The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Final Rule, Increasing Recycling: Adding Aerosol Cans to the Universal Waste Regulations, was published in the Federal Register on December 9, 2019. The rule became effective at the federal level on February 7, 2020 and can be found at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2019/12/09/2019-25674/increasing-recycling-adding-aerosol-cans-to-the-universal-waste-regulations.
Because Virginia is an EPA-authorized state, changes in regulations under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) do not become effective in Virginia until they are approved by the Virginia Waste Management Board, incorporated into the Virginia Hazardous Waste Management Regulations (VHWMR), advertised for public comment, and become effective on a designated date. In some cases, rules that are finalized by EPA are less stringent than existing regulations, and are not required to be adopted by states. The Aerosol Can Final Rule is a less stringent Final Rule, and it has not yet been determined if Virginia will adopt this rule as written.
Until the time at which the rule becomes effective in Virginia, generators of spent aerosol cans should continue to manage these cans as hazardous waste, properly manage them on site in accordance with the provisions in Part 262 of the VHWMR, and properly dispose of the cans at a hazardous waste treatment, storage, and/or disposal facility, or send them to a RCRA recycler. Please keep watching our web site for updates on the Aerosol Can Final Rule. To stay abreast of upcoming regulatory changes in Virginia, consider signing up for email notification of actions at the Virginia Regulatory Town Hall website at http://townhall.virginia.gov/L/Register.cfm.