LTR - Ep 60 - What Does "Cradle to Grave" Mean?

In this 60th episode, I discuss the topic of What Does "Cradle to Grave" Mean?

"Cradle to Grave" means that Hazardous Waste Generators have full responsibility for the Hazardous Waste that they Generated (or Created "Cradle") through its's entire lifecycle until it is put in it's "Grave" by Remediating (breaking it down from Hazardous to make it Non-Hazardous).  This includes the Transportation and Storage of The Hazardous Waste.

This is all too often thought of that once it's moved and accepted by a Licensed Waste Disposal Facility, that the responsibility and liability goes away.  But it DOES NOT!  A Licensed Waste Disposal Facility is only storing the Waste on your behalf.  That's why there is very detailed documentation about The Waste on the manifest of it, as an insurance policy for The Waste Disposal Facility, in the event that there is a release from it.  It is stored there.  The only real way for The Hazardous Waste Generator to be rid of the liability of it, is for it to be REMEDIATED!

As noted in last week's episode:

Relocating the contamination is a quick and easy fix to be moved out of sight and out of mind.  It is NOT Remediation.  It's removal from the current location to another.  In this case, it is stored at a waste disposal facility still in it's hazardous form, in theory to be dealt with at some future time.

We CAN NOT keep doing this forever!  

We have natural resources that we require to live.  It is in Everyone's best interest, to change our thought processes, from the quick easy fix of digging/vacuuming and hauling to a disposal facility as being the method of last resort, instead of being the default first choice.  It is vital to our survival as a species.

We must have the first thought to actually remediate the contamination and use waste disposal facilities as a method of last resort.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:05

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SPEAKER_00 0:42

Hambi Environmental is a manufacturer of field test kits for analyzing soil and solid surface and water analysis for the detection of petroleum hydrocarbons, PFAS and PFOS chlorides, and they provide accurate results, real-time results, the immediate feedback and economical results. So thank you, Hambi Environmental, for your ongoing support of this podcast, Let's Talk Remediation, where we're trying to have a positive impact on the environmental remediation industry. And with that, we will start our 60th episode. The topic for our 60th episode is what is meant by cradle to grave? And we are building on our last episode, our 59th episode, which was uh on the topic of relocation, also known as dig or vacuum and hall, uh, is not remediation. So relocation is not remediation. Uh, that was our 59th episode, so our 60th episode is kind of going to build on that just a tad. And with that, the uh the topic being what is cradle to grave or what is meant by cradle to grave. And so they kind of go hand in hand. And so cradle to grave refers to the regulatory framework established by RECRA, which stands for uh, or the acronym RCRA RECRA, it stands for Resource Uh Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Um, and RECRA, what it does is it mandates that hazardous waste be tracked and safely managed at every uh point in its life cycle from the moment it is generated, meaning the cradle, uh, through its ultimate treatment, storage, and disposal of uh that hazardous waste that was generated, uh, referred to as the grave. So from from cradle to grave, it means that whoever creates the hazardous waste is responsible for safely safely managing that contamination or hazardous waste through its entire life cycle. Okay. So under a RECRA, uh the statute uh uh the regulatory statutes principle assigns strict uh legal responsibilities to all parties involved uh in the hazardous waste. And that what that means is the parties are the generator of the hazardous waste, the one who created it. The entity that created the waste is responsible for correctly identifying it uh because they generated or created it, maintaining accurate records about it, and properly labeling it and storing it and packaging it, and then dealing with the next category related to it is transporters. So a generator has to then uh have transporters that control the movement of the waste, and that movement of the waste or hazardous waste or hazardous materials, uh, you know, has certain guidelines from the DOT Department of Transportation. This hazardous waste has regulations and can has to be tracked with uh the US EPA's manifest system uh for you know documenting everything about it. Again, the labeling, where it came from, where it's going, the dates, how much, all this type of stuff. So you have your waste generator, who is ultimately responsible for everything that has to do with it, who then you utilizes transporters to move the contamination from one place to a next. And then you have uh what is referred to as a treatment, storage, and disposal facility, a TSDF. Uh these are facilities that uh have strict operational permits and manage the waste according to very rigorous environmental standards, okay? So there's three different uh bodies, if you will, that are going to be helping uh deal with this waste. You got again the originator or generator of the waste who's ultimately responsible for everything, who then has to utilize uh like transporters to move the waste where it needs to go and have the documentation of everything about it, the manifest for the US EPA's system. Um and again, uh it's up to the generator to make sure the transporters are doing all this properly, and then you have your permanent disposal facilities that it gets moved to and stuff like that. Again, that's treatment storage uh and disposal facilities. That's TSDF treatment storage disposal facilities. And they have the guidelines on how to handle the waste. So the the fundamental purpose of this cradle to grave mandate is to prevent illegal dumping of the hazardous waste. It's to create documentation about it from its inception of being created by the generator to what happens with it, right? And uh in doing so, to prevent like the illegal dumping or disposal of it, we're protecting the the public's health and ensuring long-term accountability for that waste that was generated by the generator. Um, notably, the the original waste generator uh retains permanent responsibility for this waste again, all the way through hiring the third-party uh transporters to manage and transport the waste. Uh and in doing so, just because the generator hands it off to the transporters, the generator is still ultimately responsible, even if something happens during the transportation of that waste by the transporter, it does not release liability from the generator if an accident or hazardous release uh occurs during uh any point in the chain of moving that waste from where the generator created it uh to wherever it's gonna go. Whether it's the transporter that has an accident or an accident happens at the TSDF, the treatment, storage, and disposal facilities, the permitted facilities that are gonna take in that waste if that's where it's what's being done with it. So if something happens there, which could happen, uh something could happen even at the permitted waste disposal facility. Again, if something does happen there, that's kind of the purpose of the uh the the man uh the manifest system that the EPA has for tracking the waste because if something happens at that disposal facility, uh they're gonna go back to the original generators of the waste and they are ultimately still on the hook. That's kind of the the reason for the manifest, the tracking of that waste system, the hazardous waste. So again, um, too many times people think because they, you know, got a transporter to take it to a waste disposal facility that they're off the hook because the manifest shows that they they moved it from their hands to the transporter's hands and then to this permanent waste disposal facility, the TSDF, the treatment storage uh disposal facility. And so it's out of their hands, and they they've wiped their hands clean because it's now at the disposal facility, so they feel like they're off the hook. But that is not the case, okay? Um, the waste generator has strict liability even after the waste has been safely transported and accepted by a licensed disposal facility. So um, under the U.S. environmental law, particularly uh what's called uh Circula, which stands for Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act, uh also known as Superfund, liability for hazardous waste is permanent. It stays with the generator. Um so the liability, it never really ends unless it is actually treated and remediated, which is where uh you know the topic ended in our 59th episode where I said relocation, also known as dig and vacuum uh and hall, is uh not remediation, that's transportation, that's relocation of the contamination, like transporting it to a waste uh permitted uh waste disposal facility. In this case, that's again relocation. It's not remediation, it's moving it from one place to the other. So once you've moved it and you you haven't acted on it, you haven't remediated it, and so that liability is still there. So, regardless, uh you are still liable whether you uh acted negligently or you followed all the environment, the existing laws related to that hazardous waste material. If something happens at that uh disposal facility, they and it becomes a super fun site because uh the contamination uh got away, there's some kind of release of some sort, there you're the generators are are still responsible. And that's where the EPA is gonna go to is they're gonna go to those manifests and find out who were the people that um moved or had transported that hazardous waste to that disposal facility, and they're gonna be going to look to have them do the uh absorb the cleanup cost and or reimburse the EPA if they choose to do the cleanup themselves. So, and it's joint and several liability. That means any single responsible party can be held liable for the entire cost of the cleanup, regardless of their share of the waste. Now, that's not typically the way it happens. Uh, typically the waste generators will all get in a class action lawsuit, and most of the time it ends up where you know they all divide up the cost based on uh the volume of waste that they particularly uh uh disposed of at that facility. Uh but of course, in order to determine all that, again, that's more legal work where you have to provide all the documentation uh from the manifest and everything else. It documents who, what, when, and where, and how much, you know, to then determine your paradise share of the cost for that cleanup. But uh again, you know, there's gonna be companies at that point that have gone out of business that, you know, that that they can't, they're no longer part there, so it's gonna be the companies that are still in business and and you know, and up to you to provide the documentation up to to prove up your paratus share so you don't get stuck with a larger share than you uh actually disposed of. And if you don't have that type of documentation or it can't be uncovered, well, you're at risk there even more. So again, the liability never ends when you transport and uh move hazardous waste material over to a disposal facility. Uh, all they're doing is going to store it for you. They're not actually remediating it. So the only way to remove yourself from future liability, again, the cradle to grave, is to create a grave. You create the grave by actually acting upon the contamination and remediating it, not transporting it and relocating it or moving it. And it's retroactive liability. Generators can be held liable for cleanup costs even if the waste disposal was legal at the time it occurred and it was a long time ago. It it doesn't matter. So the the if the if the disposal facility breaches containment, has a leak or release of hazardous material, and it becomes like, say, a super fund cleanup, the EPA targets the uh PRPs, which is uh potentially responsible parties. The EPA routinely uh pursues the original waste generators to fund the multimillion dollar uh cleanups, uh, meaning a company can face massive liabilities for decades after a third party uh was used to dispose of the waste. So again, it's retroactive. So that is why the liability never ends unless instead of just relocating the problem to a disposal facility, you actually get the hazardous waste remediated. Now, again, now most most of the time, uh the the the majority of hazardous waste generators uh think of the term cradle to grave uh incorrectly. They think the goal is to get it out of their hands into a waste disposal facility, and then it's the the waste disposal facility counts as the grave. So at that point, cradle to grave, they created it, the waste generator created it, and the grave they get they disposed of it. It's at a waste disposal facility. But that is inaccurate. The waste disposal facility is only storing the contamination that was relocated to them, and that required manifest is all the documentation about it. So if there's anything that happens at that waste disposal facility, they know who all provided the waste there, uh, so they can go back to those people that are going to be the responsible parties for uh absorbing the cleanup costs, all right? So um, you know, uh from from the EPA's uh website it says the the time period from the initial generation of the hazardous waste to its ultimal ultimate disposal uh and ultimate disposal does not mean relocated to a waste disposal facility. It means to break it down and actually remediate it. So that is the only way you can rid yourself of the liability. So it's you know, under the the false uh assumption that once has uh the hazmat or hazardous material is off-site, the transporter and the disposal facility now have the responsibility for it. But that is not accurate as per Recra. Recra says that once you have generated a hazardous waste, there is literally no way for you to rid yourself uh completely of the responsibility for it until you've really created the grave from for for the can the hazardous waste, and the grave means remediated. Not grave does not mean relocated to a waste disposal facility, that's a holding tank, okay? And so uh the term again, cradle to grave means you are responsible for the hazardous waste from the time you generated it, which is the cradle, its subset uh subsequent transportation to a properly licensed uh and storage disposal facility. Um until it is properly treated and it's disposed of per breaking it down and remediating it, that would actually create a grave. But just transporting it to a disposal facility, that is it's part of the transport, if you will. That's a holding mechanism, that is not actual uh remediation and disposal. It is uh just a uh part of the transportation from one place to the other. So until then, you still have the responsibility for the cleanup because it it's once it's generated, you have it until it's actually remediated, not just moved from one place to the other. And so um the the other parts to it that I wanted to hit on um were in regards to cradle to grave is one of the most overlooked and thought of improperly parts to hazardous waste. Cradle to grave is again by most generators thought of as yes, we created this waste, now let me call somebody to transport this over to a waste disposal facility and get it out of my hands. And that's fine, but that is called out of sight, out of mind. All right, you still have the liability in the event that anything happens with that hazardous waste while it is at that disposal facility. Because that disposal facility, yes, it took it in from you, and there's a manifest documenting that it's it's been moved by the transporter to the disposal facility, and we took it in and we're storing it for you. But nothing's happening to it. We're hoping nothing happens to it, meaning uh a release, an accidental release or emergency, uh, because then they're gonna come to the original generator and you're gonna be responsible for the cleanup costs. Uh, however, while we're storing it from you know for you, while we took it in and stored it for you, you know, hopefully at some point uh we get to having some means to remediate or break down this hazardous waste. That is the only way you will ever be released from the liability of that waste. Now, think about this. Here's the problem. When it goes to that waste disposal facility, how do you think that it's possible that at some time in the future the stuff that that disposal facility took in is going to be able to be remediated? Your contamination is mixed with everybody else's hazardous waste contamination that they also disposed of. So now it's all commingled. So there's really no ways to to rid uh no way to rid yourself of that liability, actually, ever, unless that waste disposal facility is somehow able to remediate everything, anything and everything that they took in. So it's kind of like an ongoing forever problem. It's actually never going to be remediated. So if you want to have peace of mind, uh if you are a generator of hazardous waste, you need to be thinking about what I talked about in the last episode of relocation is not remediation, and be thinking of instead of moving this stuff out of sight, out of mind from my facility to a waste disposal facility, how do I get this hazardous waste remediated so that I can actually rid myself of this liability? That is again what I talked about in the last episode, where we need to be thinking about a whole different way of doing this. Instead of going with the out-of-sight, out of mind, we need to have in our head how do we get rid of this contamination? How do we remediate it? Rather than and have that be our first thought of action, and only use disposal facilities as a last resort because that's not actually remediating anything. When you move something to a waste disposal facility, that is not a grave, that is a temporary holding facility. So, and that should be used in the worst cases where we don't have options to remediate. When we have options to remediate, let's rid ourselves of that future liability. Let's do what's in the best interest of human health and our environment that we live in. Let's create the grave for this hazardous material that we created, the cradle. Let's create the grave by actually remediating this contamination. And when we move for the thought process of there are remediation options for things out there and make that our first option instead of our last option, we we should be able to sleep better at night. Not only are we living in a more healthy environment, but we rid ourselves of that future liability of a possible uh problem, not only at the licensed facility that we disposed of it at, in case they have a future uh release or something like that. Or uh, you know, along the way, the transporter has a problem that we're also liable for. Because again, the generator is ultimately responsible if anything happens to that waste that you've created. You are ultimately responsible no matter what, whether it happens during transportation or storage. So let's go ahead and create that grave. Cradle to grave. Let's create the grave, let's remediate this contamination, get rid of it, and get rid of that liability so we can sleep better at night and actually we can live better because we're living in a more healthy environment. So that was the topic that I wanted to get through today. What is meant by cradle to grave? And um, yes, actually, cradle to grave should scare you. This topic should scare you. It's not thought about enough because it's thought about incorrectly. People think about cradle to grave as oh, I created this hazardous waste. Let me call the the guys to come pick it up and take it to the disposal facility. And okay, I pay to transport it, I pay to dispose of it, and now it's out of sight, out of mine, and I don't have to deal with it anymore. No, that's that's not proper, and that's not correct. So you're actually looking at it wrong. You still have that liability out there, not only during transport, during the the storage of that contamination by the disposal facility. Cradle to grave means until the grave is remediated, until it is actually disposed of by remediation, broken down. So knowing that, why don't we do that up front? Make our four first option in thought to be how do I get this remediated? Not how do I transport it from one place to the other and temporarily and store it. Uh let's let's get rid of creating future super fun sites. Let's start remediating this stuff up front and create the grave. Let's break down this contamination, let's remediate it. Let's not just relocate and store it. So that was the topic for today. Uh cradle to grave. Now we have a better understanding, and it should scare you that if you're not actually uh remediating contamination, if you're actually just relocating and storing, uh, it should scare you to death of the future liability. So that is, this topic was to kind of not only educate about the real meaning of cradle to grave, it's to scare you into actually thinking, oh, we need to change the way we're doing things so we do it a little bit better. And with that, I'll wrap up our 60th episode again. Thank you, Hammy Environmental, for your ongoing support of this podcast where we're trying to have a positive impact on the environmental remediation industry. And thank you for tuning in. As always, if you have a topic you'd like for us to address on a future podcast, or you have a specific specific question you'd like for us to address, drop me an email at C Fader, that's C F S N Frank A T O R. C Fader at let's talkremediation.com, and we'll get that covered on a future podcast. Thank you for tuning in, and with that, I'm your host, Charles Fader, and I'm out.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

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