Skip Maine state header navigation

Agencies | Online Services | Help

Skip First Level Navigation | Skip All Navigation

DEP Home > Innovation > THWRP > THWRP Data > Hazardous Waste

What is a Hazardous Waste?

As a result of doing business, a facility may generate wastes that can cause serious environmental and/or health problems if not handled and disposed of properly. Certain types of wastes are considered hazardous, and they are currently regulated by Federal and State laws.

Waste may be determined to be hazardous because it has been listed by Federal or State law as a hazardous waste, or because it exhibits one of the following 4 hazardous characteristics:

Ignitability - waste code D001

  • The waste is a liquid and has a flash point of less than 140° F
  • The waste is an ignitable compressed gas
  • The waste is an oxidizer

Examples are solvents and paint thinners

Corrosivity - waste code D002

  • The waste is an aqueous liquid with a pH less than or equal to 2.0, or greater than or equal to 12.5
  • The waste is a liquid and corrodes steel at a rate greater than 6.35 mm per year

Examples are acids and caustics

Reactivity - waste code D003

  • The waste is reactive to water, shock, heat, pressure
  • The waste reacts to give off toxic gases
  • The waste is unstable and reacts rapidly or explosively

Examples are peroxides, cyanides and perchlorates

Toxicity - waste codes D004-D017

  • This category includes wastes that leach more than a specified amount of heavy metals (arsenic, barium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, selenium, and silver) or one of six (6) pesticides using the Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test.

An example is lead paint chips that leach more than 5.0 mg/l of lead under specific laboratory conditions

 

Listed Federal Wastes:

Non-specific sources - waste codes F001-F028

  • Wastes in this category include spent halogenated and non-halogenated solvents, electroplating wastewater treatment sludges, spent plating solutions and many others.

Examples are trichloroethylene, xylene, methyl ethyl ketone, benzene, acetone, toluene, methylene chloride and 1,1,1-trichloroethane.

Specific sources - waste codes K001-K087

  • Wastes in this category are from specific listed processes

An example is the bottom sediment sludge from the treatment of wastewaters from wood preserving processes that use creosote and/or pentachlorophenol.

Commercial Chemical Products, Intermediates or Off-Specification Products - There are 2 sources:

Acute wastes - waste codes P001-P158

Examples of these acute wastes are copper cyanide, chlorine and epinephrine.

Non-acute wastes - waste codes U001-U359

Examples of these wastes are phenol, ethanol and naphthalene.

 

For more information on hazardous waste, visit the Maine DEP Hazardous Waste page (contains info on all of Maine's hazardous waste rules) and the EPA Hazardous Waste website