Hazardous waste rules and statutes

Codes And Statutes

Hazardous waste administrative codes and statutes

The majority of the hazardous waste requirements in state statutes and rules reflect mandates contained in the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and federal regulations that Wisconsin hazardous waste rules must reflect.

Current hazardous waste administrative codes 

• Chapter ATCP 34 [exit DNR] - Clean sweep program
• Chapter NR 140 [exit DNR] - Groundwater quality
• Chapter NR 141 [exit DNR] - Groundwater monitoring well requirements
• Chapter NR 149 [exit DNR] - Laboratory certification and registration
• Chapter NR 150 [exit DNR] - Environmental analysis and review procedures for department actions
• Chapter NR 157 [exit DNR] - Management of PCBs and products containing PCBs
• Chapter NR 150 [exit DNR] - Environmental analysis and review procedures for department actions
• Chapter NR 660 [exit DNR] - Hazardous waste management: general
• Chapter NR 661 [exit DNR] - Hazardous waste identification and listing
  • Chapter NR 661 Appendix I [exit DNR] - Representative sampling methods
  • Chapter NR 661 Appendix VII [exit DNR] - Basis for listing hazardous waste
  • Chapter NR 661 Appendix VIII [exit DNR] - Hazardous constituents
• Chapter NR 662 [exit DNR] - Hazardous waste generator standards
• Chapter NR 663 [exit DNR] - Hazardous waste transporter standards
• Chapter NR 664 [exit DNR] - Hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility standards
  • Chapter NR 664 Appendix I [exit DNR] - Recordkeeping instructions
  • Chapter NR 664 Appendix IV [exit DNR] - Cochran's approximation to the Behrens-Fisher Students' t-test
  • Chapter NR 664 Appendix V [exit DNR] - Examples of potentially incompatible waste
  • Chapter NR 664 Appendix IX [exit DNR] - Groundwater monitoring list
• Chapter NR 665 [exit DNR] - Interim license hazardous waste treatment, storage and disposal facility standards
  • Chapter NR 665 Appendix I [exit DNR] - Recordkeeping instructions
  • Chapter NR 665 Appendix III [exit DNR] - EPA interim primary drinking water standards
• Chapter NR 665 Appendix IV [exit DNR] - Tests for significance
• Chapter NR 665 Appendix V [exit DNR] - Examples of potentially incompatible waste
• Chapter NR 665 Appendix VI [exit DNR] - Compounds with Henry's law constant less than 0.1 Y/X
• Chapter NR 666 [exit DNR] - Standards for managing specific hazardous wastes and specific types of hazardous waste management facilities
  • Chapter NR 666 Appendix I [exit DNR] - Tier I and Tier II feed rate and emissions screening limits for metals
  • Chapter NR 666 Appendix II [exit DNR] - Tier I and Tier II feed rate screening limits for total chlorine
  • Chapter NR 666 Appendix III [exit DNR] - Tier II emission rate screening limits for free chlorine and hydrogen chloride
  • Chapter NR 666 Appendix IV [exit DNR] - Reference air concentrations
  • Chapter NR 666 Appendix V [exit DNR] - Risk specific doses (10-5)
  • Chapter NR 666 Appendix VI [exit DNR] - Stack plume rise
  • Chapter NR 666 Appendix VII [exit DNR] - Health-based limits for exclusion of waste-derived residues
  • Chapter NR 666 Appendix VIII [exit DNR] - Organic compounds for which residues shall be analyzed
  • Chapter NR 666 Appendix IX [exit DNR] - Methods manual for compliance with the Bif rules
  • Chapter NR 666 Appendix XI [exit DNR] - Lead-bearing materials that may be processed in exempt lead smelters
  • Chapter NR 666 Appendix XII [exit DNR] - Nickel or chromium-bearing materials that may be processed in exempt nickel-chromium recovery furnaces
  • Chapter NR 666 Appendix XIII [exit DNR] - Mercury bearing wastes that may be processed in exempt mercury recovery units
• Chapter NR 668 [exit DNR] - Hazardous waste land disposal restrictions
  • Chapter NR 668 Appendix III [exit DNR] - List of halogenated organic compounds regulated under s. NR 668.32
  • Chapter NR 668 Appendix IV [exit DNR] - Wastes excluded from lab packs under the alternative treatment standards of s. NR 668.42(3)
  • Chapter NR 668 Appendix VI [exit DNR] - Recommended technologies to achieve deactivation of characteristics in s. NR 668.42
  • Chapter NR 668 Appendix VII [exit DNR] - LDR effective dates of surface disposed prohibited hazardous wastes
  • Chapter NR 668 Appendix IX [exit DNR] - Extraction procedure (EP) toxicity test method and structural integrity test (method 1310)
  • Chapter NR 668 Appendix XI [exit DNR] - Metal bearing wastes prohibited from dilution in a combustion unit according to s. NR 668.03(3)
• Chapter NR 670 [exit DNR] - Hazardous waste licensing and decision-making procedures
  • Chapter NR 670 Appendix I [exit DNR] - Classification of license modification
  • Chapter NR 670 Appendix II [exit DNR] - Hazardous waste fee table
• Chapter NR 673 [exit DNR] - Universal waste management standards
• Chapter NR 679 [exit DNR] - Used oil management standards

Hazardous waste state statutes

• Chapter 291, Wis. Stats. - Hazardous waste management
• Chapter 292, Wis. Stats. - Remedial action
• Chapter 299, Wis. Stats. - General environmental provisions

2025 Rule

WA-01-25 Hazardous Waste Rulemaking

This proposed rule is under development to address recent  federal regulatory updates pertaining to Canadian import/export codes, federal e-Manifest system requirements, and the recycling and recovery of certain hydrofluorocarbons (refrigerants).

Recordkeeping And Reporting Requirements

The update would allow the DNR to capture newly promulgated federal hazardous waste regulations within state administrative rules. This update would:

• Require manifest discrepancy reports, manifest exception reports and unmanifested waste reports to be entered into the national e-Manifest system.
• Ensure responsible entities to correct manifest errors.
• Specify certain hazardous waste generators to register in the national e-Manifest system.
• Eliminate certain requirements pertaining to mailing copies of reports and manifests and reducing manifest paperwork from five pages to four.
• Change timeframes for exception reporting.
• Incorporate hazardous waste export manifests into the e-Manifest system and expand the required international shipment data elements on the manifest form.
• Modify polychlorinated biphenyl manifest regulations under the Toxic Substances Control Act, and make other technical corrections to remove obsolete requirements, correct typographical errors, establish definitions and/or improve alignment with the e-Manifest program.

There is an anticipated cost savings from the changes made by the e-Manifest Rule. The reduction of the number of manifest pages and the removal of the requirement to mail final copies of the manifest to generators will provide a savings by reducing printing and postal fees. Exception reporting, discrepancy reporting and unmanifested waste reporting will all transition to an automated electronic component of the e-Manifest system. 

Canadian Import-Export Operation Codes

This element pertains to hazardous waste import-export recovery and disposal operations. These regulations are used when U.S. exporters and importers submit hazardous waste export and import notices to U.S. EPA, and in movement documents that accompany export and import shipments. The proposed rule would be to modify and align disposal codes to alleviate confusion in the transportation of hazardous waste across the Canadian-U.S. border. By aligning U.S. existing codes and operations to Canadian regulatory definitions, export and import notices and subsequent movement documents exchanged between Canada and the U.S. will not contain conflicting information.

Spent Refrigerants Being Recycled For Reuse

This element is related to the management of certain ignitable spent refrigerants being recycled for reuse and the minimization of releases. The analogous federal rule was established to promote emissions reduction and reclamation for the management of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) and certain substitutes. Elements of this rule would address requirements for the installation and use of automatic leak detection systems, servicing and repair, training, recordkeeping, reporting, and labeling and is intended to assist in preventing the stockpiling and mismanagement of HFCs that can be recycled. 

Universal Waste Rule

WA-12-21 Universal Waste Rulemaking

The DNR adopted rules to allow used aerosol cans to be managed as a universal waste. This change benefits a wide variety of facilities generating and managing hazardous waste aerosol cans by:

• providing a clear, protective system for managing discarded aerosol cans;
• promoting collection and recycling of these cans; and
• encouraging development of municipal and commercial programs to reduce the quantity of aerosol cans going to municipal solid waste landfills or combustors. 

Additionally, the adopted rules provide clarity and consistency in waste requirements for universal waste receiving and recycling facilities or destination facilities.

Ignitable Liquids Rule

Wa-11-21 Modernizing Ignitable Liquids And Test Methods Rulemaking

The DNR adopted rules that allow updated flash-point testing methods for ignitable hazardous waste determinations, including removing obsolete information in the ignitability regulation. These rules standardized test procedures, updated standards to match federal requirements, and potentially eliminated the need for outdated equipment and methodologies.

This rule defines “aqueous” as “50% water by weight,” which assists in narrowing the types of alcohol that would qualify as a hazardous waste, potentially reducing the applicability of these requirements to certain entities. These waste streams have low flash points but are unable to sustain combustion.

Another component of the rule corrects cross references to U.S. Department of Transportation regulations and removes obsolete information in the ignitability regulation. Specifically, the rule modified the criteria for ignitable compressed gases and oxidizers to adhere more closely to the corresponding definitions in the DOT Hazardous Materials Regulations.

Corrections Rule

Wa-14-21 Technical Corrections And Clarifications Rulemaking

This rule updated and corrected state regulations, including technical corrections finalized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, to address spelling and grammatical errors, citation errors and missing federal code language. The rules and revisions corrected and updated current state rules that comprehensively regulate the generation, transportation, recycling, treatment, storage and disposal of hazardous and universal wastes and used oil.