From entrepreneurs with a side hustle to enthusiastic hobbyists, a surprisingly high number of home businesses generate not just waste but hazardous waste. With regulations passed by the Environmental Protection Agency and enforced on a state level with various laws, as a business, you need to treat your home business’s hazardous waste differently than as a resident. Learn what to do with hazardous waste generated from a home business, including specific laws for Massachusetts.
Even Small Businesses Have Hazardous Waste Requirements
If you run a business, even if it’s a small business from your home, you have to follow EPA regulations for the management and disposal of your hazardous waste. Three factors play into how you have to manage your hazardous waste:
- Do you produce hazardous waste? Not all waste is hazardous waste. On a federal and state level, certain products are classified as such. Check out Managing Your Hazardous Waste: A Guide for Small Businesses guide on the EPA website to get started.
- How much waste do you produce? Depending on how much waste you produce, you fall into one of three categories. Very small quantity generators (VSQGs), small quantity generators (SQGs), and large quantity generators (LQGs), all have different requirements.
- What state are you in? Depending on your state, they may have different requirements and flexibilities when it comes to managing small business hazardous waste. Pick your state on the EPA website to find out about local programs.
Below, we’ll look at Massachusetts’s requirements for very small quantity generators (VSQGs) of hazardous waste.
Small Business Hazardous Waste: MA’s VSQG Requirements
If you’re a small business in MA that produces hazardous waste, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) has options for VSQGs when it comes to the transportation and disposal of hazardous waste. For small and large quantity generators, special hazardous transportation and disposal companies need to be used, but for these very small quality generators, there’s a local program that allows self-transportation to residential disposal sites. Learn more about it here.
Through our Small Business Quick Serv Program, NEDT Household Hazardous Products Collection Centers accept commercial hazardous waste from MA very small quantity generators (VSQG) that are registered with the Mass DEP and have a valid EPA ID number. Call NEDT at 1 (866) 769-1621 prior to delivering your materials as important restrictions apply. Learn more about what we accept and where we are located. If you’re a larger quantity generator business, reach out to us on our commercial site.
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