North Carolina
Hazardous Waste Section
The Hazardous Waste Section of the Division of Waste Management (DWM), North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), applies the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) rules the state has adopted, together with rules of the state's own. It has three parts: Compliance and Enforcement; Permitting and Corrective Action, run by the Facility Management Branch; and Fees and Records Management, run by the Financial and Information Management Unit.
In a Phase I ESA
ASTM E1527-21 lists state hazardous waste facility records among its standard sources. The pages read link no North Carolina list of hazardous waste facilities, so none is paired with that type here. The federal records are described on the RCRA TSD page, the RCRA Generators page and the RCRA CORRACTS page.
Three North Carolina details shape the search.
- Permits and corrective action. The Facility Management Branch deals with facilities that want an operating or post-closure permit, and with facilities that must investigate and clean up releases of hazardous waste constituents under a permit or another legal mechanism. The state rules for these facilities are 15A NCAC 13A .0101 to .0119, which adopt the applicable federal RCRA rules by reference. The Branch takes those facilities through groundwater monitoring and assessment, closing their waste management units, post-closure care and the post-closure permit, the operating permit, corrective action systems for releases to soil, groundwater, surface water and air, a RCRA Facility Assessment looking for other release sources on the property, and permit changes. For a permitted facility on or next to the property, ask whether its file holds the RCRA Facility Assessment and the groundwater monitoring reports.
- The section's records. Its Financial and Information Management Unit keeps the records of hazardous waste notifications, biennial reports, and sums collected for enforcement penalties and for inspection and investigation costs, and keeps the data in the state's legacy system and in EPA's RCRAInfo database. DEQ's page says federal rules require large quantity generators and treatment, storage and disposal facilities to report their hazardous waste handling every two years.
- Enforcement. The section says its enforcement runs from a Notice of Deficiency to an Administrative Order with penalties, and that it answers hazardous waste complaints arising from manufacturing, crime or accidental releases. DWM's enforcement page links a section it labels Hazardous Waste Civil Penalties, which this handbook did not open.
Where to look a site up
- DEQ says DWM's Site Locator Tool can find hazardous waste facilities among the division's sites.
- DEQ says many hazardous waste facility files are open to the public in DWM's electronic filing search, with no login, to search, preview and download.
- The section's pages read give named staff as contacts. DWM takes general inquiries at 919-707-8200.
Getting the file
DWM's file room page says the Hazardous Waste Section File Room takes requests for a specific file by letter, phone, fax or email, at Mail Service Center 1646, Raleigh, NC 27699-1646, and shows files only by appointment. DEQ's online request form is the department's general route; see Requesting Public Records.
Sources
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: