Storage, Treatment, and Disposal of Solid Waste Military Munitions

Special RCRA criteria cover the storage of solid waste military munitions (refer to 40 CFR 266.205 through 206). As we discussed earlier in the course regarding the transportation of these wastes, if the solid waste military munitions exhibit a hazardous waste characteristic, or if they are listed as hazardous waste under 40 CFR 261, the munitions are considered to be hazardous waste. When a military munition is identified as hazardous waste under 40 CFR 261, the military munitions are subject to regulation under 40 CFR parts 260 through 270, unless certain conditions are met. For the storage of military munitions to be exempt from the RCRA regulations, all of the following conditions must be met:

• The waste military munitions are not chemical agents or chemical munitions.
• The waste military munitions must be subject to the authority of the Department of Defense Explosives Safety Board (DDESB).
• The waste military munitions are stored according to the DDESB munition storage standards.

To learn more about RCRA visit our RCRA Hazardous Waste Safety Online Training web page.