motor Vehicle Waste

• Managing Used Oil: Advice for Small Business
  Offers fact sheet containing valuable information for businesses such as service stations, fleet maintenance facilities, and "quick lube" shops that generate and handle used oil.

• Small Entity Compliance Guide: How the New Motor Vehicle Waste Disposal Well Rule Affects Your Business
  Covers EPA-allowable ways that small businesses can minimize their hazardous waste on site. This document provides information on five of these methods.

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Radioactive Waste

• Low-Activity Radioactive Waste
  Provides information regarding the management of waste containing very small amounts of radioactivity.

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Universal Waste

• Universal Waste Regulations
  Links to requirements, regulations, and basic information put out by the EPA concerning universal waste and different types of it.

• Universal Waste: Lamps
  Provides information on regulations for lamps, including the waste management of lamps for small- and large-quantity handlers.

• Universal Waste Regulations: Mercury-Containing Equipment
  Outlines information on regulations for mercury-containing equipment, including waste management of mercury-containing equipment by small- and large-quantity handlers.

• State-Specific Universal Waste Regulations
  Shows a table with links to state regulations. The universal waste regulations can vary between states and states can add different types of wastes.

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Waste Identification

• Hazardous Waste Identification
  Provides information on hazardous waste identification, characterization, and delisting, as well as many links to resources related to identification.

• Hazardous Waste Identification FAQs
  Gives an overview of hazardous waste identification and detailed answers to frequently asked questions related to the subject.

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