Liquid Totes And Tanker Endorsement

Well I'm telling you the tanker is the easiest endorsement there is. Hazmat is a different story, but after hauling enough of it and taking the test a few times, you won't need to study for that either.

Could be that's why the one shipper is always needing trucks, they go above what is required. And anytime I've hauled a truck load of empty totes they have still asked for the tanker endorsement.

Wait until you start hauling some, and flying the skull & crossbones. Nothing gets more looks than that one.

 

When is an empty container RCRA empty?
By Elizabeth M Dickinson, JD, Legal Editor
Not a trick question
Although it sounds like a trick question, it’s not. A container that seems empty of all its hazardous waste contents may not be empty enough to avoid being managed as a hazardous waste. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste regulations set forth a standard at 40 CFR 261.7 that determines whether your container is empty enough to avoid hazardous waste regulation—whether it is what is referred to as “RCRA empty.” If the standard is met, the container is exempt from most of the RCRA hazardous waste management requirements.

Empty container standard
Actually, there are three standards. Separate standards exist for containers holding:

• Hazardous waste
• Compressed gas that is a hazardous waste
• Acute hazardous waste

The three empty container standards apply to both containers and inner liners used for the storage of RCRA hazardous waste.

Empty container standard for hazardous waste
The hazardous waste container or inner liner is empty if:

• All waste has been removed that can be removed by pouring, pumping, or by means of suction; and
• No more than 1 inch (in.), equivalent to 2.5 centimeters, of residue remains on the bottom of the container or inner liner (commonly referred to as the "one-inch rule"); or
• No more than 3 percent by weight of total capacity of the container remains in the container or inner liner if the container is less than or equal to 119 gallons (gal) in size; or
• No more than 0.3 percent by weight of the total capacity of the container remains in the container or inner liner if the container is greater than 119 gal in size.

(The empty-by-weight standards are often used when there is a mixture of solid and liquid hazardous waste in the container.)

Empty container standard for hazardous waste compressed gas
A container holding compressed gas is empty when the pressure in the container approaches atmospheric pressure. To allow the pressure in the container to reach atmospheric pressure, the container must be opened. Proper precautions must be taken when opening containers of compressed gas.

Acute hazardous waste empty container standard
A container used to hold an acute hazardous waste that is listed in 40 CFR 261.31 and 40 CFR 261.33(e) is empty if one of these three conditions has been met:

• It has been triple-rinsed using a solvent capable of removing the hazardous waste.
• It has been cleaned by another method that has been shown to achieve the equivalent removal of triple-rinse.
• In the case of a container, the inner liner that prevented contact of the hazardous waste has been removed.

The caveat to this standard is that there is no federal guidance as to what particular method constitutes "triple-rinsing," other than to say that the container must be rinsed three times with a suitable solvent. Your state, however, may specify how to triple-rinse the container. So it’s a good idea to contact your state environmental agency to see if it has triple-rinse guidelines and remember that the rinse material must be managed as a hazardous waste. In addition, remember that any inner liner that is removed must be managed as a hazardous waste.

Residues
The container may now be RCRA empty, but that doesn’t end the issue. What about the residues remaining in, or removed from, the container?

Containers that don't meet the empty standard. Hazardous wastes remaining in either a container that does not meet the RCRA-empty standard or an inner liner removed from a container that does not meet the RCRA-empty standard are subject to management as a hazardous waste.

Likewise, all residues removed from a container that held hazardous waste and that does not meet the RCRA-empty standard must be managed as hazardous waste in compliance with hazardous waste disposal and storage rules.

Containers that meet the empty standard. Hazardous wastes remaining in either a container after the container meets the RCRA definition of empty (i.e., becomes a RCRA-empty container) or in an inner liner removed from a RCRA-empty container are exempt from management as a hazardous waste.

While you’d think that residues removed from a container after the container becomes a RCRA-empty container would be exempt from management as hazardous waste, that’s not necessarily the case. In response to an inquiry a number of years ago, the EPA noted that it has made it clear in the past that when a residue is removed from an empty container, the residue is subject to full regulation as a hazardous waste if the removal or subsequent management of the residue generates a new hazardous waste that exhibits any hazardous waste characteristic. In other words, a determination must be made as to whether the residue removed from an empty container is hazardous.

Other considerations
Bear in mind that the residue in a RCRA-empty container will still be considered a toxic chemical under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) for reporting purposes on Form R under EPCRA Section 313. In other words, the status of a toxic chemical as a nonhazardous waste under RCRA has no impact on the applicability of EPCRA regulations on that chemical.

 

This is why they want you to have the endorsements. Then it's not subject to interpretation. You have the endorsement(s), end of story, then Mr. Occifer can find someone else to hassle.