Of the 12 billion tons of waste generated annually in the United States; less than 10% is defined as hazardous under the provisions of RCRA. This paper summarizes the data available on some of the wastes that are defined as non-hazardous. These wastes include industrial non-hazardous waste, and several types of wastes that are currently exempted from hazardous waste regulations, such as oil and gas waste, mining wastes and other categories.

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The quantity and composition of RCRA hazardous wastes incinerated during 1986 were examined using the National Hazardous Waste Survey. This Survey, collected for U.S. EPA by the Research Triangle Institute, is the most extensive examination of hazardous waste generation and management available. The survey data show that although a wide variety of hazardous wastes were treated by incineration, more than 75 percent of incinerated waste streams were from chemical manufacturing. The survey data also show that more than 90 percent of the incinerated wastes were treated by incinerators located at the facility generating the waste. Despite the predominance of a single industrial sector in generating incinerated hazardous wastes, the compositional profile of the wastes is far from uniform. To illustrate this variability, the metals and chlorine content of the wastes are reported along with the sources of the metal and chlorine loadings.