The following definitions apply to this subpart:

College/University means a private or public, post-secondary, degree-granting, academic institution, that is accredited by an accrediting agency listed annually by the U.S. Department of Education.

Eligible academic entity means a college or university, or a non-profit research institute that is owned by or has a formal written affiliation agreement with a college or university, or a teaching hospital that is owned by or has a formal written affiliation agreement with a college or university.

Formal written affiliation agreement for a non-profit research institute means a written document that establishes a relationship between institutions for the purposes of research and/or education and is signed by authorized representatives, as defined by §260.10, from each institution. A relationship on a project-by-project or grant-by-grant basis is not considered a formal written affiliation agreement. A formal written affiliation agreement for a teaching hospital means a master affiliation agreement and program letter of agreement, as defined by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, with an accredited medical program or medical school.

Laboratory means an area owned by an eligible academic entity where relatively small quantities of chemicals and other substances are used on a non-production basis for teaching or research (or diagnostic purposes at a teaching hospital) and are stored and used in containers that are easily manipulated by one person. Photo laboratories, art studios, and field laboratories are considered laboratories. Areas such as chemical stockrooms and preparatory laboratories that provide a support function to teaching or research laboratories (or diagnostic laboratories at teaching hospitals) are also considered laboratories.

Laboratory clean-out means an evaluation of the inventory of chemicals and other materials in a laboratory that are no longer needed or that have expired and the subsequent removal of those chemicals or other unwanted materials from the laboratory. A clean-out may occur for several reasons. It may be on a routine basis (e.g., at the end of a semester or academic year) or as a result of a renovation, relocation, or change in laboratory supervisor/occupant. A regularly scheduled removal of unwanted material as required by §262.208 does not qualify as a laboratory clean-out.

Laboratory worker means a person who handles chemicals and/or unwanted material in a laboratory and may include, but is not limited to, faculty, staff, post-doctoral fellows, interns, researchers, technicians, supervisors/managers, and principal investigators. A person does not need to be paid or otherwise compensated for his/her work in the laboratory to be considered a laboratory worker. Undergraduate and graduate students in a supervised classroom setting are not laboratory workers.

Non-profit research institute means an organization that conducts research as its primary function and files as a non-profit organization under the tax code of 26 U.S.C. 501(c)(3).

Reactive acutely hazardous unwanted material means an unwanted material that is one of the acutely hazardous commercial chemical products listed in §261.33(e) for reactivity.

Teaching hospital means a hospital that trains students to become physicians, nurses or other health or laboratory personnel.

Trained professional means a person who has completed the applicable RCRA training requirements of §262.17 for large quantity generators, or is knowledgeable about normal operations and emergencies in accordance with §262.16 for small quantity generators and very small quantity generators. A trained professional may be an employee of the eligible academic entity or may be a contractor or vendor who meets the requisite training requirements.

Unwanted material means any chemical, mixtures of chemicals, products of experiments or other material from a laboratory that is no longer needed, wanted or usable in the laboratory and that is destined for hazardous waste determination by a trained professional. Unwanted materials include reactive acutely hazardous unwanted materials and materials that may eventually be determined not to be solid waste pursuant to §261.2, or a hazardous waste pursuant to §261.3. If an eligible academic entity elects to use another equally effective term in lieu of “unwanted material,” as allowed by §262.206(a)(1)(i), the equally effective term has the same meaning and is subject to the same requirements as “unwanted material” under this subpart.

Working container means a small container (i.e., two gallons or less) that is in use at a laboratory bench, hood, or other work station, to collect unwanted material from a laboratory experiment or procedure.

[73 FR 72954, Dec. 1, 2008, as amended at 75 FR 79308, Dec. 20, 2010; 81 FR 85819, Nov. 28, 2016]