EPA’s Reinterpretation of the RCRA Industrial Ethyl Alcohol Exemption
Posted by [email protected] on Jun. 22, 2023
US Policy and Regulatory Alert
Authors: K&L Gates attorneys - Maureen O’Dea Brill, Dawn M. Lamparello, David Rieser, Brian Montag, Cliff L. Rothenstein
In November 2022, the US Environmental Protection Agency published a memo regarding the management of discarded hand sanitizer under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), which stated that an industrial ethyl alcohol-based product must be “spent” in order to qualify for the recycling exemption. Recently, however, EPA issued a reinterpretation of the RCRA industrial ethyl alcohol exemption taking the position that industrial ethyl alcohol-based products, including alcohol-based hand sanitizer, qualify for the exemption whether or not the materials are spent.
