Pit Mud

[Reds]

I am considering buying a Ring O Matic to clean my own pits. Does anyone know what regulations/laws there are that deal with disposing of pit mud in Pennsylvania? Is it considered to be hazardous waste in Pa.? I am not sure where I would be able to take the mud. Or if I can just dump it at a site that wants fill material. Any info from Pennsylvania owners would be appreciated.

 

[mac]

Good luck, you might need it. It's easy to open a can of worms by asking authorities if something is legal, especially when it's classified as waste with petroleum byproducts. Let us know how you come out.

 

[MEP001]

This might be old information, but some years ago I read a letter from the EPA about pit mud. In wet form it was considered hazardous waste and had to be disposed of at a landfill equipped to handle it. It could be dried on a water-impermeable surface (with any liquid allowed to run into a sanitary sewer) and then it could be put in a landfill or spread on the ground as a road base. I used to run an old wash with very small pits, and I'd shovel the mud onto the bay floor, let it dry overnight and put it in the dumpster the next day.

You probably can't take the pit mud to a landfill yourself because it requires a hazmat permit just to haul it.

 

[mac]

MEP you may be correct, but the issue I see all too often, is that no one can exactly say what is legal and what isn't. There are county, state, and federal agencies that put their collective noses in this. First you have to get a person in the local agency to approve this. That does not guarantee you that the other people will do the same. Whatever any of you do out there, if you get anyone to say this is legal to dispose of dirt, ask them to say so in a printed letter on their agencies official letterhead. Most of these weasels don't want to put their names on things.

 

[Kevin Reilly]

Mep that's the way it is in California!
You didn't say whether you wanted a bucket scoop or a pumper. We have a pumper and after it's full we let it sit for a week so the mud will settle in the tank. We then de-water it at one of our car washes close by and then dump it in a concrete area we don't use. However there is still plenty of water in it and let it sit til it dries. It really makes it tough when you have to handle this stuff 3 times. pump it, let it sit for awhile, de-water it, dump it, let it dry and then move it to wherever. Of course if you're being charged an arm and a leg to do this then buying a pumper could be worth it......if you can get rid of it when it's dry.

 

[Earl Weiss]

MEP you may be correct, but the issue I see all too often, is that no one can exactly say what is legal and what isn't. .

I think part of the issue is that no one knows for sure what's in it unless a specific load is tested. Testing is prohibitively costly versus the cost of proper disposal.

I think ICA did some studies and testing. It always came up clear for any hazardous material within EPA regs.

A typical load of car wash pit dirt does not contain anything hazardous. (There is always a possibility some numb nuts dumped the wrong thing in a pit.) Although any wet waste is "Special" which requires a certain type of landfill and not neccessarily the same type as hazardous.

Once it's dry it's no longer "Special" and unless contaminated with the wrong stuff it should no longer need any special method of disposal.

Free advice is worth what you pay for it. Rely on it at your own peril.

 

[bigleo48]

Here it must pass a slump test to determine how much water is present. As it is almost all sand, water egresses fairly quickly and becomes disposable as regular waste in a landfill.

So If I had a ring-o-matic (clam style), I would empty a pit, let it sit in the trailer overnight in the wash bay. The next day I would transfer it to the dumpster.