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F019 Final Rule Frequent Questions
A. F019 is one of EPA’s F-code RCRA hazardous waste listings, which include wastes that are generated from common industrial and manufacturing processes. F019 wastes are generated from processes such as chromating, phosphating, metal coloring and/or immersion plating. F019 wastes are defined as wastewater treatment sludges from the chemical conversion coating of aluminum (except from zirconium phosphating in aluminum can washing when such phosphating is an exclusive conversion coating process). The wastewater treatment sludges are generated from the treatment of the rinse and overflow wastewaters from the chemical conversion coating process.
Q. How and why is aluminum used in the motor vehicle manufacturing industry?
A. Around 1973, the North American motor vehicle manufacturing industry began incorporating aluminum into car and truck parts and bodies, as a light-weight substitute for iron and steel parts and bodies. This substitute resulted in the production of lighter-weight vehicles capable of increased gas mileage.
Q. How does the use of aluminum result in higher gas mileage and reduced vehicle emissions?
A. Aluminum is used in numerous vehicle parts such as hoods, trunk lids, door panels, radiators, heat exchangers, drivetrain castings. According to the Aluminum Association, a 6% to 8% fuel savings can be realized for every 10% reduction in vehicle weight achieved by substituting aluminum parts for heavier steel parts. Lower fuel consumption, in turn, results in lower emissions, including reductions in the emission of greenhouse gases.
Q. What is chemical conversion coating?
A. In general, chemical conversion coating is a metal finishing process which involves the application of a coating (e.g., by spray or dip tank) to a previously deposited metal or a base metal to increase corrosion protection and to prepare the surface for additional coatings, or the formulation of a special surface appearance. Most conversion coating operations include chromating, phosphating, metal coloring and/or immersion plating.
Q. What hazardous materials are found in F019 wastewater sludge from motor vehicle manufacturers?
A. A review of the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) for the chemicals used in, and prior to, the conversion coating process indicates that a wide range of elements can be expected to be present in the wastewaters and sludges resulting from wastewater treatment. For example, some of the specific chemical constituents found in motor vehicle manufacturers’ F019 sludge, include nickel, fluoride, zinc, barium, copper, chromium, tin, formaldehyde, lead, mercury, and xylenes.
Q. How did EPA determine that this change is protective of human health and the environment?
A. EPA assessed the possible risks that could arise from the disposal of the waste in landfill scenarios. We used several models to evaluate risks arising from the potential releases of a broad range of constituents from the waste into the environment. Of particular concern was the potential for the waste to enter groundwater, which could result in the exposure of nearby groundwater users. After evaluating risks from both unlined and lined landfills, EPA determined that the chemical constituents of potential concern do not pose significant risk when landfills with certain types of liners are used for disposal. Therefore, the final rule would only exempt these wastes if they are not placed outside on the land prior to a landfill for disposal and are disposed in landfills meeting certain liner design requirements.
Q. What types of landfills must the F019 sludges be managed in to be exempt from the F019 hazardous waste listing?A. The F019 sludges must be managed in either a Subtitle D municipal or industrial landfill unit that is equipped with, at a minimum, a single clay liner and is permitted, licensed, or otherwise authorized by the state, or a landfill unit subject to, or otherwise meeting, the landfill requirements in 40 CFR 258.40, 264.301, or 265.301.
Q. Why is EPA amending the F019 hazardous waste listing?
A. When aluminum is incorporated into the body of a vehicle, the chemical conversion coating step in the vehicle manufacturing (assembly) process generates F019 hazardous waste, according to the current F019 listing description. However, wastewater treatment sludges generated from the conversion coating of vehicle bodies made of steel without aluminum are not F019 hazardous wastes. Therefore, according to the motor vehicle manufacturing industry, the existing F019 hazardous waste listing provides a disincentive for using aluminum in motor vehicle manufacturing because the manufacturer would become a hazardous waste generator of aluminum is used during vehicle manufacturing. Additionally, the toxic constituents formerly used in conversion coating of aluminum (hexavalent chromium and cyanide) are no longer used by motor vehicle manufacturers. In an effort to seek an exclusion from the F019 hazardous waste listing, the motor vehicle manufactures submitted facility-specific “delisting” petitions. The industry later asked EPA to consider the equivalent of a national exemption for the F019 hazardous waste listing. Industry claimed that such an exemption would result in considerable savings without affecting environmental protectiveness. EPA decided to address this nationally by amending the F019 hazardous waste listing after evaluating the wastes and determining that there was no significant risk to human health or the environment when these wastes are not placed outside on the land prior to shipment for disposal in an appropriately lined landfill.
Q. What is a “delisting” petition?
A. EPA’s regulations (40 CFR 260.22) set out a procedure and standards by which persons may demonstrate that a specific waste from a particular generating facility should not be regulated as a listed hazardous waste. Under these regulations, any person may petition the EPA to remove (delist) its waste from regulation by excluding it from the lists of hazardous wastes contained in 40 CFR Part 261. As of June 2007, the motor vehicle manufacturing industry has been granted 19 petitions to have their waste from certain facilities excluded from RCRA regulation as a hazardous waste.
Q. What industries are affected?
A. EPA’s amendment to the F019 hazardous waste listing directly impacts industries that generate certain wastes from the manufacturing of motor vehicles in the (1) automobile manufacturing industry and (2) light truck/utility vehicle manufacturing industry (NAICS codes 336111 and 336112, respectively). Other motor vehicle manufacturing industries (e.g., heavy duty truck or motor home manufacturing (NAICS code 336129)) are not affected by this rule. At least 7 current generators of F019 waste, within the vehicle manufacturing industry could be potentially affected by this action. An additional 42 facilities, which do not currently generate a F019 hazardous waste could also be affected by a proposed revision to the F019 hazardous waste listing, should they choose to add aluminum to their vehicles in the future.
Q. Why did EPA choose a contingent management approach over a concentration-based approach to amending the F019 hazardous waste listing?
A. EPA believes that approach used in the amendment would be easier and less costly to implement than the concentration-based approach, and also provides at least the same level of protection for human health and the environment. Under this proposed approach, the motor vehicle manufacturers ca not place their zinc phosphating wastewater treatment sludges outside on the land and must dispose of these waste in landfills meeting appropriate liner design requirements. The specified conditions included in the amendment address the potential risk from the wastes without the need for testing. In contrast, a concentration-based approach would require the generators to meet different exemption levels for each of the constituents of concern for the various annual waste volumes, thus requiring implementation of a representative sampling and analysis program, which could be quite costly.
Q. What conditions must the generators meet in order to have their wastewater treatment sludges from motor vehicle manufacturing be exempt from the F019 hazardous waste listing?A. This rule exempts wastewater treatment sludges from zinc phosphating, when such phosphating is used in the motor vehicle manufacturing process, on condition that the wastes are not placed outside on the land prior to shipment for disposal in an appropriately lined landfill. Specifically, the wastes must be disposed of in either a municipal or industrial landfill unit that is equipped with a single clay liner and is permitted, licensed, or otherwise authorized by the state, or a landfill unit subject to, or otherwise meeting, the landfill requirements in 40 CFR 258.40, 264.301, or 265.301.
Q. What happens if a motor vehicle manufacturer can not meet the required conditions of the final rule?
A. The final rule rule allows motor vehicle manufacturers to manage wastes as nonhazardous from chemical conversion coating of aluminum using a zinc phosphating process, on the condition that these wastes are not placed outside on the land prior to shipment for disposal in an appropriately lined landfill. Therefore, if a motor vehicle manufacturer is generating the wastes described above and does not meet the required conditions, the wastes would have to be managed as hazardous in full compliance with Subtitle C regulations.
Q. How will EPA ensure that the wastewater treatment sludges are disposed of according to the conditions set forth in the final rule?
A. The generator of these wastes must maintain in their on-site records documentation information sufficient to prove that the wastewater treatment sludges to be excluded from the F019 listing meet the conditions of the listing. These records must include: the volume of the waste generated and disposed of off-site, documentation showing when the waste volumes were generated and sent off site, the name and address of the receiving facility, and documentation confirming receipt of the waste by the receiving facility. The generators must maintain these documents on-site for no less than three years.
