Samsung Austin Semiconductor no longer needs to consider copper filter cake as hazardous waste and no longer needs to follow the requirements of hazardous waste regulations for that substance, thanks to a new ruling from the EPA. This final rule responds to the petition submitted by Samsung to the EPA to have the copper filter cake from the electroplating process delisted from the definition of a hazardous waste.
Copper filter cake is listed as F006, wastewater treatment sludges from electroplating operations, and is made up of cadmium, hexavalent chromium, nickel, and cyanide (complexed). After analysis and evaluation of comments submitted by the public, the EPA concluded that the petitioned wastes are not hazardous waste when disposed of in Subtitle D landfills. This exclusion applies to the copper filter cake generated specifically at Samsung's Austin, Texas, facility.
The EPA rule, however, imposes testing conditions to ensure that the future-generated wastes remain qualified for delisting.
To support its petition to the EPA, Samsung Austin Semiconductor submitted historical information on waste generation and management practices, and analytical results from eight samples for total and TCLP concentrations of compounds of concern.
To change rules such as the above, petitioners must provide sufficient information to EPA to allow the organization to determine that the waste to be excluded does not meet any of the criteria under which the waste was originally listed as hazardous.
