Vermont
Hazardous waste handlers and EPA ID numbers
The Hazardous Waste Section of the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) regulates the generation, transportation, storage, treatment, recycling and disposal of hazardous waste, used oil and universal hazardous waste. DEC says the program is authorized by EPA to be implemented in lieu of the federal hazardous waste program, and it maintains the Vermont Hazardous Waste Management Regulations (VHWMR). The VHWMR require all hazardous waste handlers, including anyone who generates or transports hazardous waste or operates a treatment, storage or disposal facility, to notify DEC and receive an EPA ID number for their site.
In a Phase I ESA
Because every hazardous waste handler must notify DEC and receive an EPA ID number for its site, the notification is the record to look for at a former commercial or industrial address. It sits beside the federal generator records described on the RCRA Generators page. ASTM E1527-21 lists state hazardous waste facility records among its standard sources. This handbook does not pair a single Vermont list with that type; this is one of the Vermont records that bear on it. See also Hazardous Waste Permitting. The distances the standard sets for each kind of record are on the search distances page.
Four Vermont details shape how to read a listing.
- Notification is by EPA's form. A handler notifies by completing the Hazardous Waste Handler Site Identification Form, EPA Form 8700-12. A generator can update its name, the types of waste it generates, its generator category and other facility information through EPA's RCRAInfo Industry Application or by submitting the same form to the Agency.
- The category is set month by month. Vermont, like the federal rules, has three generator categories: large quantity, small quantity and very small quantity generators, the last formerly called conditionally exempt generators. DEC says a generator's category is based on the amount of hazardous waste generated in a calendar month, not the amount stored or shipped, and may change from month to month. Check the dates a listing's category applies to.
- Small and home businesses are covered. DEC says hazardous wastes managed in the course of running a business, including wastes from municipalities and from businesses operated out of a home, are regulated by the VHWMR. Household hazardous waste is not regulated by the program under the VHWMR.
- A one-time event can carry a temporary number. The Secretary may issue a temporary identification number to a person who does not routinely generate hazardous waste but has generated waste that requires a hazardous waste manifest for shipment.
DEC's notice of June 24, 2026 says the revised VHWMR have been approved by the Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules and will become effective on July 10, 2026. The program also conducts inspections, responds to citizens' complaints about the mishandling of hazardous waste, and tracks hazardous waste manifests to ensure the wastes are delivered to appropriate facilities.
Where to look a site up
- Under Maps, Data, and Records, DEC's Waste Topics page links a page it labels Hazardous Waste Generators, which this handbook did not open.
- The Waste Management and Prevention Division's page says to search the ANR Atlas for hazardous waste generators.
- DEC's Manifests, Fees & EPA IDs page links pages on annual generator fees, EPA site identification numbers, hazardous waste manifests and the Vermont Hazardous Waste Tax.
- The Waste Management and Prevention Division is at 802-828-1138 during office hours.
Getting the file
DEC's pages link, in their footer, Request public information and Department of Environmental Conservation Records Liaisons, both on the Agency of Natural Resources' public records page, which this handbook did not read. The pages read for this program give no route of their own for a handler's file.
Sources
Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation pages, read October 13, 2026, no modified date shown: