Small Business_Content Page_Solid Waste - Identify your wastes

Solid Waste - Identify your wastes

Permit Primer

Identify and inventory all your "wastes" (see definition below).

Wastes

A waste is defined as any liquid, solid or gaseous material that can no longer be used for its originally intended purpose. A waste can also be defined as any material which is still usable for its originally intended purpose but which you decide to discard.

Your first step should be to conduct a walk through of your facility and compile an inventory of every waste. Inspect storage areas, laboratories and dumpsters as well as checking with purchasing, production and maintenance and office employees to identify potential waste. Include sewered and recycled wastes, off specification, expired shelf life or unusable materials, office wastes and any other wastes associated with your facility. Consider your fleet operations, maintenance activities, cafeteria, and production processes. Employees' knowledge of specific facility operations will help during the walk through.

The Waste Inventory Sheets (SB-132) will help you inventory and begin categorizing your wastes during your walk through. These sheets will also be helpful as you continue through the next several small business webpages.

Wastes banned from landfills

Wisconsin's recycling law and local ordinances require all businesses and building owners to recycle the items listed in the following list.

For each of these wastes that you generate, fill in the following information on the Waste Inventory Sheet:

  • under "waste type" check solid, because these wastes are regulated as non–hazardous solid wastes; and
  • under "comment" write do not landfill, because all of these materials can be recycled and are banned from disposal in solid waste landfills in Wisconsin.
Does your facility generate any of the solid wastes listed below?

More information on managing these wastes is available below.

For each of these wastes that you generate, fill in the following information on the Waste Inventory Sheet:

  • under "waste type" check solid, because these wastes are regulated as non-hazardous solid wastes; and
  • under "comment" write landfill or recycle, because although these materials may be disposed in a solid waste landfill in Wisconsin, significant amounts of these materials are easy to recycle.
Does your facility generate medical or infectious wastes?

For information on managing these wastes, check out Healthcare Waste.

If you generate medical & infectious wastes, fill in the following information on the Waste Inventory Sheet:

  • under "waste type" check solid, because medical & infectious wastes are regulated as non-hazardous solid wastes; and
  • under "comment" write landfill — special requirements, because although these materials may be disposed in a solid waste landfill in Wisconsin, they require special processing, packaging, labeling and/or shipping documents prior to disposal.
Does your facility generate antifreeze, asbestos, photographic film or lead paint?

More information on managing these wastes is available below.

For each of these wastes that you generate, fill in the following information on the Waste Inventory Sheet:

  • For antifreeze, photographic film and lead paint, under "waste type" check both solid and hazardous, because these materials may be regulated either as non-hazardous solid wastes or as hazardous wastes.
    • If photographic film is properly managed for recycling, it is exempt from hazardous waste regulation.
    • Anti-freeze is managed under the used oil regulations.
    • Used paint is not generally recyclable and requires laboratory testing to determine whether it is a hazardous waste based on the concentration of metals, such as lead, cadmium and chromium, in the paint.
  • For asbestos under "waste type" check solid because this material is regulated as a solid waste. Asbestos is not generally recyclable and must be disposed in a landfill.
  • For photographic film, under "comment" write recycle or hazardous waste landfill.
  • For lead paint, under "comment" write solid waste landfill or out of state hazardous waste landfill - lab testing.
  • For asbestos, under "comment" write solid waste landfill — special requirements because certain types of asbestos require special packaging and shipping documents prior to transport for disposal.
Does your facility generate wastes that include batteries, electronics, bulbs/lamps or mercury containing materials?

More information on managing these wastes is available below.

For each of these wastes that you generate, fill in the following information on the Waste Inventory Sheet:

  • under "waste type" check hazardous, because these are regulated as hazardous waste. (Specifically, these wastes are regulated as "universal hazardous wastes". If this term is familiar, you may want to write universal next to where you checked "hazardous". However, it is more important to learn about how to properly manage these wastes than be concerned about terminology.); and
  • under "comment" write recycle, because in most cases it is illegal for a business to dispose of these wastes in a solid waste landfill in Wisconsin, and these wastes are exempt from most hazardous waste regulations if they are properly managed for recycling.
Other wastes not mentioned above

Some examples of industrial solid wastes include foundry sand, wood ash, coal ash, deburring waste and screw turnings.

For each of these wastes that you generate, fill in the following information on the Waste Inventory Sheet:

  • under "waste type" check solid, because these wastes are regulated as non–hazardous solid wastes; and
  • under "comment" write landfill or reuse, because while these wastes can be disposed in a landfill in Wisconsin, the wastes may be able to be reused or recycled.

Further information about recycling these wastes is available at the Wisconsin recycling markets directory. Further information about recycling foundry sand and coal ash is available at Beneficial use of industrial byproducts.

Recycling

The previous sections don't include every possible solid waste(s) your business may generate. If your business has wastes that were not included in the proceeding Solid Waste page, the waste may be a Hazardous Waste (the following Permit Primer topic) Remember, if you have a liquid, solid or gaseous material that is being discarded for any reason, it is a "solid waste" (see definition below).

Solid waste

Solid waste means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility and other discarded or salvageable materials, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous materials resulting from industrial, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and from community activities, but does not include solids or dissolved material in domestic sewage, or solid or dissolved materials in irrigation return flows or industrial discharges which are point sources subject to permits under ch. 283, or source material, as defined in s. 254.31 (10), special nuclear material, as defined in s. 254.31 (11), or byproduct material, as defined in s.254.31 (1).

Waste facility and transporter lists will help you find the closest licensed landfill to your business and Wisconsin recycling markets directories will help you determine what resources are available to reuse or recycle your wastes or find businesses that can recycle your wastes.

Continue on to Hazardous Waste.