RCRA Hazardous Waste (US, 40 CFR 261)
Clean metallic packaging (cans, tins, drums) is not a federal hazardous waste under RCRA. It is a scrap metal commodity. Drums or containers with residues of hazardous substances carry the hazardous substance code.
Also searched as: tins, cans, steel drums, aluminium cans
No federal hazardous waste code
Metal Packaging does not carry a federal RCRA hazardous waste code. It is regulated as solid waste under state and local rules, and specifics depend on your state environmental agency.
Not being federally hazardous does not mean it has no value — clean metal packaging is often a recovered commodity with active buyers.
RCRA classifies waste by source, process, and characteristics — not just material. Pick the row that matches how your metal packaging arises; each coded row links to the full waste code definition under 40 CFR Part 261.
Clean metallic packaging
Scrap metal commodity — not RCRA hazardous
Containers with hazardous residues
The residual chemical code governs (e.g., F006 for plating sludge residue)
Source: 40 CFR Part 261 — Identification and Listing of Hazardous Waste
Shipping to the EU?
See the EWC code for metal packaging.
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