Waste Incineration and Public Health (2000) / Chapter Skim
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Regulation Related to Waste Incineration
Regulation Related to Waste Incineration
Pages 182-216
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From page 182... ...
The unintended and uncontrolled release of toxic substances into the environment from waste incineration can occur because of malfunctioning equipment, large changes in the waste feedstream, poor management of the incinera182
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From page 183... ...
Mishaps that are actually experienced by operating facilities that incinerate municipal wastes, hazardous wastes, or medical wastes form a concrete basis for the concerns of nearby residents and other concerned citizens about the safety of waste incineration and the efficacy of regulatory oversight. The fears and worries of residents and concerned citizens are not limited to worst-case scenarios, but extend to events that occur in the normal course of operations at what are otherwise considered properly run and maintained facilities (Curlee 1994~.
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From page 184... ...
and hazardous wastes from Superfund cleanup sites. Incineration regulations generally address emission limitations, good combustion practices, operator training and certification, facility-siting criteria, permit compliance and inspections, and record keeping and reporting requirements.
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From page 185... ...
EPA has completed a residual risk report to Congress on the methods to be used to assess the residual risk after MACT standards have been promulgated and applied (EPA 1999~.2 As discussed later in this chapter, EPA has developed NSPS and emission guidelines for large municipal-waste incinerators (units with great than 250 tons per day capacity) of medical-waste incinerators as well as hazardous-waste incinerators, lightweight aggregate kilns, and cement kilns that burn hazardous waste.
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From page 186... ...
REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO MUNICIPAL SOLID-WASTE INCINERATORS Federal Regulations Section 111 of the CAA sets national emission standards for municipal solid-waste incinerators. It requires promulgation of performance standards for categories of new and existing stationary sources that might contribute to air pollution reasonably anticipated to endanger public health or welfare (Reitze and Davis 1993~.
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From page 187... ...
The MACT floor could have been based on permitted emission levels, levels achieved in practice by currently used technologies, or levels achievable with available technology. Some environmental groups interpreted MACT to mean, in the case of new plants, emission levels equivalent to the bestperforming plant's emission levels, and for existing plants, the average performance level achieved at the uppermost 12th percentile of existing municipal solid-waste incinerators both from a worldwide database of facilities.
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From page 188... ...
The CAA amendments of 1990 are being implemented to require the updating of antiquated technologies with more-modern control devices that are not, in the view of EPA, too expensive for both new and large old incinerators. For control of dioxins and furans and mercury, which are the types of the municipal solid-waste incinerator emissions that are most toxic and difficult to remove, and control of acid gases, such as SO2, NOx, and HC1, the MACT floors in both the NSPS and the guidelines for large plants are based on use of activated-carbon injection, spray-dryer absorbers with alkaline-reagent injection, fabric-filter particle-control devices, and selective noncatalytic reduction for NOx control.
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From page 189... ...
On April 8, 1997, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated the emission guidelines and new source performance standards as they apply to municipal solid-waste incinerator units with the capacity to combust less than or equal to 250 tons per day of municipal solid waste, and all cement kilns combusting municipal solid waste.
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190 Cq so ·_4 C)
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From page 192... ...
Moratoriums are justified, in the view of their advocates not only because of concern for incineration-related health and environmental risks, but also because of concern that increased incineration capacity might interfere with greater use of waste-reduction strategies, including reuse and recycling, which they believe could reduce the quantity of all emissions and production of toxic byproducts and toxic emissions associated with incineration. Criticisms of MACT-Standard Regulations The MACT-standard regulations for municipal solid-waste incinerators might be considered controversial in some cases.
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From page 193... ...
Facilities that treat, store, and dispose of hazardous wastes are comprehensively regulated under RCRA. Operators of hazardous-waste incinerators must obtain an operating permit from either federal or state regulators under standards promulgated by EPA.
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From page 194... ...
· Criteria pollutants: particulate matter, SO2, NO2, hydrocarbons, photochemical oxidants, and CO. Hazardous pollutants: under National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, which apply to both new and existing sources.
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From page 195... ...
An automatic waste-feed shutoff system is required for all hazardous-waste combustion devices to stop the feeding of hazardous wastes to the combustion chamber immediately if the combustion device does not perform as permitted. All hazardous-waste incinerators must have four categories of continuousmonitoring devices to ensure that incinerators are operated within the safe operating range as established during the trial burn or certification-of-compliance test.
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From page 196... ...
In the case of hazardouswaste incinerators, the minimal emission levels or MACT floors from which the MACT standards proceed were determined through analysis of data generated largely during trial burns undertaken to demonstrate compliance with RCRA standards. For kilns, the data came from certifications of compliance obtained under RCRA.
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From page 197... ...
197 ·_4 _' Cq so o so an ·_4 _.
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From page 198... ...
198 ca so o ca o v 7 A o ¢ EM ca so o ca o V ·_4 ca ·_4 X ca · _4 ._4 ;2 ~4 'it ~ ca ·_4 V ca so o · C)
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From page 199... ...
The final rule, "Hazardous Waste Combustors: Final Rule Part I," commonly referred to as the "MACT Fast Track Rule," addresses the following four elements of the proposed standards: (1) An exclusion from RCRA Subtitle C jurisdiction for hazardous wastederived fuels that are comparable to fossil fuels (2)
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From page 200... ...
EPA has produced final MACT regulations for MWIs under the mandate of the 1990 CAA amendments. On February 27, 1995, EPA proposed new sourceperformance standards for new MWIs and emission guidelines for existing MWIs to fulfill the requirements of section 129 of the CAA (EPA Proposed Rules of Medical Waste Incinerators, Fed.
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201 Cal so o so an · C)
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From page 202... ...
A range of emission reductions is presented to account for the emissions that could occur under a scenario for which no small or medium medical-waste incineration facilities are installed and many of the existing facilities cease operation. In addition to the medical-waste incineration emission standards and guidelines, EPA includes the requirements listed in Tables 6-5 through 6-9.
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From page 203... ...
Reporting and Record Keeping Requirements: . Maintain for 5 years records of results from the initial performance test and all subsequent performance tests, operating parameters, and operator training and qualification.
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From page 204... ...
Reporting and Record Keeping Requirements: . Maintain for 5 years records of results from the initial performance test and all subsequent performance tests, operating parameters, inspections, any maintenance, and operator training and qualification.
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From page 205... ...
· Obtain monitoring data at all times during operation. Reporting and Record Keeping Requirements: Maintain for 5 years records of results from initial performance test and all subsequent performance tests, operating parameters, any maintenance, the siting analysis, and operator training and qualification.
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From page 206... ...
206 WASTE INCINERATION AND PUBLIC HEALTH TABLE 6-8 Compliance Times Under the Emission Guidelines for Existing Medical-Waste Incinerators Requirement Compliance Time State plan submittal Operator training and qualification requirements Inspection requirements Initial compliance test Repeat performance test Parameter monitoring Record keeping Reporting Within 1 year after promulgation of EPA emission guidelines Within 1 year after EPA approval of state plan Within 1 year after EPA approval of state plan Within 1 year after EPA approval of state plan or up to 3 years after EPA approval of state plan if source is granted an extension Within 12 months following initial compliance test and annually thereafter Continuously, upon completion of initial compliance test Continuously, upon completion of compliance test Annually, upon completion of initial compliance test; semiannually, if noncompliance TABLE 6-9 Compliance Times Under the Standard for New MedicalWaste Incinerators Requirement Compliance Time Effective date Operator training and qualification requirements Initial compliance test Performance test Operator parameter monitoring Record keeping Reporting 6 months after promulgation On effective date or upon initial startup, whichever is later On effective date or within 180 days of initial startup, whichever is later Within 12 months following initial compliance test and annually thereafter. Facilities may conduct performance tests every third year if pervious three performance tests demonstrate compliance with the emission limits Continuously, upon completion of initial compliance test Continuously, upon completion of initial compliance test Continuously, upon completion of initial compliance test; semiannually, if noncompliance
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From page 207... ...
. OSHA had not improved its inspection expertise, nor had it increased the priority ranking accorded the refuse industry in such a way as to subject a single hazardous-waste incineration to a programmed inspection.
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From page 208... ...
In the subsequent revision of the municipal solid-waste incinerator emission standards, EPA has proposed requiring that CFOs and shift supervisors be certified at the second, site-specific, level of ASME's operator-certification program. Provisionally certified operators take the site-specific, oral examinations for full certification.
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From page 209... ...
The ASME created a sister committee to the QRO to develop operator certification for medical-waste incinerator operators. REGULATORY COMPLIANCE AND ENFORCEMENT The effectiveness of the panoply of regulations governing waste incineration depends on compliance by incineration facility operators and enforcement of the regulations by federal and state environmental regulators.
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From page 210... ...
The inspections of incineration facilities are performed largely by the states with grants from the federal government pursuant to memoranda of agreement that set forth inspection priorities. The priorities are a matter of negotiation between the states and EPA and therefore differ from region to region.
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From page 211... ...
The operating conditions set during trial burns are used as surrogate measures of some emissions of substances for which CEMS are not required or for which continuous-monitoring technology has not yet been developed and validated. If the surrogate measures are within compliance ranges, it is assumed that the unmeasured substances are also within compliance ranges.
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From page 212... ...
The standards and guidelines for municipal solid-waste incinerators require annual testing for dioxin and furan emissions; but to increase the incentive "to optimize performance and achieve emission levels significantly lower" than prescribed limits, less-frequently reporting will be demanded of facilities that meet specified dioxin and furan emission limits for two years. Moreover, reporting requirements have been changed from quarterly to annual to reduce their cost.
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From page 213... ...
EPA has issued revised Hazardous Waste Civil Enforcement Response Policy that became effective April 5, 1996. The policy focuses on facilities that pose the greatest risk of exposure to hazardous waste or that are chronic, recalcitrant, or substantial violators of regulatory requirements (EPA 1996c)
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From page 214... ...
. MACT-based regulations vary for incinerators of municipal waste, hazardous waste, and medical waste.
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From page 215... ...
It is during those times that the highest emissions are expected to occur, and omitting them systematically from monitoring data records does not allow for a full characterization of the actual emissions from an incineration facility. Because operators need to be trained to handle new technologies and follow new requirements, periodic renewal of operator certification for all types of waste incineration should require retesting on new technologies, practices, and regulations.
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From page 216... ...
EPA and OSHA should continue striving to improve coordination of enforcement activities between the two agencies to protect the health of incineration workers.
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