What the Biennial Report Actually Is

The biennial report is a federal requirement under RCRA (the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, the federal law that governs hazardous waste). California adopted it through DTSC, the state’s Department of Toxic Substances Control. Even though “biennial” means every two years, the report covers one year of data: the odd-numbered year before each due date.

If a generator skips an even-year deadline, the obligation does not disappear. We’ve taken calls from facilities that never submitted a prior cycle and want to file late. That is solvable, but it’s a separate workflow that involves DTSC outreach and catch-up filings.

A common mix-up: “biannual” usually means twice a year. The hazardous waste report is not twice a year. It is once every two years, on the odd-year waste. Search engines treat the two spellings as the same intent, but the regulator only cares about the actual deadline.

Who Has to File

Only Large Quantity Generators of federally classified (RCRA) hazardous waste file the biennial report. The LQG triggers are:

• 1,000 kg (about 2,200 lbs) or more of RCRA hazardous waste generated in any single calendar month of the reporting year, OR
• More than 1 kg of acutely hazardous waste generated in a single month or accumulated at any time, OR
• More than 100 kg of spill cleanup material contaminated with acutely hazardous waste

The federal-vs-California distinction matters here. California regulates more wastes as hazardous than the federal RCRA program does. Waste oil is the classic example: it’s a California hazardous waste, but it is non-RCRA. A machine shop generating large volumes of waste oil and small volumes of RCRA waste may not trigger biennial filing at all, even if their state hazardous waste numbers look large.

A single month over the LQG threshold can trigger the biennial report for that reporting year. Generator-category obligations are still evaluated based on each calendar month, but one LQG month is enough for the biennial filing requirement. When clients call us flagged by an inspector, the trigger is often that pattern: pickups happened every two or three months instead of monthly, and one month’s accumulated volume crossed 2,000 kg of RCRA waste. The facility’s annual average looked nothing like LQG. The single month did.

What Goes Into Form 8700-13A/B

The biennial form is a structured submission, not a narrative report. Each waste stream gets coded with EPA waste codes, state waste codes (in California), source codes, form codes, and management method codes. Then the manifest data has to match what the receiving treatment, storage, or disposal facility (TSDF) reported on its end. The submission package generally includes:

• Site identification (facility info, EPA ID, generator status, owner/operator)
• Each waste stream’s classification and quantity
• Source of each waste stream (the process or activity that generated it)
• On-site management or shipment off-site
• Manifests covering the reporting year
• The receiving facility for each shipment

Underlying records (manifest copies, lab analyses, off-site contracts) have to be kept on file for at least three years. Most facilities keep them longer because manifests are also the input for DOT hazmat shipping and waste manifesting audits and any future agency inquiry.

How the Process Runs

The whole report is portal work. There is no site visit. Done correctly, the sequence looks like this:

A new EPA ID is rare but possible if the facility’s ID has lapsed or the corporate identity changed. Site identification updates (owner, operator, generator status, mailing address) often surface during data prep. Those updates get filed alongside the report.

What Trips Facilities Up

A few patterns show up over and over when facilities prepare these in-house:

• Counting non-RCRA waste toward the LQG threshold. Waste oil, certain wastewaters, and other California-only hazardous wastes do not count for the federal trigger. Including them inflates the apparent generator status and creates a filing that wasn’t required.
• Missing the source-vs-form code distinction. “How was the waste produced” (source) and “what does it look like at shipment” (form) are different fields. Mixing them creates a report that passes form validation but flags on review.
• Manifest mismatches. If the TSDF reported a different quantity, waste code, or management method than what the generator wrote on the manifest, the two records will not reconcile. The biennial submission has to align with what the receiving facility filed.
• Treating the deadline as the start date. EPA estimates the average facility needs about 17 hours to prepare a biennial report. Starting in February with a March 1 deadline leaves no room for the parts that always go slow: tracking down a missing manifest, getting a TSDF on the phone to confirm a code, fixing a lapsed EPA ID.
• Assuming a waste minimization plan is in scope. California’s separate waste minimization plan (SB 14) has a different threshold than the LQG trigger. See SB 14 Waste Minimization Plans in California for the rules. Many biennial filers do not need an SB 14 plan, and some who don’t owe a biennial report do.

How CDMS Handles the Report

Biennial reporting is one of the few CDMS services that runs entirely off your portals and records. We don’t need to come to your site. We need access to your CERS account, your manifests, and your TSDF contracts, and we do the rest from our end.

For facilities already on an annual compliance schedule with us, the biennial cycle is built into the calendar three months ahead of March 1 so the data collection happens gradually. For first-time and standalone clients, we can compress the timeline when the data is available. Either way, what we deliver is a submitted Form 8700-13A/B in RCRAInfo, a copy for your files, and a determination memo explaining how each waste stream was classified.

When we’re done, we generally have a frank conversation about what happens next. If the LQG status was an accident (one heavy month, light volume the rest of the year), we’ll talk through pickup frequency adjustments so the facility doesn’t trip the threshold again in the next reporting year. That’s not extra work for us. It’s a cheaper next cycle for you.

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