Tennessee Characteristic Waste: What you need to know

Characteristics of hazardous waste: Rules and Regulations of the State of Tennessee (Rule) 0400-12-01-.02(2) and Rule 0400-12-01-.02(3)

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste Management Hazardous Waste Program

See ADDRESSES & CONTACTS for addresses and telephone numbers

See national section for basic information and federal regulations.

• Rules. Generators must identify their hazardous waste by determining whether it is a listed waste or exhibits a hazardous waste characteristic. Tennessee has adopted by reference the federal regulations that contain the criteria for identifying hazardous waste by the characteristics of ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, and toxicity. See the national section CHARACTERISTIC WASTE for more information.

Tennessee regulations for identifying hazardous waste follow the federal regulations, but are stricter than their federal counterparts in that the state has not adopted in full, but rather limited, several of the federal exemptions. Consequently, the state considers more wastes to be hazardous waste than is the case under the federal program. Tennessee has adopted the federal conditional exemption from the definition of solid waste applicable to cathode-ray tubes (CRTs) without any additional state provisions. See the state sections HAZWASTE DETERMINATION (CLASSIFICATION) and LISTED WASTES for additional guidance.

Although Tennessee has received U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) authorization to administer the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) rules, the TDEC does not have authority to delist RCRA wastes under ...