Section 335.409 - Operation of Collection Events and Permanent Collection Centers(a) Location and site setup. The operator shall locate, organize, and operate a collection event or permanent collection center in a manner that safeguards the public health and welfare, physical property, and the environment. At a minimum, for any collection event, permanent collection center, or site where mobile collections units are used, the operator shall: (1) locate the collection based on the types and quantities of waste to be collected and suitability of the site for collecting the waste;(2) organize the activities on site in a way that allows incoming wastes to be sorted upon arrival and placed in a controlled area for packaging;(3) provide an area, not generally accessible to the public, for sorting, packaging, and handling waste that is accepted;(4) provide parking for the public and for essential project vehicles and queuing for vehicles waiting to offload wastes so as not to interfere with the safe entry and exit of traffic or cause traffic congestion on roads near the site;(5) prepare for inclement weather, including provisions for sheltering personnel at or near the site during storms;(6) designate eating, drinking, and smoking areas for personnel working at the event, area, site, or center (the operator shall prohibit such activities in the collection work area); and(7) keep incompatible wastes separated, including unidentified wastes, prior to and after packaging for further storage or transport;(b) Personnel and training. The operator shall ensure that personnel who work at a collection event or the permanent collection center are trained to use and follow the operational plan in conducting collection, storage, processing and disposal, and reuse activities. In addition, the operator shall ensure that the following provisions are met: (1) Personnel who sort and package waste for transport to a hazardous waste facility and who directly oversee and supervise these activities on site must be trained and knowledgeable concerning the incompatibility of various classes of waste and qualified to package waste for transport;(2) At every collection event and permanent collection center, at least one person trained to classify hazardous waste and competent to perform tests to identify characteristics of hazardous waste (e.g., pH, flammability, etc.) must be utilized to accept or supervise the acceptance of waste;(3) Personnel handling waste must be instructed in accident prevention; emergency response to fires, explosions, and spills; the proper use of fire extinguishers appropriate to the materials that will be accepted; and the use of protective devices (such as respiratory gear and gloves) to minimize exposure to the household hazardous waste and other materials that would be accepted in the collection;(4) Packaging and labeling of waste must be supervised by an individual familiar with the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) hazardous materials packaging, placarding, labeling, shipping, and hazardous waste manifest requirements;(5) At least one person must be on site at times when wastes are handled who is trained to perform general first aid and who is knowledgeable concerning safety measures to be taken in the event of accidental contact with household hazardous waste or other hazardous materials presented for collection; the first aid training must be consistent with courses provided under the auspices of a recognized national safety organization (such as American Red Cross, National Safety Council, etc.) and must be documented with a current certificate;(6) An on-site supervisor must be available and responsible for initiating an emergency response plan that includes site evacuation procedures. The on-site supervisor also assumes responsibility for accepting any unidentified wastes and insuring proper handling and proper processing or disposal;(7) The on-site supervisor must have the authority to remove from the site and prohibit re-entry of any person that the supervisor determines may threaten site security or personnel safety;(8) A collection event or permanent collection center must be manned by an adequate number of individuals who possess the necessary skills and expertise needed to accept, sort, label, and store the waste and to provide on-site supervision and public relations;(9) When household hazardous waste or other hazardous materials are prepared for transportation, an adequate number of operator or contractor staff must be present and involved who possess the necessary skills and expertise needed to package, store, and manifest the waste; and(10) At a minimum, all personnel who handle household hazardous waste after it is unloaded from vehicles delivering it from households and before it is segregated for transport or storage will have chemical identification, segregation, and consolidation training and Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) training; all other personnel will have appropriate training pursuant to their duties.(c) Equipment and materials. The operator shall provide equipment and materials at a collection event or permanent collection center to provide protection, safety and first aid for persons operating the collection, to contain and clean up spills, and to properly handle, classify, store, and label the waste. The operator shall ensure that disposable equipment and materials contaminated during a spill cleanup are handled appropriately for the type of material that was spilled. The operator shall ensure that any contaminated non-disposable equipment and materials are properly decontaminated before removal from the site. At a minimum, the operator shall provide the following equipment and material at every site and vehicle used to collect wastes: (2) a telephone or radio for contacting first responders in the event of a spill, personal injury, etc.;(3) an eyewash and shower station, or a hosing device;(4) at least two fire extinguishers appropriate to the wastes accepted; and(5) sufficient spill containment and absorbent materials to contain a spill of 10% of the anticipated volume of collected liquid waste.(d) Waste accepted and excluded. The collection program should accept only household wastes. The operator shall take necessary precautions to prohibit the receipt of waste that is defined as a hazardous waste or Class 1 wastes under this chapter. Other requirements related to acceptance or exclusion of wastes are as follows: (1) The operator shall ensure that a chemist or trained individual knowledgeable in chemical characteristics and incompatibilities identifies any unidentified waste accepted before packaging the waste for transport. Wastes that cannot be identified by the generator or his representative when delivered or through physical assessment by qualified staff may not be packaged until the waste has been analyzed and the appropriate chemical class has been identified.(2) Announcements and promotional material must state which types of wastes will be accepted and which types of waste will not be accepted at the collection event or permanent collection center. The operator shall provide information to potential participants prior to a collection event or the opening of a permanent collection center and at least annually during the period that a permanent collection center operates. The information provided must include all relevant instructions on the following issues, as well as any other appropriate information that may be useful to the public:(A) the types and quantities of wastes that will be accepted and that will not be accepted;(B) instructions for safely packaging and transporting wastes to the collection;(C) the days and hours of operation and location of the collection site; and(D) eligibility criteria for who can bring wastes.(3) The operator shall ensure that waste acceptance decisions are based on the capabilities of the personnel collecting, sorting, and packaging the waste. A generic list of proposed wastes to be accepted and those that will be prohibited must be included in the operational plan. The list must be developed with the intent of minimizing the need for chemical analysis of unidentified wastes.(4) Empty hazardous material and pesticide containers from households may be disposed of as nonhazardous waste if they are rendered unusable before leaving the collection event or permanent collection center.(e) Temporary storage. The operator shall ensure that storage areas at a collection event or permanent collection center are operated and maintained so as to provide safe handling and storage of waste awaiting final disposition. The operator shall secure a collection event or permanent collection center to control access by the public. When storing aggregated household hazardous waste: (1) An operator may not store aggregated household hazardous waste longer than 10 days except under one of the conditions described in subparagraphs (A) - (C) of this paragraph. (A) The storage facility is an authorized hazardous waste processing, storage, or disposal facility;(B) The operator requests in writing and obtains a storage time extension from the executive director. The request for an extension must state the reason that waste needs to be stored longer than ten days, the earliest date that the hazardous household waste currently on site was received, and the expected date that the waste will be shipped to a recycling facility or a hazardous waste processing, storage, or disposal facility; or(C) The operator is operating a permanent collection center, does not accumulate more than 3,000 kilograms of household hazardous waste, and does not store the waste longer than 180 days.(2) If wastes are stored in original individual containers as received from the public rather than in a proper and correctly labeled shipping container that meets the DOT regulations for hazardous materials in transportation, the operator shall ensure:(A) that all complete, legible, and correct labels are maintained on individual containers received from the public;(B) that, if the label on any container of waste received from the public is missing, defaced, or incorrect, information needed for safe storage, transportation, and processing or disposal is marked on that container; at a minimum, this required information must cover all information required by the DOT regulations for hazardous materials in transportation; and(C) that the date of acceptance of each individual container from the generator is placed on that container.(3) If wastes are properly prepared for transportation and stored in proper shipping containers that are labeled consistent with the DOT regulations for hazardous materials in transportation, the individual containers received from the public do not need to be marked.(4) The operator shall maintain records of all stored, processed, or disposed household hazardous wastes for at least one year after shipment of the waste including all the information necessary to complete manifests for the wastes. (Copies of manifests may be used in lieu of a separate record.)30 Tex. Admin. Code § 335.409
The provisions of this §335.409 adopted to be effective July 31, 2008, 33 TexReg 5947