2. REGULATORY OVERVIEW
What is a hazardous waste? In its most basic form, the answer to that question can be quite
simple. A hazardous waste is a waste with a chemical composition or other properties that make
it capable of causing illness, death, or some other harm to humans and other life forms when
mismanaged or released into the environment. Developing a regulatory program that ensures the
safe handling of such dangerous wastes, however, demands a far more precise definition of the
term. EPA therefore created hazardous waste identification regulations that outline a process to
determine whether any particular material is a hazardous waste for the purposes of RCRA.