A History of EPA Rulemaking

Following is a chronology of major actions taken with regard to EPA development of its industrial wiper rule

1985: Kimberly-Clark (K-C) petitioned EPA to conditionally exempt disposable wipers from RCRA requirements if they contain only deminimis amounts of listed solvents. Laboratory data submitted with the K-C petition demonstrates that management of these wipers as non-hazardous solid waste would not harm human health or the environment.

1992: As a result of K-Cs petition, EPA included a conditional exemption for wipers in its 1992 Hazardous Waste Identification Rule (HWIR) proposal, in its 1993 redefinition of solid waste proposal, and again in the Reengineering RCRA for Recycling report issued in 1994. Unfortunately, none of these efforts resulted in an exemption.

1995: Staff from EPA's Office of Solid Waste (OSW) began work on the project. Over more than eight years, field visits were conducted, substantial data was collected on wiper use and disposal, stakeholders were consulted, and various options were vetted by the Agency.

1997-1999: EPA's Office of Water proposed pretreatment standards for industrial laundries in December 1997, but withdrew the proposal in August 18, 1999. In withdrawing the proposal, EPA's Office of Water noted . . . for [industrial laundries], the best way to control effluent discharges of certain organic pollutants is to remove the pollutants which are contained on the laundry items before they are washed. EPA's Office of Solid Waste (OSA) plans to address the amount of certain waste solvents being sent to laundries in a future rulemaking (the first quarter of the year 2000) with an aim toward decreasing the amount of solvent based organics on towels. OSW continues data collection, site visits and stakeholder outreach.

2000: Based on extensive stakeholder input EPA's OSW outlined a draft rule designed to address the pollution prevention objectives set forth in EPA's effluent guideline determination.

2003: EPA Notice of Proposed Rule making (NPRM) published in the Federal Register, November 30

2004: EPA Public Meeting held in March, the deadline for public comment closed in April.

Present: EPA officials are reviewing all comments received. Trade press reports EPA officials speculate that final rule will not be published until late 2006.