Hazardous Waste Site Identification in EPA's Region 2
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About Site ID Numbers
Persons who generate, transport, treat, store or dispose of hazardous waste and who store recyclable materials prior to recycling them must determine if they are required under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to notify EPA of their hazardous waste activities and obtain an EPA RCRA Site Identification number. Very small quantity generators and persons whose solid waste has been excluded from regulation or whose hazardous waste has been exempted may not need to notify unless the authorized state requires notification.
A RCRA site ID number is the number assigned by EPA to the address of the physical location for each generator, transporter, and treatment, storage or disposal facility and should be used on documents and forms subsequently submitted to EPA and states. EPA Region 2 issues two types of ID numbers - permanent or emergency (provisional). EPA Region 2 issues RCRA Site Identification numbers for sites in New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) issues identification numbers for facilities in New Jersey. Please call NJDEP directly before mailing them a RCRA Site ID form. Contact information for the NJDEP office that handles Site ID forms can be found on our state contacts web page.
Visit the RCRAInfo Web page on the Internet to confirm whether a location has an existing RCRA Site ID number. RCRAInfo Web is the public version of the RCRA Database and is updated daily.
Permanent Site ID Numbers
A permanent RCRA Site ID number is issued to locations where hazardous waste is managed from ongoing operations. It is also issued to track used oil and some universal waste activities. The EPA RCRA Site Identification form 8700-12 is used to assign an ID number to a person’s physical location address.
An EPA ID number does not transfer with the handler when the handler moves to a new location. If your business moves to a new location address, the operator or the owner must notify EPA Region 2 of this change. When your business moves to a new location, a new RCRA Site Identification number is assigned to the new location address based on the new RCRA Site Identification form 8700-12 sent to EPA.
EPA RCRA Site Identification forms for sites located in New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, may be mailed to the following address:
USEPA Region 2
CASD-HWPB
Attn: RCRA Notifications
290 Broadway, 25th floor
New York, NY 10007-1866
Alternatively, the form may be submitted electronically through MyRCRAid. Forms received by regular mail are generally processed within two weeks. A written Acknowledgment of the RCRA Site Identification form is mailed to the site contact person’s mailing address within approximately three weeks from the receipt date of the form. Forms received by Express Mail Services are often processed within 48 hours from receipt. The site contact person is notified of the issued ID number by telephone or email.
A person may request to deactivate an ID number when their operations have ceased or when hazardous waste disposals have been completed. Deactivation requests may be prepared in the form of a letter on company letterhead and mailed to the appropriate state (NJDEP for New Jersey locations) or EPA Region 2 (for New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands locations) office. The signed letter should contain the site name, Site Identification number, location address and reason for the deactivation request.
MyRCRAid for Electronic Filing of the Site ID Form
Electronic reporting is an alternative to the paper-based system in which a facility sends the paper EPA RCRA Site ID form 8700-12 to their regulating agency (typically a state environmental agency) to notify of their hazardous waste activities regulated under RCRA Subtitle C. The regulating agency then enters the information from the paper form into the national hazardous waste database called RCRAInfo. Information regarding hazardous waste generators, treatment, storage, and disposal facilities, transporters, and other regulated activities is stored in this national database.
MyRCRAid is an application within the RCRAInfo database that allows industry users to submit the EPA RCRA Site ID form 8700-12 to their appropriate regulator electronically. These submissions are not inserted into the RCRAInfo database until they are approved by the regulator. EPA Region 2 accepts electronic submittals of the Site ID form using the myRCRAid application for locations in New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Remember to visit the RCRAInfo Web page on the Internet to confirm whether a location has an existing RCRA Site ID number before requesting a new number via myRCRAid.
The Cross-Media Electronic Reporting Regulation (CROMERR) provides the legal framework for electronic reporting under all of EPA's environmental regulations. The standards are designed to provide electronic submittals with the same level of legal dependability as the corresponding paper submittals. CROMERR has made it possible for EPA to implement an application, myRCRAid, that allows the site to submit their Site ID form electronically and sign it electronically.
The process, in general terms, is as follows*:
Step 1 - A site representative, who is an employee of that company, registers for myRCRAid using the RCRAInfo database URL in any browser. Registration Type is Industry User. The user should provide their full legal name and work email address. Accounts cannot be shared – each individual using the software must have their own account.
Step 2 - Using the myRCRAid application, the site representative selects existing sites for which they have the authority to submit RCRA Subtitle C information. If a site does not already exist in the database, a request for a new Site ID number is made. EPA ID numbers are assigned to a site's physical location. An EPA ID number does not transfer with the handler if the handler moves to a different site.
Step 3 - Electronic signatures are automatically reviewed by the system. The regulating agency approves paper electronic signature agreements for the site representative.
Step 4 - The site representative submits the Site ID form electronically to the regulating agency via myRCRAid.
Step 5 - The regulating agency reviews the submission and approves or rejects the submission. If the submission is approved, the information is loaded into RCRAInfo. If the submission is rejected for deficiency, the site representative must correct the deficiency based on the comments provided by the regulating agency and re-submit the form.
* This registration process is built upon the account registration process used for EPA's Central Data Exchange (CDX). The name of the program service the user must select in CDX in order to use myRCRAid is called RCRAInfo: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Information. The RCRAInfo Industry Application (RIA) accounts may be used within CDX and conversely CDX accounts may be used within RIA. To use an existing CDX account to log into the RCRAInfo Industry Application, simply enter your CDX credentials (User ID and Password) in the RCRAInfo sign in screen. A full User’s Guide is available from within the RCRA database which navigates the user through the myRCRAid module as well as the electronic manifest (e-Manifest) module.
Emergency (Provisional) ID Numbers
A provisional number is issued to locations that need to dispose of hazardous waste right away due to an emergency situation (a hazardous waste spill, an accident involving hazardous waste, abandoned or unprotected waste) which causes a threat to humans or the environment. The emergency ID number will be assigned immediately and is valid for 30 days.
- To obtain an emergency ID number for hazardous waste disposal in New York, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, call the EPA Region 2 office at 212- 637-4106.
Before calling, you may check to see whether the site already has an existing RCRA Site ID number in RCRAInfo Web. If one exists, that RCRA identification number is used. The following information about the emergency situation will be needed:
- location address of the spill/accident.
- responsible party.
- mailing address.
- description of incident.
- materials involved and quantity.
- generator status.
- cleanup contractor.
- transporter name and their EPA ID number.
- treatment, storage and disposal facility (TSDF) name and their EPA ID number.
Information for Facilities in New Jersey
Permanent ID Numbers
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection processes the RCRA Site Identification forms 8700-12, 8700-13 A/B, 8700-23 for sites located in New Jersey. Contact information for the appropriate New Jersey office may be found on our state contact web page. Facilities located in New Jersey should notify their New Jersey state environmental agency of their hazardous waste activities.
Emergency ID Numbers
To obtain an emergency ID number for hazardous waste disposal in New Jersey call the NJDEP office at 609-292-2913. For reporting spills and emergencies in New Jersey, call the toll-free hotline at 1-877-WARNDEP (1-877-927-6337) or visit the WARDNDEP website Exit.
Additional Contact Information
- NJDEP Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste website. Exit
- NJDEP Bureau of Emergency Response site remediation program website. Exit
- For information on inspections, compliance and enforcement, call 609-584-4250. For more details, visit the NJDEP Compliance & Enforcement - EZ Inspect Guide. Exit
- NJDEP manifests and hazardous waste reporting and to obtain RCRA Identification numbers call (609)292-7081.
- For information on hazardous waste sites call 609-984-3081.
Information for Facilities in New York
Reporting Emergencies
For reporting spills and emergencies in New York State, call the toll-free hotline at 1-800-457-7362. For more important phone numbers, visit the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Chemical and Petroleum Spills. Exit
Additional Contact Information
- For regulatory and technical guidance, visit the NYSDEC Waste Management website.Exit
- For information on hazardous waste generators and technical assistance, call 518-402-8651.
- For information on hazardous waste annual reporting, call 518-402-8730.
- For NYSDEC Hazardous Waste Manifest information visit their hazardous waste manifest system web page. Exit
- EPA launched a new electronic manifesting system (e-Manifest) on June 30, 2018. See NYSDEC's e-Manifest webpage Exitfor more information.
Information for Facilities in Puerto Rico
Reporting Emergencies
For reporting spills and emergencies in Puerto Rico, call the Puerto Rico Environmental Quality Board (EQB) at 1-787-767-8181. When calling, ask for a specific program, such as Permits, Enforcement, Special Waste (Universal Waste), Used Oil, Medical Waste, Non-hazardous Solid Waste (i.e., Municipal Solid Waste.)
Other Regulatory and Technical Assistance
- Asbestos and Small Business Ombudsman Office can be reached at 1-800-368-5888.
- Fluorescent Lamp Disposal and Recycling in EPA Region 2 - A guide for businesses in NJ, NY, PR and VI (April 2007) (4 pp, 348 K, About PDF).
- Regulation of Fluorescent Lamps in New York Exit and New Jersey Exit.
- Regulation of Medical Waste in New York Exitand New Jersey Exit.
- For information on the Hazardous Waste Electronic Manifest (E-Manifest) System visit EPA's E-Manifest website.
- Use the Envirofacts database to search for integrated data from multiple environmental databases. Each of these databases contains information about facilities that are required to report activity to a state or federal system. Available is information about hazardous waste (including the Biennial Report), toxic and air releases, Superfund sites, and water discharge permits. Facility information and a map of its location is provided. Envirofacts is typically updated on a monthly basis.
- Use EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) website to search for facilities in your community to assess their compliance with environmental regulations. ECHO data is typically refreshed on a weekly schedule from EPA source databases.