RCRA Generators

ASTM search distance Subject property and adjoining properties

Scope Federal

A generator is the person, counted site by site, whose operations produce hazardous waste. The federal rule sorts generators into three categories by how much they produce in a calendar month, and the category decides which duties apply, including whether the site must notify EPA and take an identification number.

What puts a property on this record

A generator is "any person, by site, whose act or process produces hazardous waste identified or listed in part 261 of this chapter or whose act first causes a hazardous waste to become subject to regulation" (40 CFR 260.10). The categories are set by what is generated in a calendar month (40 CFR 260.10):

A large quantity generator (LQG) generates 1,000 kilograms or more of non-acute hazardous waste, or over 1 kilogram of acute hazardous waste, or over 100 kilograms of residue from the cleanup of an acute hazardous waste spill.
A small quantity generator (SQG) generates more than 100 but less than 1,000 kilograms of non-acute hazardous waste, and no more than the acute and spill cleanup amounts above.
A very small quantity generator (VSQG) generates no more than 100 kilograms of non-acute hazardous waste, and no more than those same acute and spill cleanup amounts.

A generator's category rests on the month's total after amounts exempt from counting are subtracted, and "may change from month to month". A generator of both acute and non-acute waste applies the more stringent of the two categories (40 CFR 262.13).

A generator "must not treat, store, dispose of, transport, or offer for transportation, hazardous waste without having received an EPA identification number from the Administrator", and obtains one by applying on EPA Form 8700-12 (40 CFR 262.18(a), (b)). That duty is among the independent requirements of small and large quantity generators, not of very small ones (40 CFR 262.10(a)(1)). A very small quantity generator that accumulates more than 1 kilogram of acute waste, over 100 kilograms of acute spill residue, or 1,000 kilograms or more of non-acute waste, takes on added conditions that include notification (40 CFR 262.14(a)(3), (4)). Small quantity generators re-notify every four years from 2021, and large quantity generators every even-numbered year (40 CFR 262.18(d)).

What a listing shows, and what it does not

The regulation does not say which sites are on the record. A category is set month by month, so one month's category does not give another month's amount (40 CFR 262.13).

Accumulating waste on site is storage, so an accumulating generator is subject to the permit requirements unless it meets the conditions of exemption for its category (40 CFR 262.10(a)(2)). The conditions include time limits, 90 days for a large quantity generator and 180 days for a small one unless extended, and for a small one a ceiling of 6,000 kilograms of non-acute waste (40 CFR 262.16(b), 262.17(a)). If a condition is not met, "the facility is a storage facility operating without an exemption from the permit, interim status, and operations requirements" (40 CFR 262.10(g)(2)).

The regulation does not say what waste a given site generated, where it was kept or whether any was released.

In a Phase I ESA

RCRA generators are a standard government record source, searched at the subject property and adjoining properties (E1527-21, 8.2.2, Table 2). The standard names generators as an example of a large record system that is not practically reviewable unless the source agency can provide it by zip code (E1527-21, 3.2.65). If the subject property or an adjoining property is listed, the pertinent regulatory files should be reviewed, to help the professional judge whether the listing means a recognized environmental condition (REC), a historical or controlled one, or a de minimis condition at the subject property, or the report explains why not; records from another source may be reviewed instead (E1527-21, 8.2.3.1, 8.2.3.2).

For a generator at the subject property, the answer turns on what waste streams the operation produced, where waste was accumulated, how it left the site, and what the agency file, the site visit and interviews show of spills, staining, drains and violations. The regulation lists manifests, pre-transport duties and recordkeeping for small and large quantity generators (40 CFR 262.10(a)(1)). If those facts show a release, then unless judged a de minimis condition or a historical REC, the REC is listed in the Conclusions, and the professional should give an opinion on additional investigation (E1527-21, 3.2.20, 3.2.39, 12.7, 12.8). If they show waste handled and shipped with no release or likely release, the report says what was established. See hazardous waste generator listing with no violations and agency file review.

For an adjoining generator with no known release, the standard's nonmandatory appendix takes two judgments together, a likely release there and likely presence at the subject property (E1527-21, 3.2.73, X4.1); see adjoining or nearby property.

For every listing of the subject property or of another site inside the search distance, the report must give the professional's judgment on what the listing means for the analysis of recognized environmental conditions at the subject property, and one statement may cover several sites (E1527-21, 8.1.10).

What the federal rule says

Records of RCRA small quantity and large quantity generators (adjoining properties);

40 CFR 312.26(c)(3)(i), edition revised as of July 1, 2025

For the subject property the rule's list includes the records and permits of hazardous waste handlers and generators (40 CFR 312.26(b)(2)). For adjoining properties the rule names small and large quantity generators and no very small ones; the standard's table does not divide generators by category (E1527-21, Table 2). The rule lets the procedures of E1527-21 be used to comply with its sections 312.23 through 312.31 (40 CFR 312.11(a)).

Where the record is kept

EPA RCRAInfo holds notifications, handler details, and inspection and violation history. A small or large quantity generator applies to the EPA Administrator for its identification number (40 CFR 262.10(a)(1), 262.18(b)).

This page is general reference for environmental professionals. It does not classify any property. ASTM E1527-21 is the standard and is not reproduced here; the judgment of the environmental professional on the facts governs.

Classifying a finding

Situations in which this record type bears on the answer: