MACT For Other Solid Waste Incineration Rulemaking

EPA promulgated emissions standards for Other Solid Waste Incineration (OSWI) units in 2005. Units covered under that rule included certain very small municipal waste combustion and institutional waste incineration units. Because EPA did not have emissions test data on OSWI units specifically, the 2005 rulemaking was based on test data from hospital, medical, infectious waste incineration (HMIWI) units, which were considered to be similar to OSWI units. EPA did not issue standards or guidelines for sewage sludge incinerator units, pathological waste incinerator units, and other categories of units.

In 2007, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision vacating EPA's definition of "solid waste incineration unit". In that decision, the court held that any facility that combusts any solid waste material is a commercial or industrial solid waste incineration unit. Based on that decision, EPA has reevaluated some of the categories of units for which EPA did not issue standards or guidelines in the 2005 OSWI rule, such as pathological waste incinerators, and concluded that such units are in fact solid waste incineration units and as such must be regulated under Clean Air Act section 129.

EPA is now initiating rulemaking that will require that an information collection request (ICR) be used to gather data necessary to develop MACT floors and emission limits for the rule.

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