RCRA – Introduction
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) provides the framework to manage hazardous waste from cradle to grave. Waste generators are responsible for determining if a waste is hazardous by following the hazard identification steps outlined by RCRA. This course describes these hazard identification steps and how to determine if something is a hazardous waste.





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Course Details
Learning Objectives
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Describe the purpose of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)
- Describe how to identify a hazardous waste
- Differentiate between listed and characteristic hazardous wastes
- Describe the four hazardous characteristics
Specs
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the hazardous waste identification steps?
What is a solid waste?
What is a listed waste?
What is a characteristic waste?
What is the mixture rule?
Sample Video Transcript
Ignitable wastes readily catch fire and will sustain combustion. Most ignitable wastes are liquids. To determine if a liquid waste is an ignitable hazard, a flash point test is used. The flash point is the lowest temperature at which the chemical ignites when exposed to flame. A flash point of less than 140 degrees Fahrenheit, 60 degrees Celsius, means the chemical is hazardous. A non-liquid waste is considered hazardous if it can spontaneously catch fire by friction, moisture absorption, or spontaneous chemical changes under normal atmospheric conditions and burns vigorously and persistently once ignited. Finally, many compressed gasses and oxidizing chemicals are also considered hazardous because of ignitability.
Additional Resources
- Environmental Protection Agency – http://www.epa.gov
- EPA Information Resources – http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/inforesources/online/index.htm
- EPA Quick Reference Guide – http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/inforesources/pubs/trifold.pdf
- EPA RCRA Policy Outline – http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/lrca.html