Guide for reporting to National Pollutant Release Inventory 2001: appendix 4

Appendix 4: definition of hazardous waste

Cooperative efforts by federal and provincial environment departments and members of industry have led to the development of the following working definition of hazardous waste:

Hazardous wastes are those wastes that are potentially hazardous to human health and/or the environment due to their nature and quantity, and that require special handling techniques.

In the Transportation of Dangerous Goods (TDG) Regulations, hazardous wastes are any dangerous goods that meet the definition of waste. For international shipments subject to the Export and Import of Hazardous Wastes (EIHW) Regulations, hazardous wastes can include all wastes controlled by the TDG Regulations as well as those listed in the list of Hazardous Wastes Requiring Export or Import Notification in Schedule III of the EIHW regulations.

A new definition of waste was added to Part I of the TDG regulations in 1989. This definition covers dangerous goods that are no longer used for their original purpose and that are recyclable materials or intended for treatment or disposal.

The following materials are excluded from the definition - household waste, explosives, radioactive waste (other than low-level) and wastes that are returned directly to the manufacturer or supplier for reprocessing, repackaging or resale.

Since it is a part of the definition of waste, the definition of recyclable material in Part I of the TDG regulations is also important in determining if a given substance is a hazardous waste. This definition was amended to maintain compatibility with the EIHW regulations.

The following materials are considered hazardous wastes:

  • all discarded specified dangerous goods listed in Schedule II, List II of the TDG Regulations that are wastes
  • all not fully specified waste mixtures/solutions listed in Schedule II, List II, that have hazardous properties described by the criteria in Part III of the TDG regulations
  • all industrial waste streams listed in Schedule II, List II of the TDG regulations, and
  • all recycled material that is a waste dangerous good according to the TDG regulations.

If, after reading the above, you have determined that your facility's waste is "hazardous waste", there is further classification to be done. "Hazardous Waste" can be classified further into two streams:

Specified Wastes are listed in Schedule II, List II of the TDG regulations and Schedule III, Parts I - IV of the EIHW regulations.

Characteristic Wastes' criteria are found in Part III of the TDG regulations.

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