Beneficial Use Determination

A Beneficial Use Determination (BUD) is a designation made by an environmental regulatory agency as to whether waste management regulations have jurisdiction over waste material that is to be beneficially used. BUD processes are unique in that they involve the recycling of material waste streams that are typically landfilled. BUDs provide waste generators with indemnifications of liabilities associated with waste disposal. Usually, once an agency grants a BUD, the waste material ceases to be considered a regulated solid waste when used as described in the BUD.

Some typical policy criteria used by the reviewing agency when making BUDs are that the product and proposed use must:

  • Constitute a use rather than a disposal
  • Be consistent with an integrated waste management policy
  • Be an effective substitute for an analogous raw material
  • Not require decontamination or treatment
  • Have a demonstrated market or need for the material
  • Divert waste from a landfill or other disposal facility
  • Save resources or energy
  • Meet target contaminant levels
  • Be used in a product or activity where contaminants are chemically bound

Minergy has successfully obtained BUDs for aggregates produced from vitrification of:

  • Lightweight Aggregate (LWA)
  • Municipal biosolids (sludge)
    • Illinois Environmental Protection Agency Bureau of Land
    • Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
    • Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Solid Waste Management – MMSD
    • Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Solid Waste Management – NSSD
  • Paper mill sludge
    • Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Solid Waste Management
  • Contaminated river sediment
    • Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Bureau of Solid Waste Management

Approved uses of glass aggregate identified in these BUDs include:

  • Asphalt pavement
  • Construction backfill
  • Roadbed construction
  • Ceramic tile
  • Roofing shingle granules
  • Cement/concrete products
  • Mine reclamation
  • Blasting grit
  • Blended cements
  • Utility trench backfill

 

 

Minergy glass aggregate product produced at the Neenah, Wis., U.S.A. facility has been successfully sold into the construction marketplace for many years.