California waste codes Find the three-digit code for your waste and the records its shipment needs.

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California Title 22 and DTSC guidance
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Pick a waste or type one, and its California code shows here.

How do you choose a California waste code?

Identify the waste, its source process and its contents. Check hazardous status before selecting a code.

An applicable restricted code takes priority over other categories. DTSC requires one California code per waste stream.

If several general entries fit, resolve the choice from the waste profile or with DTSC. Keep the waste profile and test results with the choice.

The state code, hazard classification and shipping description are separate details.

What do RCRA and non-RCRA mean?

RCRA is the federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. TTLC is the total threshold limit concentration; STLC is the soluble threshold limit concentration measured with California’s Waste Extraction Test (WET).

The federal Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) is a different test. Check exclusions and hazardous listings before testing federal and California characteristics.

A 40 CFR 261.4 federal exclusion does not always exclude a waste in California. Under 66261.4(b)(2), the waste must also have no California characteristic or Article 4.1 listing.

A federally excluded waste with a California characteristic is non-RCRA hazardous waste. Waste that fails only TTLC, STLC, aquatic toxicity, solid corrosivity or another California test is also non-RCRA.

Waste with a federal listing or characteristic is RCRA hazardous unless a federal exclusion applies. Record both its California and federal codes.

Waste with no remaining hazardous listing or characteristic needs no hazardous waste code or manifest. Use an accepting solid-waste or recycling route.

A California-only listed waste with no federal hazard may be non-RCRA under 66261.101. A federally empty container still regulated in California may also be non-RCRA.

Keep the evidence used to classify the waste.

Non-RCRA waste is still hazardous in California. “Both” means the California and federal codes for one waste, not a third hazard status. Under 66261.100(b), presume hazardous waste is RCRA unless the generator establishes non-RCRA status under 66261.101.

Passing a concentration test does not remove a hazardous listing.

Which shipping record does the waste need?

For manifested waste, enter codes in Item 13: one California code, at least one applicable federal code and any required destination-state code. The paper form has six code boxes per line.

A one-time manifested shipment needs an owner- and site-specific ID number; a temporary ID lasts 90 days.

Prepare the hazardous waste manifest details, then complete the shipment in EPA e-Manifest or on a form from an EPA-registered printer.

For used oil, antifreeze, spent solvent or asbestos, ask a registered transporter whether the exact waste qualifies for consolidated manifesting. Keep its receipt when it does.

Other records: used oil, treated wood, paint, filters, household delivery.

Which exclusions change the waste route?

Empty containers — Pourable residue: Under 66261.7, an ordinary container up to 119 gallons is empty only when it meets the residue and management rules. No pourable material may remain in any orientation.
Empty containers — Nonpourable and acute contents: No nonpourable material may be removable by normal physical methods. A container that held acute or extremely hazardous waste needs triple rinsing or an approved equivalent.
Empty containers — Rinsate and absorbed material: Classify and manage the rinsate separately. An absorptive container contaminated by absorbed hazardous material does not qualify.
Empty containers — Disposal and timing: An empty container up to 5 gallons may go to an accepting solid-waste facility or recycler. Date a larger empty container and manage it within one year.
Empty containers — Records and bulk containers: Keep its destination records for three years. Bulk containers above 119 gallons have separate conditions under 66261.7(p).
Empty containers — Household and pesticide containers: Emptied household material or pesticide containers up to 5 gallons have the simpler 66261.7(k) exemption. The exemption does not establish that a contaminated container is non-hazardous.

Universal waste — Category and hazardous status: Universal waste remains hazardous and uses this route only when an item is covered by its category rules. A non-hazardous item with no listing needs no hazardous waste code.
Universal waste — Mercury listings and disposal: A mercury listing can apply even when the item has no hazardous characteristic. Under 66273.8, households and qualifying very small quantity universal waste generators cannot dispose of the waste.
Universal waste — Authorized recipients and monthly limit: They must send it to an authorized recipient and may perform only the allowed treatment. A very small quantity universal waste generator may produce no more than 100 kg of RCRA hazardous waste per month.
Universal waste — RCRA total and acute waste: That total includes RCRA universal waste. It may also produce no more than 1 kg of acute waste per month.
Universal waste — Federal conditions and storage: It must comply with 40 CFR 262.14. An ordinary handler may store universal waste for no more than one year.
Universal waste — Longer storage and large handlers: Longer storage needs proof that it is required only for proper recovery, treatment or disposal. Accumulating 5,000 kg at any time makes the site a large quantity handler.
Universal waste — Trash and automotive batteries: Do not put universal waste in ordinary trash. Automotive batteries have a separate recycling route.
Universal waste — Battery quantity rules: Automotive lead-acid battery limits are on the battery recycling page.

Recycling — Industrial ingredients and substitutes: Sending a waste for recycling does not remove hazardous waste rules. HSC 25143.2 can exclude documented use as an industrial ingredient or safe substitute without reclamation.
Recycling — Return to process and onsite reuse: It can also exclude return to the original process as raw feedstock without reclamation. Qualifying onsite reuse of non-RCRA material may also be excluded.
Recycling — Management and excluded uses: The material must meet the applicable 25143.9 management rules and every statutory condition. Fuel use, land application, speculative accumulation or contamination can prevent the exclusion.
Recycling — Generator rules and reporting: A same-site RCRA recycling permit exemption does not remove generator rules. More than 100 kg in one month under a claimed recycling exclusion or exemption requires the applicable CERS report.
Recycling — Process and market evidence: Keep proof of the actual process and market before leaving hazardous waste codes off the shipment.

Halogenated solvent thresholds.

Scrap metal: 172
Pharmaceutical medical waste: 311
Other medical waste: 322
Sewage sludge: 321
Ash exclusions: 571
Drilling mud: 521
Spent sulfuric acid: 791
Refinery fuel recycling: 343

Used refrigerant: Used CFC refrigerant from totally enclosed heat-transfer equipment is excluded under 66261.4(b)(4) only when reclaimed for further use. Non-RCRA CFC or HCFC compounds reused or recycled from qualifying heat-transfer, fire-extinguishing or foam products may qualify under HSC 25143.2(d)(7). Its management and statutory conditions must all hold. Remove refrigerant before scrap-metal processing. Other refrigerants and discarded material need their own determination.

Fluorescent lamps, High-intensity discharge lamps, Sodium vapor lamps, Mercury-added lamps: A lamp with no mercury and no hazardous characteristic is outside universal waste. A mercury-added M003 lamp remains covered. A lamp sent to a Class I landfill uses full hazardous waste requirements and a manifest. Confirm its California code by composition.

Cathode ray tubes: CRTs sent to a permitted hazardous waste disposal facility use full hazardous waste rules.

Cathode ray tubes, CRT glass: Qualifying CRT panel glass sent to an approved landfill under 66273.7, 66273.75 and 66273.81 stays under universal-waste controls before disposal and is non-hazardous for that disposal. Mixed CRT glass and funnel glass do not qualify.

CRT glass: CRT glass sent to a permitted hazardous waste disposal facility uses full hazardous waste rules.

Small sealed lead-acid batteries: Small sealed alarm and emergency-light batteries use this category. Identify a UPS battery by type and size rather than assuming automotive battery rules.

Mercury switches, Mercury gauges, Mercury thermometers: Class I landfill disposal uses full hazardous waste requirements and a manifest. Removed mercury and treatment residues need separate classification.

Mercury thermostats: Mercury thermostats are expressly excepted from the Class I disposal exclusion in 66273.4(b)(5). The household or VSQUWG handler exemption still requires no disposal.

Solar panels: A PV module sent to permitted hazardous waste disposal uses full hazardous waste requirements under 66273.7.1. Use a manifest and confirm the code by composition.

Electronic devices, Computer monitors, Televisions, Laptop computers, Cell phones: An electronic device sent to a Class I landfill uses full hazardous waste requirements under 66273.3. A device with no hazardous characteristic is outside this category, and removed components need separate classification.

Fire extinguishers and compressed gas cylinders: A cylinder returned for reuse or refilling is not discarded waste. An exempt empty compressed-gas cylinder must have pressure approaching atmospheric; a closed valve with residual pressure is not empty. An empty discarded cylinder may go to an accepting recycler. A household cylinder may go to an accepting household hazardous waste program. Identify any remaining gas, liquid or powder before disposal. The empty-cylinder rule does not make extinguisher powder non-hazardous or assign it a code; do not vent or treat hazardous contents without authorization.

Routine portable toilet waste: HSC 25163(b) exempts a health-registered pumper from hazardous-transporter registration when carrying only septic, cesspool or chemical-toilet waste with no hazardous waste from outside a human or animal body. Chemical additives or unrelated hazardous waste need separate classification. The transporter exemption does not prove the waste non-hazardous.

When can you deliver small business loads yourself?

Under HSC 25163(c), a qualifying business may carry its own waste to a permitted hazardous waste facility. It must generate no more than 100 kg of hazardous waste per month.

It must also hold no more than 1,000 kg onsite. Each trip is limited to 5 gallons or 50 lb.

A mixed liquid and solid load is limited to 50 lb combined. Use closed, secured containers, do not mix wastes, and confirm that the facility will accept them.

This route removes the transporter-registration and manifest-possession requirements, but the waste remains hazardous. A business cannot use this route for acute or extremely hazardous waste.

A non-business load of acute or extremely hazardous waste is limited to 2.2 lb.

California does not exempt every very small business from hazardous waste rules.

Household trips and eligible business deliveries to household collection facilities.