Small Quantity Business Hazardous Waste Program

About the Program

Category: County Resiliency (Best in Category)

Year: 2018

The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) is a public law that provides the framework for managing hazardous and non-hazardous solid waste in the United States. Among its requirements, RCRA mandates that all businesses responsibly dispose of both their Hazardous Waste and Acute Hazardous Waste. Lacking a public-sector outlet for hazardous waste, as well as not having knowledge of what these materials are, businesses in Mecklenburg County, N.C. frequently, and inadvertently dispose of this waste improperly. In the best case they must contract with private sector hazardous waste collection companies to reach RCRA compliance. Many small businesses in Mecklenburg County are unable to afford the cost of contracting with a private sector hazardous waste collection companies -- creating a financial barrier to complying with a Federal Law. Mecklenburg County Solid Waste, who oversees and provides waste disposal within the County, saw the need for a program to bridge this gap, and worked with the State’s Department of Environmental Quality to get permission to initiate Very Small Quantity Generator (VSQG) Hazardous Waste Collection Events. Mecklenburg County found out that no other county in in the state had such a program. County staff then worked with a private company to partner and initiate a VSQG Hazardous Waste Collection Event. It was the first of its kind in the State of N.C., and reduced the cost of Hazardous Waste disposal incurred by qualifying businesses by 20% or more.