State manufacturers are up in arms over a proposal to expand the number of codes used for hazardous waste products.

The state Department of Toxic Substances Control recently announced that it intends to revise the existing list of hazardous waste codes to comply with an eight-year-old state law known as AB 241. That law requires the agency to distinguish between wastes considered hazardous under federal law from those considered hazardous under state law.

But the California Manufacturers and Technology Association contends that the regulatory proposal goes further, creating a “confusing” new system that “will require considerable cost and effort by (hazardous waste) generators as well as treatment, storage and disposal facilities throughout the state.”

According to the trade group, one manufacturer said it would have to put in place multiple codes for a single hazardous waste product like used oil.

“Used oil has four separate codes depending on what type of motor vehicle it came from and whether it has been mixed with something,” said the manufacturer, who declined to be identified, not unusual in an industry that frequently has to deal with state inspectors.

In workshop presentation slides, Department of Toxic Substances Control officials said the current system of just allowing one code for products like used oil wasn’t working. “Often waste can fit into more than one category; the generator is left to decide which code to choose, which leads to confusion,” especially among companies that generate small amounts of hazardous waste.

For more information, log onto the department’s website at dtsc.ca.gov and click on the “Laws, Regs and Policies” link.

New Building Standards

Builders won some and lost some with the release of revised state building standards earlier this month.

After a 20-year fight, California homebuilders won the right to use cheaper plastic piping instead of copper.

But homebuilders and commercial builders in the state’s coastal zones will have to shell out more to make structures more resistant to earthquakes and fires. The revised standards were adopted by the California Building Standards Commission on Feb. 2 and are set to go into effect by the end of this year.

Builders have long sought to use chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (CPVC) pipes, which generally cost about one-fourth of copper. A coalition of environmental, consumer and labor groups opposed this, saying the pipes leached chemicals into the soil and glue used to bind segments emitted harmful fumes. Until now, the plastic pipes could only be used when it could be shown that copper pipes were failing prematurely.

But the Building Standards Commission also heard from environmentalists concerned about residue from copper piping leaching into water systems, especially in San Francisco Bay.

“We were discovering more and more issues with copper piping,” said Dave Walls, the commission’s executive director.

For more information on the building standards, log on to the commission’s Web site at bsc.ca.gov.

Water Pollution Crackdown

The Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board is proposing to crack down on companies that discharge hexavalent chromium, a toxic chemical, into local groundwater or drainage systems. The agency has revised its general discharge regulation which stipulates concentration levels and cleanup techniques to include the chromium compound.

Meanwhile, the board is also proposing to limit trash from getting into local waterways and drainage systems in West Los Angeles, a portion of the San Gabriel Valley and the Wilmington area. A draft proposal was released in December, with the board expected to vote on the regulation later this year.

Under the measure, local governments must install screens and filters on storm drains and can require local businesses to do the same. This proposal is part of a larger effort to eliminate trash from all water bodies in the region.

A plan to eliminate trash from the Los Angeles River was unsuccessfully challenged several years back by a group of cities claiming it would cost too much. For more information, log onto the water quality board’s Web site at scrwb.ca.gov/rwqcb4.

Staff reporter Howard Fine can be reached by phone at (323) 549-5225, ext. 227, or by e-mail at

[email protected]

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