We will take a look at the 11 wastestreams that have grown the most year-over-year (YOY) from 2019 to 2020. We picked “11” because these are the only wastestreams with YOY growth greater than 1,000 tons.
- Heat Map of Top 11 Wastestreams
- DOT Identification Number
- Overview
- 1. UN0503 – Safety devices, pyrotechnic
- 2. UN2924 – Flammable liquids, corrosive
- 3. NA1760 – Compounds, Cleaning Liquid
- 4. UN1824 – Sodium hydroxide solution
- 5. UN3266 – Corrosive liquid, basic, inorganic, n.o.s.
- 6. UN2922 – Corrosive liquids, toxic, n.o.s.
- 7. UN3262 – Corrosive solid, basic, inorganic, n.o.s.
- 8. UN0035 – Bombs
- 9. UN2761 – Organochlorine pesticides, solid, toxic
- 10. UN1219 – Isopropyl Alcohol
- 11. UN1789 – Hydrochloric Acid
- Stay Tuned
Heat Map of Top 11 Wastestreams
Below is a heat map showing the shipping locations for these 11 UN numbers.
Note: Many of the charts are interactive. Hover your mouse over the chart to see additional details.
DOT Identification Number
In this article, we compare the total tons shipped for the first half of 2019 with 2020 for each DOT Identification Number that was submitted to e-Manifest. e-Manifest not only contains information like generator, transporter and destination but also shipping descriptions, tons and DOT Identification Number.
About the DOT Identification Number
In the United States, all hazardous materials shipped (which includes hazardous wastes) require the shipping description on labels and shipping documents include a 4 digit specific identification number beginning with either “UN” or “NA”. These identification numbers are a standardized international system for classifying material for shipping and emergency response.
In e-Manifest, this number is referred to as the “DOT Identification Number.” DOT refers to this as “Identification Number” in 49 CFR 172.101, many people also call this number the “UN Number.” For more information about UN numbers visit here.
Overview
The top 11 wastestreams by UN Number are posted below. We will go into some detail on each of the DOT Identification Numbers further into this post.
Chart of Top 11 Wastestreams
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1. UN0503 – Safety devices, pyrotechnic
No surprise. The largest waste stream for YOY growth is…drum roll please….air bags. Driven by the massive Takata airbag recall, this is the largest growth of any DOT Identification number from 2019 to 2020.
2020 Growth (Tons): 14,160
2. UN2924 – Flammable liquids, corrosive
This is a pretty large stream in the RCRA-regulated world. We are unaware of one single driver for this uptick in volume. However, you can see below the top 2 shippers account for the majority of tonnage growth.
2020 Growth (Tons): 5,431
The chart below shows the top 10 YOY shippers for UN2924.
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3. NA1760 – Compounds, Cleaning Liquid
Nearly all volume from this UN number is from one US Steel facility. We chart tonnage by the NAICS Industry Group below.
2020 Growth (Tons): 4,920
4. UN1824 – Sodium hydroxide solution
Another large wastestream that continued to increase in size in 2020. We are curious if the economic slowdown and also decrease in fuel consumption reduced recycle opportunities that would have kept some of this volume outside of RCRA.
2020 Growth (Tons): 4,895
5. UN3266 – Corrosive liquid, basic, inorganic, n.o.s.
Again similar to 4, is growth in this waste due to reduction in the capacity for recycled material?
2020 Growth (Tons): 4,694
We decided to dig into this UN Number a little more. Below you will see a chart of the top 10 NAICS Sub-Sectors by total tons for this UN Number. We see right away that Sub-Sector 928 (National Security and International Affairs) has over 3,000 tons of growth. Blue Grass Army Depot and Pueblo Chemical Depot are the 2 primary generators of this volume within that Sub-Sector. We see that much of the growth here is coming from government/defense projects.
6. UN2922 – Corrosive liquids, toxic, n.o.s.
We are seeing the majority of growth for this particular UN number from 2 generators, so the increase in volume could be project driven.
2020 Growth (Tons): 3,910
7. UN3262 – Corrosive solid, basic, inorganic, n.o.s.
Close to 90% of the growth of this wastestream in 2020 is from one generator in the pulp and paperboard industry. This appears to be project driven based on the generator’s historical volumes shipped.
2020 Growth (Tons): 2,854
We chart below 2019 and 2020 tonnage by NAICS Industry Group.
8. UN0035 – Bombs
Definitely the coolest shipping description so far. The actual shipping name is “Bombs, with bursting charge“… hazard class is 1.2D (just in case you wanted to know.)
All the volume of this wastestream is coming from one generator, Hawthorne Army Depot in Hawthorne, NV and all of the shipments are going to the RCRA Part-B permitted Hawthorne “New Bomb” facility (US tax dollars hard at work.) If you get bored and want to check out the “New Bomb” facility’s June 2019 RCRA permit, you can view it here.
2020 Growth (Tons): 1,646
9. UN2761 – Organochlorine pesticides, solid, toxic
This is a project that is a Superfund site cleanup. The site is Black Leaf Chemical in Louisville, KY. University of Louisville has put together helpful resources and a history of the site’s journey towards cleanup here.
2020 Growth (Tons): 1,430
10. UN1219 – Isopropyl Alcohol
This is another wastestream which may owe its growth to lack of demand in the recycle market. Most of the growth is coming from the medical supplies and equipment industry group.
2020 Growth (Tons): 1,350
11. UN1789 – Hydrochloric Acid
There are both gains and losses for volumes in 2020 amongst the largest shippers of hydrochloric acid. Growth for this stream appears to be spread out across many generators.
2020 Growth (Tons): 1,201
We chart below the 2019 and 2020 volumes of the 10 largest shippers of hydrochloric acid.
Stay Tuned
We will have more analysis concerning US waste volumes, e-Manifest and other waste trends. Please sign up to keep up with the latest in hazardous waste trends. If you would like more information about Concertive and how we can help your environmental company, please contact us.