Hazardous Waste Program

Governor Dunleavy and the Alaska Legislature budgeted fiscal year 2023 funding for the creation of a Hazardous Waste Program under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Subtitle C for the State of Alaska. The Program will include 6 new positions within the Environmental Health Division.

Alaska is one of only two states in the nation that do not have an approved Hazardous Waste Program.

Goals

DEC's Solid Waste Program (SWP) will work with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to gain approval of Alaska’s Hazardous Waste Program, such that RCRA Subtitle C would be under full state control.

Process

We anticipate spending the next two years on program development. We intend to complete the following steps:

Hiring and training of program staff
Statute and regulation development
Application for program approval to EPA, in accordance with 40 CFR 271
Public outreach throughout the process

Here is a process timeline for obtaining program approval: 2024 What's Up with Alaska Hazardous Waste?

Draft Regulations 2023-24

We developed draft regulations, which were available for public comment 08/10/2023 - 10/30/2023. You can view them and comments received on our notice webpage.

We revised the draft regulations based on these comments and submitted our draft Authorization Application to EPA on November 23, 2024 for review. The EPA review includes the proposed regulations and response to comments, which we will publish once EPA responds with comments.

In the interim, we continue our training, producing future guidance for Alaska, and meeting with stakeholders to listen to their concerns and review our progress.

Questions

Until the program is approved, the management of hazardous waste continues to be regulated under the authority of EPA. Their website contains information on hazardous waste management.

For questions about Alaska’s Hazardous Waste Program development, contact:

Lori Aldrich: Hazardous Waste Section Manager; 907-269-0116

Listserv: You can sign up for our listserv to keep current on this process at https://list.state.ak.us/mailman/listinfo/dec.hazardouswaste